Rulebook
A tablet app for algebra teachers that turns student work into a live-rules report — which move each student attempted, where they stalled, which legal moves they ignored — so class time can focus on the right interventions.
Algebra I and II teachers in public and private middle and high schools
- Live class dashboard showing every student's current equation state and a heatmap of which rules each student has applied or skipped
- Misconception flags, e.g., a student dividing by x without pinning x≠0, surfaced automatically with a recommended mini-lesson
- Assignment builder where a teacher types an equation and the app previews which moves a student could legally reach
- Printable and homework-compatible student summaries for parents and IEP meetings
Teacher shortages and widening skill gaps make it impossible for one teacher to spot individual manipulation errors across 30 students; an engine that knows every legal move per student is exactly the missing layer.
Teachers actively seek error-analysis tools (TPT 'Error Detective' app, arXiv 2024 benchmark on 55 algebra misconceptions) and AI-driven diagnostics are an explicit selling point of incumbents like ALEKS, but classroom adoption of new tools is slow.A Benchmark for Math Misconceptions: Bridging Gaps in Middle School ↗Error Detective | CUSTOMIZABLE Math Error Analysis Activity ↗
Crowded field: ALEKS, IXL, DreamBox, Desmos Classroom, and Khan Academy all offer real-time diagnostics and reporting; the specific 'per-move legal-move trace on student work' angle is differentiated but the broader analytics-for-math-teachers niche is well-trodden.Comparing Five Digital Math Platforms for K-12 Classrooms | Rutgers CESP ↗Top 9 Best Adaptive Math Software (2026 Review) ↗
Per-teacher SaaS pricing of $8–30/teacher/month is established (e.g., ALEKS, IXL) and districts budget for it; Desmos shows core tools can be free with paid training/curriculum upsell, indicating a workable B2B/B2C-ed model.The Real Cost of AI Tools for Schools: Budget Guide ↗Desmos Pricing 2026: Real Costs, Fees & What Others Paid ↗
Algebra curriculum standards are stable decade-to-decade and teacher shortages are a documented structural trend, supporting a multi-year market window.
The hardest piece — a sound symbolic algebra engine — already exists as the open-source Wyrm engine (pure TypeScript, zero deps), removing the main technical risk; remaining work is tablet UI + teacher dashboard + per-student move tracking.GitHub - dicroce/wyrm_math: Algebra engine ↗Show HN: Wyrm - Solve algebra by touch, built on an open-source soundness engine ↗