Symbolab is an
answer engine
Question answering (QA) is a computer science discipline within the fields of information retrieval and natural language processing (NLP), which is concerned with building systems that automatically answer questions posed by humans in a natural la ...
that provides step-by-step solutions to mathematical problems in a range of subjects.
It was originally developed by Israeli start-up company EqsQuest Ltd., under whom it was released for public use in 2011. In 2020, the company was acquired by American educational technology website
Course Hero
Course Hero is an American education technology website company based in Redwood City, California, which operates an online learning platform for students to access course-specific study resources (homework, essays and tests).
The crowdsourced l ...
.
History
In late 2011, Symbolab was released as a mathematical
semantic search
Semantic search denotes search with meaning, as distinguished from lexical search where the search engine looks for literal matches of the query words or variants of them, without understanding the overall meaning of the query. Semantic search seek ...
engine by Israeli entrepreneurs Michal Avny (CEO), Adam Arnon (Chief Scientist), and Lev Alyshayev (CTO).
At the onset, it could interpret a user-entered equation or symbolic problem and find the solution if it existed. Later, the ability to show all of the steps explaining the calculation were added.
The company's emphasis gradually drifted towards focusing on providing step-by-step solutions for mathematical problems at the secondary and post-secondary levels. Symbolab relies on
machine learning algorithms
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to machine learning. Machine learning is a subfield of soft computing within computer science that evolved from the study of pattern recognition and computational learning ...
for both the search and solution aspects of the engine.
Acquisition in 2020
In October 2020,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
-based
Course Hero
Course Hero is an American education technology website company based in Redwood City, California, which operates an online learning platform for students to access course-specific study resources (homework, essays and tests).
The crowdsourced l ...
acquired EqsQuest Ltd. and the Symbolab engine for an undisclosed amount. The erstwhile team of employees, who were all based in
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
, joined the Course Hero team as part of the acquisition.
See also
*
Science and technology in Israel
Science and technology in Israel is one of the country's most developed sectors. Israel spent 4.3% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on civil research and development in 2015, the highest ratio in the world. In 2019, Israel was ranked the world' ...
**
Silicon Wadi
Silicon Wadi ( he, סִילִיקוֹן וְאֵדֵי, ) is a region in Israel that serves as one of the global centres for advanced technology. It spans the Israeli coastal plain, and is cited as among the reasons why the country has b ...
*
Science and technology in the United States
Science and technology in the United States has a long history, producing many important figures and developments in the field. The United States of America came into being around the Age of Enlightenment (1685 to 1815), an era in Western ph ...
**
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County ...
References
External links
* {{Official website, http://www.symbolab.com/
Internet properties established in 2015
Mathematics websites
Educational math software
Mathematics education
Software calculators