Your kid asks why, and you jump in.
How you help matters. Kids whose parents take over learn less maths, and the ones already struggling lose the most. Mathemavision is a way to help without taking over: point a phone at what your kid asked about, and the two of you find out together. You don't have to be a maths person to raise one.
A circle is the same width whichever way you turn it. So even tipped on its side, the lid's still too wide to fall down its own hole.
A square lid is wider corner to corner than side to side. Tip it the wrong way and it slides straight in.
Next time you step over one, you'll probably think of this.
That's the whole idea, one why at a time. Try this one with your kid.
Being tested with kids and parents · Made in Melbourne.
Why maths should be a sense
It started in 2023, on a walk. I pictured the poles, bins, traffic lights and buildings showing their shapes, angles, spacing and patterns as well as their names. Most of them are that shape for a reason, and hardly anyone stops to ask why.
Mathemavision is that walk on a phone. Point the camera at something everyone takes for granted, and the reason it's that shape gets drawn right on it. One day it'll be glasses, so a whole street can fill up with questions as you walk down it.
In a study of 3,018 children, the kids whose parents helped more often with maths homework learned less maths over the year, whatever the parent felt about maths (Developmental Science, 2026). Anxious parents make it worse by taking over, and they do it most with the kids who are already struggling (Developmental Psychology, 2022). Kids whose teachers are anxious about maths learn less of it too (Developmental Science, 2021). And in a randomised trial, the kids of anxious parents didn't fall behind when the family used a maths app together, right through to Year 3 (Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2018). Parents are asked to help with homework and left to work out how. So the help goes wrong.
Sources: Poisall et al. 2026, Oh et al. 2022, Schaeffer et al. 2021, Schaeffer et al. 2018
We learn everything that matters through our senses first. Language by hearing it. The world by touching it. Maths is the one thing that describes all of it, and the only one we hand to children as symbols on a page before they've ever seen it work.
If mathematics is built into every object you can see, then it can be learned the way sight is used: by looking. There's nothing more personal than your own eyes.
Not a subject you study. A sense you develop.
A few from the library
29 whys collected so far. Each one gets checked against sources before anyone sees it. No answers here yet, so see how many you can guess.
Who it's for first
The first bet is a kid of about 10 with endless questions, out with a parent. They point at something and ask why, and the parent opens Mathemavision to show them. Or the app puts a question over something they'd never think to ask about, like the cover by their feet.
Either way they guess first, then see the answer drawn on the real thing. And there's always another one, on the next street.
To the kid, it's a new way of seeing. To the parent, it's time together with the phone pointed out at the world.
The maths stays in the background, doing the explaining. Especially if you were never a maths person yourself.
Where it's at
Mathemavision started out as an iPhone app that put Year 7 to 9 maths problems on real objects. I built it in two months and showed it to families. It didn't grab any of them.
So in October 2026 I stopped building and went back to the walk. Now I'm testing one why at a time with kids and parents, looking for the ones that make a kid ask for another. The only thing I've built since is the test itself, a phone page that draws the manhole answer on a real lid. Once I know which whys do that, I'll build the app around them.
If you've got a kid aged about 7 to 12, you can help with that right now. Here's how.
Where it started
The first prototype, September 2026. Mark a book's corners and the hidden triangles appear on it. Real iPhone footage, narrated.
People got the idea from the lines drawn on the book. The maths questions that came after gave no one a reason to open it again. So the drawing on the real thing stayed, and the questions went.
There's a pair of triangles hiding in this book cover. I'm marking its four corners. Mathemavision uses those points to measure the cover and draw its shape. It doesn't read the pages.
Watch the line from one corner to the opposite corner. One rectangle becomes two right triangles, with equal areas.
On screen: an optional question uses a rounded 20 × 13 cm model to find the diagonal: √(20² + 13²) ≈ 23.9 cm.
The Atlas keeps the objects I've explored and the discoveries I've saved. Start with something around you. See what else is there.
Actual iPhone prototype footage, September 2026. Edited for clarity: startup and waiting removed, corner placement shortened, and the final Atlas view held. The opening previews the later reveal.
Try one
It takes about 5 minutes, on the walk home or wherever suits you. Open it on your phone next to a manhole cover, or use the photo.
Their honest reaction is the most useful thing you could send me right now. A "meh" helps as much as a "wow".
Rather have a form that walks you through it with pictures? Open the 5-minute guide.
For parents and carers, with your kid's OK. The camera picture stays on your phone. The forms don't ask for your kid's name or your contact details, and Tally stores the answers for Mathemavision. Read the privacy notice.
Founder
I hated maths in high school, until I gave it a chance and understood it. Then I wanted my classmates to feel that moment of getting it. They kept asking one question: when will I ever use this in real life?
I've been after a better answer since 2023. I'm building Mathemavision solo and full-time in Melbourne, and right now that means testing it with real kids before I write any more code.
Ahmed Al Zamily
Founder, Mathemavision · Melbourne, Australia
Why we exist
Somewhere along the way, most kids decide whether they're a maths person. We think they decide too early, and for the wrong reasons.
Mathemavision exists to keep curiosity alive from primary school through to high school, the years it usually fades, by showing a child that the world is already full of maths and that they can read it. A kid who can see the triangles holding up a bridge keeps more doors open: science, engineering, the trades, finance, and every career that will need people who think in numbers.
The bigger goal is simple. A country where people are comfortable with numbers makes better decisions, at home and together. We want to help grow one, one curious kid at a time.
All is number. We want every child to be able to see it.
Investors & partners
Mathemavision is early. There's a working iPhone prototype from September, and the idea is being tested with kids and parents now. Want the deck, or the latest results? Ask Ahmed.
Opens your email app. The deck is shared privately, not downloaded here. You can also email contact@mathemavision.com.
Stay in touch
Leave your email and I'll send the odd update: which whys worked, and when there's something new to try.
For adults aged 18 or over. Please don't share a child's name or contact details. Tally hosts this form and stores responses for Mathemavision. To stop the emails or have your details deleted, email contact@mathemavision.com. Read the privacy notice.
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Mathemavision