An iPhone app that will function as a calculator for most low level physics problems (the type to be found in classrooms). It will implement an interactive UI whereby the user can build their physics problem graphically and then have it solve whichever variable they ask for. When it solves, the app will step the user through exactly how to solve this problem so that it will not merely be a tool for cheating on homeworks but for learning about how to go about physics problems systematically. The first release will include support for:
Kinematics - Any problems involving time, distance, velocity, or acceleration; as most problems do
Forces - The calculator will interpret all forces acting on a mass and interpret the resultant change to the kinmatics
Projectiles - Masses can be projected and acted upon either by gravity (default of 9.8 but can be defined by user) or by whatever medium it is traveling through
Collisions - Multiple masses can be put on the Drawing Board at once and can impact each other
Joints - Masses can be connected through various means such as springs, strings, or pins
Circular Motion - Masses can be set to move in a radial pattern
Work and Power - The work and power done by or generated by a mass can be solved for or input
This release will also include the intial design for the Drawing Board; a new feature to take user input in the most efficient way possible and turn it into a physics problem. Object integration (i.e. what interacts with what or when I put this here it should auto adjust a little bit to be there) will likely be subpar in the first release. It will be a major focus of the second release which will hopefully be subject to lots of user responses.
Another feature to be included in the first release will be the step by step explanation of the problem at hand. The calculator will allow the user to ask for a certain variable to be solved for and then it will take them to the explanation phase. This will consist of the calculator writing out an equation, simplifying it, plugging in knowns, and then having the user solve for this simplified expression. This will make it less efficient for people looking to just get answers without understanding the problem and will make it easier for people to see how to step through a physics problem to solve it. If the user cannot figure out the input required for one of the steps, they may use an IDK, a new feature which will be explained next.
IDKs (or I Don't Knows) are the money making aspect of this app (along with ads). The user can use an IDK to reveal an answer to one step of a problem when being stepped through it if the user gets stuck. Upon downloading (which will be free) the user gains 5 IDKs (enough to get a taste for them). They may then earn more in two ways; either by 1) buying them or 2) solving a new "type" of problem for the first time (problem types will be Kinematics, Basic Forces, Projectiles, Circular Motion, Momentum, etc).