Abstract:
A math educational apparatus is disclosed, which comprises a first and second storage unit coupled to at least one number generator, a third storage unit coupled to an arithmetic operation selection device, an arithmetic unit for performing a correct arithmetic operation on contents of the first and second storage unit, the arithmetic operation being determined by a content of the third storage unit, a fourth storage unit coupled to a number input device, a comparator for comparing an output of the arithmetic unit and a content of the fourth storage unit, and a display device coupled to outputs of the first, second, third and fourth storage unit for displaying contents thereof, wherein displayed contents of the first, second and third storage unit represents a math question and a displayed content of the fourth storage unit represents an answer to the math question.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    The present invention relates generally to learning devices for young student, and, more particularly, to a math educational apparatus. 
         [0002]    Teaching young student arithmetic, i.e., addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, requires many repeated exercises. One of the conventional math learning aids is a flash card system. In the flash card system, each math question is printed on a flash card. Then the flash cards are presented to a student as quizzes. However, since there are large number of math questions, an exhaustive flash card system would require large number of flash cards, therefore is not very convenient. More importantly, such flash card system lacks interactive or multimedia capability, and young students hardly view it as a toy. Then practicing math with such flash card system is not very enticing for young students. 
         [0003]    As such, what is desired is math educational apparatus that is easy to use, and can provide multimedia interactions with its users. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0004]    The present invention discloses a hand-held math educational apparatus for young students. In one embodiment of the present invention, the math educational apparatus comprises a first and second storage unit coupled to at least one number generator, a third storage unit coupled to an arithmetic operation selection device, an arithmetic unit for performing a correct arithmetic operation on contents of the first and second storage unit, the arithmetic operation being determined by a content of the third storage unit, a fourth storage unit coupled to a number input device, a comparator for comparing an output of the arithmetic unit and a content of the fourth storage unit, and a display device coupled to outputs of the first, second, third and fourth storage unit for displaying contents thereof, wherein displayed contents of the first, second and third storage unit represents a math question and a displayed content of the fourth storage unit represents an answer to the math question. 
         [0005]    In another embodiment of the present invention, the math educational apparatus further comprises a logic unit configured to control data receiving of the first, second and fourth storage unit, and the fourth storage unit stores a number from the number input device for a first predetermined period of time and then stores a number from the arithmetic unit for a second predetermined period of time, and the data receiving changed from the number input device to the arithmetic unit is controlled by the logic unit. 
         [0006]    In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the math educational apparatus further comprises a solar panel for supplying power to the math educational apparatus. 
         [0007]    The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         [0008]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a math education apparatus  100  according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating a circuit implementation of the math educational apparatus of  FIG. 1 . 
       
    
    
       [0010]    The drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification are included to depict certain aspects of the invention. A clearer conception of the invention, and of the components and operation of systems provided with the invention, will become more readily apparent by referring to the exemplary, and therefore non-limiting, embodiments illustrated in the drawings, wherein like reference numbers (if they occur in more than one view) designate the same elements. The invention may be better understood by reference to one or more of these drawings in combination with the description presented herein. It should be noted that the features illustrated in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. 
       DESCRIPTION 
       [0011]    The following will provide a detailed description of a math educational apparatus that can generate random math questions and response to users&#39; answers. The math educational apparatus can be made very inexpensively and operate on battery or solar power. Therefore, the math education apparatus can be used by young student as a hand-held device. 
         [0012]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a math educational apparatus  100  according to one embodiment of the present invention. The math educational apparatus  100  comprises a display screen  110 , a plurality of math operation selection buttons  130 , a set of number input buttons  140 , a plurality of control buttons  150 , a selection switch  160 , a pair of loudspeakers  170 [ 0 : 1 ] and a solar panel  180 . The display screen  110  may be made of a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel with size less than 9 inches in diagonal length. The display screen  110  may have multiple display fields for displaying such information as a first number  112 , a math operation symbol  114 , a second number  116 , an equal sign  118  and a resultant number field  120 . The first number  112  and the second number  116  may be randomly generated. The math operation symbol  114  represents a selected math operation. A user can select a particular math operation by pressing one of the math operation selection buttons  130 . For elementary arithmetic operations, there are only four selection buttons, namely, addition (+), subtraction (−), multiplication (×) or division (÷). For instance, when a “+” selection button is pressed, the user intends to practice additions. Then the math educational apparatus  100  performs additions on the randomly generated first and second numbers. The first and second numbers together with the operation symbol  114  post a math question to the user. The user may give an answer by pressing one or more of the number input buttons  140 . The user&#39;s answer will then be displayed in the resultant number field  120 . If the answer is correct, the math educational apparatus  100  may produce an audio approval message through the loudspeakers  170 [ 0 : 1 ]. Otherwise, the math educational apparatus may erase the user entered number from the resultant number field  120 , and asks the user to try again through the loudspeakers  170 [ 0 : 1 ]. 
         [0013]    Additionally, the display screen  110  may also have a counter field  124  and a status indication field  126 . The counter field  124  may display a number of successfully answered questions. The status indication field  126  may display a prompt, such as a question mark “?”, when a question is posted on the display screen  110 . The status indication field  126  may change to an approval mark, such as a “√”, when the question is correctly answered. On the other hand, a disapproval mark, such as an “X”, will be displayed. When a question is correctly answered, the math educational apparatus  100  will move on with a new question. If the answer is wrong, the same question will stay on the display screen  110 . The user can enter another answer, or press one of the control buttons  150 . One of the of control buttons  150  is a give-up button  152 , when pressed, the math educational apparatus  100  will show a correct answer on the display screen  110  for a predetermined period of time before posting a new question. Another one of the plurality of control buttons  150  is a skip button  156 , when pressed, the math educational apparatus  100  will skip the question without displaying a correct answer, and then post a new question. In fact, at any time, when the skip button  156  is pressed, the math educational apparatus  100  will skip to a new question. The user want to skip a question may simply because it is too easy or has been posted before. 
         [0014]    Referring again to  FIG. 1 , the selection switch  160  functions as level selector for users to select questions&#39; level of difficulty. For instance, when the selection switch  160  is switched to a level  1  and the addition button “+” is pressed, the math education apparatus  100  will post only single digit numbers for both the first number  112  and second number  116 . Also in the addition arithmetic operation, when the selection switch  160  is switched to a level  2 , then the math apparatus  100  may post single digit numbers for the first number  112 , but two digit numbers for the second number  116 . 
         [0015]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , the math educational apparatus  100  has the solar panel  180  to provide power thereto. The solar power is feasible because the math educational apparatus  100  requires very little computational power. The solar power is also more desirable not only because it is more economical to operate, but also because young students the math educational apparatus  100  are intended for will be limited to use it only in a well-lighted place. 
         [0016]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating a circuit  200  implementing the functions of the math educational apparatus  100  of  FIG. 1 . The circuit  200  comprises a number generator  210 , a logic unit  220 , a first number register  230 , an operation register  240 , a second number register  250 , a resultant register  260 , an arithmetic unit  270  and comparator  280 . The first number register  230 , the operation register  240 , the second number register  250  and the resultant register  260  drive the first number  112 , the operation symbol  114 , the second number  116  and the resultant number field  120 , respectively, on the display screen  110 . The operation register  240  takes inputs from the operation selection buttons  130  of  FIG. 1 . Similarly, the resultant register  260  takes input from the input buttons  140 . The logic unit  220  takes signals from the control buttons  150  and the selection switch  160 . The logic unit  220  also drives the loudspeakers  170 [ 0 : 1 ]. 
         [0017]    The number generator  210  is controlled by the logic unit  220  to generate numbers. An output of the number generator  210  is coupled to both the first number register  230  and the second number register  250 . A number appearing on the output of the number generator  210  will be taken by either the first number register  230  or the second number register  250  at the control of the logic unit  220 . 
         [0018]    The operation register  240  is coupled to the operation selection buttons  130  for storing a user selected arithmetic operation. An output of the operation register  240  is coupled to an input of the logic unit through connect M. When the user selects addition by pressing the “+” button shown on  FIG. 1 , the logic unit  220  will instruct the number generator  210  to sequentially generate two random numbers, one for the first number register  230  and the other for the second number register  250 . Multiplication is similar to the addition operation. When division is selected by pressing the “−” button shown in  FIG. 1 , the logic unit will instruct the number generator  210  to randomly generate a first number for the second number register  250 , and then generate a second number being a multiple of the first number for the first number register  230 . In subtraction operation, the logic unit  220  will ensure that the first number register  230  receives a bigger number than the second number register  250  does. 
         [0019]    The number generator  210  may generate each time a single digit decimal number. But both the first number register  230  and the second number register  250  may be multi-digits shift registers. For a two digit number to be stored in the first number register  230 , for instance, the number generator  210  will have to generate twice, and the first number register  230  will have to shift once. When the selection switch  160  of  FIG. 1  is switched to a lower level, the logic unit  220  may instruct that only one digit numbers will be stored in both the first number register  230  and the second number register  250 . 
         [0020]    The outputs of the first number register  230 , the operation register  240  and the second number register  250  are also coupled to inputs of the arithmetic unit  270 . As described earlier, these outputs are posted on the display screen. The arithmetic unit  270  calculates a correct answer from the posted numbers. The correct answer is send to the comparator  280  where the correct answer is compared with a content of the resultant register  260 . Once the resultant register  260  collects a user&#39;s input number, the logic unit  220  will instruct the resultant register  260  to be replaced by the correct answer from the arithmetic unit  270 . The logic unit  220  may allow the user&#39;s input number on display for a first predetermined period of time, e.g., 2 second, before being replaced. In case the user&#39;s input number matches the correct answer, the logic unit  220  may output pre-recorded approval messages through the loudspeakers  170 [ 0 : 1 ] and the status indication field  126  of  FIG. 1 . Otherwise, pre-recorded disapproval messages will be output instead. After the correct answer being displayed on the display screen  110  for a second predetermined period of time, 
         [0021]    e.g., 5 second, the logic unit  220  will reset the first number register  230  and the second number register  250 , and instruct the number generator  210  to generate numbers for another round of question. The control buttons  150  can also cause the logic unit  220  to start a new round of question. 
         [0022]    The logic unit  220  may contain a counter (not shown) to record a number of times the user has answered questions, and display the number of times on the counter field  124  on the display screen  110 . 
         [0023]    The number generator  210  may have a plurality of memory cells and an address generator (not shown). Each memory cell stores a number. The address generator provides addresses for accessing the memory cells. The address generator is controlled by the logic unit  220 . A skilled artisan may device many other kinds of number generators. 
         [0024]    The logic unit  220  may be implemented by a specifically designed state machine or a general purpose microcontroller (not shown). When implemented by the general purpose microcontroller, many of the circuit  200 , such as the arithmetic unit  270 , the comparator  280  and the various registers  230 ,  240 ,  250  and  260  may be incorporated in the microcontroller. Most general purpose microcontrollers come with embedded memories. The various registers  230 ,  240 ,  250  and  260  may simply be various storage units with the embedded memories. Besides, some of the functions, such as generating numbers, performed by the circuit  200  may be carried out by software. 
         [0025]    In general, the entire circuit  200  is preferably designed and manufactured into a single chip to reduce cost, size and power consumption. With lower power consumption, the math educational apparatus  100  will be more readily powered by the solar panel  180  of  FIG. 1 . 
         [0026]    A skilled artisan may also recognize that the number input buttons  140  of  FIG. 1  can be replaced with other input means such as hand-writing or even voice recognition systems. But such input means require significantly more computing power. Therefore, costs of making such complicated math educational apparatus would be much higher than the one with button input means. 
         [0027]    The above illustration provides many different embodiments or embodiments for implementing different features of the invention. Specific embodiments of components and processes are described to help clarify the invention. These are, of course, merely embodiments and are not intended to limit the invention from that described in the claims. 
         [0028]    Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in one or more specific examples, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims. Accordingly, it is appropriate that the appended claims be construed broadly and in a manner consistent with the scope of the invention, as set forth in the following claims.