Number+Sense 4+

Fun Math App with free download

Most interesting number board ever!!let you master math concepts and sharpens your thinking skills.

Awesome Math App

Highly recommend.

What’s the gimmick here?

I can see how this is trying to gameify math... (appealing in similar ways to TTM) but the main premise is that all of the answers are arranged in a grid, then hidden so you need to count blanks to find it. While it baffles me how this would make it fun for potentially frustrated kids, I can see how this could make it interesting with hints and patterns and stuff, even if there’s nothing compelling yet. (lessons could be arranged in, say, Pascal’s triangle or different bases for when the row switches-I’m more interested in mod 8 than 1-10 as every single game has been) since every number must be accounted for, multiplication ends up going through all the primes like 31*1. Bizarrely, i still often end up mis-tapping on one i’ve already selected and it reads it that way though they never repeat... also, hints don’t give you any help on the gameboard, which takes the longest; it instead gives you ridiculous hints like 7*7=7+7+7+7+7+7+7
The game mechanic itself doesn’t add much to it, either. I can accept if the problems are all relatively easy because it’s a kids’ education app, but the animations between problems took up a majority of the time I spent playing. The lag and animations make it hard to see if the screen registered the taps, too. All I want is to stay engaged and at least SEE what the next question will be... if you keep the circle things, at least allow multiple to be going if the answers are right.
Other bugs: the timer and hints will play on the selection screen for the game before you press play, giving you a wrong answer if you try to change settings. (Not that it allows you to). Similarly, the clock will count double, triple, etc. for each second every time you press play again, which disqualifies the level and gives you hints/wrongs faster, too.
Since the game is slow and levels have the classic progression thing, I’m getting bored with the tediously long levels before anything more difficult than 6*9 is showing up... if it ever does. Maybe it’d be less of a slog if I could jump or place into what i want to practice

This is what happens when the feedback button doesn’t work :P

Developer Response ,

Dear ChipsnDips,
We really appreciate you taking the time to write a detailed review and also point out the bugs. We take every one of our users’ feedbacks seriously and are always looking to improve the app experience for a broad range of users.

Let me assure you there's no gimmick here. To the contrary, the app is developed based on well-grounded research. Using a number board has shown to accelerate math cognition development because of the visual and spatial nature of the board. The method is proven, we were able to increase the pass rate of a classroom at a school in TX from 62% to 89% in just one year. Frustrated kids turned into confident kids.


You do have a valid point that some kids will initially struggle with the board interface. However, that’s where the practice feature comes in handy. Also, it helps if the parent sits with the kid initially to guide them through the game flow, especially for younger kids. The workaround is to start with the Practice feature with Numbers visible on the board, and then start playing the game once you’re comfortable with the layout.


One element that’s not apparent is once you understand how the board works, then you do not necessarily count from 1. This board and the way the game is designed helps you move from serial thinking to quantum thinking. The board design also helps reinforce the place value concepts (units and tens). All of this helps develop the child’s spatial reasoning and critical thinking skills.


Good idea about the Pascal’s triangle, but that will be our next game - thanks for the idea :) However, try out the vertical ordering in Practice and the problem set becomes base/mod (2 through 9). The amazing thing about this is, when kids are learning addition they are almost tricked into learning multiplication. This is just one of the intrinsic benefits of a dynamic number board. Also, try out the zigzag and spiral layouts.


Good feedback on primes, missed tapping, game board animation, hints, bugs and feedback button. Our design team will review these and improve. Thanks again for your detailed feedback. I hope the answers above help and you consider revising your review and rating. Please let us know if you have any other feedback.