About MathCircle Play
How it works
A math circle is a place to solve hard, beautiful problems by thinking them through — slowly, out loud, with no shame in a wrong turn. This web version keeps that spirit.
- Polya Problem Solver — every problem runs through the four phases the mathematician George Polya named: Understand (say what it’s asking in your own words), Plan (name a strategy), Execute (work it out), and Look back (did it work, and where else could it work?). The worked solution stays locked until you’ve written your own understanding and plan — because in a math circle, the thinking is the work, not the answer.
- Strategy Trainer — a short round that trains the hardest skill of all: given a fresh problem, which first move cracks it? You choose from the six strategies the MathCircle cast embodies — try the smallest case, find a pattern then generalize, work backwards, notice & wonder, guess boldly then test, and sense-check.
- 60 circle problems — drawn from the math-circle tradition (Berkeley Math Circle, Zvonkin, and AMC-8-style), each picked to spark discussion rather than drill speed.
What’s different on the web
The iPad app is built for 2–4 kids around one screen, passing rotating roles — a Scribe who writes, a Checker who reviews, and Proposers who suggest moves. That pass-and-play, many-hands version needs a shared device, so the web version is the solo form of the same discipline: the four Polya phases, the articulate-before-hint rule, and the same 60 problems — just for one thinker at a time.
Our privacy promise
MathCircle Play is free, works offline, and collects nothing. No accounts, no ads, no tracking, and no data ever leaves your device — your level and streak are saved only in this browser, and what you write in the Understand / Plan / Execute boxes is never stored or sent anywhere.
Mistakes are part of it
You never lose anything for a wrong turn — completing the thinking earns credit whether or not you nail the answer. Wrong strategy picks get a gentle nudge, not a penalty, and every problem ends by looking back at what you learned.