Free Calculus Apps

Today, I thought I'd do a check to see what apps are available to use with Calculus.  I have one calculus student this semester so I need to know a few apps I can have him use.  I tend to go for free apps for the simple reason I hate to pay for an app that does not do what it advertises.

Next is Magoosh Calculus Lessons which uses animated videos to teach differentiation and integrals.  It has over 6 hours of videos to watch on three topics, precalculus, derivatives, and integrals. Each video is between two and three minutes long.

 Magoosh does require you sign in but its a free sign-up and takes two seconds to do.  All I had to do was enter my e-mail, a password, and I was on. 

The videos are listed by topic with subtopics for every topic listed so you can choose exactly what you want.   Although it is designed for calculus, it could easily be used in other upper level math classes because it has videos on trigonometric identities, even and odd functions, transformations of functions and composition of functions.  This app could easily be used in several math classes.  You do need an internet connection to watch the videos but you can watch the videos as often as needed.


Mathtoons has an Intro to Calculus app which is free and is a great way for students to check their knowledge.

This app quizzes three important areas in calculus.  It reviews functions, tangents and secants and limits.   Since it focuses on introductory calculus, this has three important topics.


 Each topic has 10 quizzes which test one facet of the topic.  When you click on the quiz option, it tells you what it tests and the difficulty level.

I clicked on quiz 1 which is a function review with a difficulty of two.  It tells you that the math in this quiz should be done by students without using a calculator.  I took the quiz and the questions primarily asked about alternative forms or which was more.  I purposely missed a question or two  to see what would happen.

You get the question wrong, a note comes up giving some information and returns you to the page you were on to try again. Once you select the correct answer, you move on but you do not get credit for the problem because you missed it.  The app refuses to move forward until you get it right.

At the end of 10 questions, you receive a score. You can retake the quiz to redo it just don't mark down the answers because although the questions are the same, the answers have been mixed up.