ABSTRACT
Imagine that the number one mobile download was for learning algebra. In 2012, DragonBox was downloaded more than any other mobile application in Norway, even outperforming neighboring Finland’s Angry Birds. Within two weeks of launching, 10 percent of all iPads in Norway had a copy. Why were so many people interested in learning the fundamentals of algebra? Jean-Baptiste Huynh, the math teacher who developed DragonBox, had seen firsthand the problem of teaching students algebra and felt that the problem was not the students but the way the subject was taught. To many students the introduction to abstract math - ematics in junior high school is a seemingly overwhelming and insurmountable obstacle. It often marks the moment that a student decides that she is not good at math. How could a game solve this problem?
