SumIt Help Guide

Settings

Open Settings from the bottom of the menu. All preferences are stored in your browser and persist across sessions.

Settings panel — scroll within for all options.

Autocomplete

As you type a word (≥ 2 letters) the autocomplete dropdown shows matching Greek letters, operators, and formula triggers. Examples:

• Type alpha → suggests \alpha (α)
• Type sqrt → suggests \sqrt{}
• Type qform → suggests the quadratic formula
• Type schrod (with Physics on) → suggests Schrödinger equations

Use ↑ / ↓ to navigate, Enter or Tab to accept, Esc to dismiss. Frequently-used suggestions float to the top of the list automatically.

Each suggestion is rendered typographically so you see what you'll get.

Buttons

The editor uses a rich maths field — you can type LaTeX directly or use the on-screen keyboard. The field itself shows the equation typeset live as you edit. Below, a single output card has tabs for the other useful representations: LaTeX, MathML, Spoken. Click any tab to switch view; the content updates live as you type.

Editor with toolbar and tabbed output card.

Controls

Live preview & correction

With Live preview on, recognition runs after each stroke. Each detected symbol appears with a faint dashed box on the canvas — click any box to pick a different interpretation from the alternates. Picking an alternate also teaches the matcher: that drawing is silently saved as a template tagged with your chosen symbol, so future similar shapes prefer it.

To keep things stable as you write, when you start a new mark clearly to the right of everything before it, the prior strokes are committed and stop being re-evaluated — only the latest active group is recognised on each stroke.

Recognition result

The result card (visible in the Draw screenshot above) shows the rendered equation as the primary content. Use Send to Editor or Clear & retry, or click ▼ Show LaTeX to reveal the raw source. When more than one interpretation is available, Alternatives chips appear below — click any to swap the result.

Train your handwriting

Open the Train your handwriting panel to teach the template-matcher new symbols.

1. Draw a single symbol on the canvas above.
2. Click what you wrote. The picker shows Best guesses from the matcher plus a categorised grid of common symbols (Numbers, Operators, Brackets, Letters, Capitals, Greek, Maths symbols).
3. The drawing is saved as a user template; the canvas clears so you can train the next symbol.

Power users can still type LaTeX directly via the Advanced — type LaTeX directly details. Saved templates appear in Your saved templates; right-click (or long-press on touch) any tile to delete it. Remove my templates wipes them all.

Functions

• Trigonometry: sin, cos, tan and their inverses (correct in both DEG and RAD)
• Logarithms: log (base 10), ln (natural)
• Powers: x², xʸ, 1/x
• Other: √, |x|, n!, π, e
• Memory: MC clear, MR recall, M+ add to memory (true accumulator)
• Smart wrapping: typing -4 then √ gives √(-4); cos(30) then sin gives sin(cos(30))

Keyboard shortcuts

While the Scientific tab is active, you can type numbers and operators directly. Enter evaluates, Backspace deletes, Esc clears.

Use Send to Editor to transfer the result to the equation editor.

Controls

• Edit any expression field — the graph updates as you type
• Adjust the x range inputs to change the horizontal domain (input or change events)
• Click + Add function to plot an additional curve (max 6)
• Click ✕ beside a function to remove it
• 🔊 Audio trace sonifies the function — click again to stop
• ▶ Read aloud describes the plotted functions
• Send to Editor transfers the focused function to the equation editor (confirms before overwriting existing work)

mhchem syntax

Click 📚 Formulas to browse 20+ chemistry formulas, or use the chip bar for arrows, states, and special symbols.

Keyboard navigation

• Tab / Shift+Tab moves between controls
• Enter or Space activates buttons; Esc closes any modal, drawer, or dropdown
• ↑ / ↓ / ← / → / Home / End move between adjacent tabs and menu items
• Modals trap focus inside while open and restore focus to the trigger when closed
• A Skip to main content link appears as the first focus stop on every page

Global shortcuts

Screen-reader support

• Toast messages and the Recognition card are live regions — screen readers announce updates automatically
• The math-field is labelled and exposed as a textbox; equation MathML is shipped to assistive tech via the math-field's accessible name
• Page title updates as you switch modes ("Editor — SumIt", "Graphing — SumIt", …)

Visual accommodations

• Reduced motion — when your OS has "reduce motion" enabled, all transitions and the drawer slide are disabled
• Themes — every bundled theme passes WCAG AA contrast for text and muted text against its surfaces
• Touch targets — all controls hit a minimum 44 × 44 px on touch devices
• Focus rings — every interactive element shows a visible focus indicator when reached by keyboard (suppressed for mouse users via :focus-visible)