DesmosGPT

The first AI tutor that teaches students the fastest Desmos strategy for every SAT Math problem.

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Inspiration

As an SAT student, I noticed that many classmates—including myself—constantly ask our teacher the same question:

"What's the fastest way to solve this in Desmos?"

Most AI tutors explain the math, but they rarely teach the fastest Desmos workflow, which is often the key to finishing the SAT on time. On the other hand, not every teacher is an expert in Desmos, and even experienced teachers can't answer every student's question instantly.

I wanted to build an AI coach that doesn't just solve SAT Math—it teaches students how to think in Desmos.

What it does

DesmosGPT is an AI-powered SAT Math tutor focused entirely on speed through Desmos.

Students can type a question or simply paste a screenshot. The AI identifies the problem type, selects the best Desmos technique from its knowledge base, and generates an interactive, step-by-step walkthrough inside a live Desmos calculator. Instead of lengthy explanations, students learn exactly what to type into Desmos to solve the problem as quickly as possible.

How we built it

The project started as a prototype built by pairing ChatGPT with Lovable. Using a continuously updated PROJECT_CONTEXT.md, I iterated on the product every day.

During the hackathon, I rebuilt the application with Codex and GPT-5.6, creating a cleaner architecture, redesigned UI, improved multimodal input, and a scalable technique engine. I then continued iterating with AI coding agents (Cursor, Windsurf, and Antigravity), while using ChatGPT as a technical advisor to refine architecture, prompts, and product decisions.

The result is a modular system where new Desmos techniques can be added as reusable knowledge files instead of hard-coded logic.

Challenges we ran into

One of the biggest challenges was synchronizing the Desmos calculator with the AI-generated coaching steps while keeping everything interactive.

Another challenge was finding a reliable AI model for vision and reasoning. I experimented with several Gemini models before settling on one that provided stable performance.

Finally, I realized that even strong LLMs don't always choose the fastest SAT Desmos strategy. That led me to design a growing knowledge base of expert-crafted techniques instead of relying entirely on AI reasoning.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Built an AI tutor centered around Desmos, not generic math explanations.
  • Created a modular knowledge base that can continuously grow with new SAT techniques.
  • Implemented multimodal input, allowing students to paste screenshots or type mathematical expressions naturally.
  • Designed an interactive coaching experience instead of a traditional chatbot.

What we learned

This project taught me that great educational AI isn't just about getting the correct answer—it's about teaching the best strategy.

I also learned the importance of combining LLMs with structured knowledge. Rather than asking AI to reinvent the solution every time, providing expert-designed techniques leads to more consistent, faster, and more educational results.

What's next for DesmosGPT

This project is still an MVP.

The next steps are expanding the knowledge base to cover every major SAT Math topic, improving vision extraction for graphs and tables, and making the coaching experience even more interactive. Long term, I want DesmosGPT to become the fastest and most complete AI companion for students preparing for the Digital SAT.

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