EQBuilder

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  EQBuilder - Homepage

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  EQBuilder - Equation Builder

Inspiration

This journey began in January 2025 during a conversation I was having online with a Professor at the University of Michigan (Prof. Gabriel Carcassi), regarding "public outreach" solutions for their research program, "Assumptions of Physics". I had found Gabrielles website whilst researching online, and was fascinated by the direction of his research program. Their website mentioned that they were looking for support from graduates/undergraduates, so I decided to join their Discord.

During a brief conversation with Professor Carcassi, I pitched the idea of including "Equations with tooltips" on his website, as a way to explain the meaning behind individual terms in an equation. Gabrielle said that he liked the idea, but also that it "seemed like alot of work" in the way I had coded the initial draft, to which I agreed. Then nothing else really happened. I went back to being busy studying.

One year later in February 2026, I found myself surrounded by equations during a Physics module. As a solution, I made a stack of physical "equation flashcards", which by my surprise worked very well in helping with my equation recall. Slowly I began forming the idea of an online equation builder that could generate both "Equations with tooltips" and "Equation flashcards".

During this time I noticed that the coding capabilities of AI were improving rapidly, so with this idea in my head, I decided to have a go at engineering a prompt using ChatGPT to pass over to Codex, to see if together they could deliver a basic solution.

An hour later, and I was honestly struck with the success and accuracy of the initial build. It is from this build that EQBuilder has grown (over the past 5 months since since the initial prompt) - into the finished product I am very proud to present.

Inspiration I definitely attribute to Professor Carcassi... although he has not yet seen the finished product!

What it does

EQBuilder allows users to create beautiful LaTeX equations with HTML tooltips which can then be saved, shared or embedded, anywhere on the web. It also allows users to create "Equation Flashcards" to test their knowledge/memory. Users input their answer writing by hand and AI awards them points out of 100 for the accuracy of their written equation!

How we built it

The initial prompt was generated using ChatGPT 5.3. I used VScode with Codex for the initial build, and built a private repository on GitHub for the project.

The majority of the build was then done using ChatGPT 5.4/5.5, with the final build and migration using ChatGPT 5.6. We used the KaTeX library for rendering LaTeX (equations), decided on using Supabase for our database infrastructure for scalability, and Cloudflare for hosting and CDN.

During the actual build, I found that it was very useful to build an internal "Docs" area which described how every component of the application functioned. This internal area has become essential for development, AI alignment and now includes "Workflows" and "Feature Playbooks".

Challenges we ran into

The main challenges for me have been in defining the Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and also in developing a sensible and realistic Business Plan.

The complexity of the build has been greatly dictated by my initial desire for scalability, which I do not regret - I'm confident that the final build can handle any amount of traffic that the web can throw at it.

I have tried to keep the project focussed on its main target goals, "Equations with tooltips" and "Equation flashcards", whilst also making the tool future-proof and scalable.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The scale and scope of the general idea of "Equations with tooltips" is very exciting, and I am very proud to have reached this point, where (even without many users), I have generated a tool that has the potential to help millions of people in learning about STEM subjects and enjoying learning about that fascinating world of equations, just a little bit more!

What we learned

Starting a project means having an idea and a direction, but not knowing the path to get there until you get there. I would not have dreamed when this project first begun, that I would end up with a product that I would be so pleased with - GPT 5.6 is extremely capable, and I'm excited to continue working with my superb team of digital developers!

What's next for EQBuilder

"Post-Migration Monitoring", health checks, and polish. Followed by SEO and a focus on marketing.

To continue building, perfecting and improving the worlds first equation builder with HTML tooltips.

Built With

• cloudflare
• codex
• github
• katex
• resend
• stripe
• supabase
• typescript
• vite
• vscode