Magic Numbers: The Magic of Maths

An Alexa skill that integrates Alexa Presentation Language

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Inspiration

I've often seen kids, or even adults, being frightened from mathematics and staying away from it. What they fail to understand is that maths is not just about lengthy formulae and their derivations, instead, maths is all about finding patterns. I feel like more interest can be generated towards maths by creating a sense of wonder towards it. And this is exactly why I've created my Skill - to create a sense of wonder towards maths.

What it does

This Skill consists of two magic number puzzles showcasing the magic of maths, wherein Alexa guesses the final number from a user chosen number, after doing a bunch of calculations. In the first puzzle, the user is asked to choose any number between 1 to 10 and double it, followed by addition of 4, division by 2 and subtraction of the original number. The final number is always 2, regardless of the initial user chosen number. In the second puzzle, the user is asked to choose any number and multiply it by 100. This is followed by the subtraction of the original number and addition of the digits of the answer. The resultant number is always 18, regardless of the initial user chosen number.

How I built it

This was built using Node.js and Lambda. The visual part of the Skill was built using Alexa Presentation Language (APL). I've utilised APL documents like Container and Pager, to create a slideshow of the steps. The background images are fetched from a S3 bucket. This Skill is compatible with multi-modal displays ranging from an Echo Spot to a Fire TV.

Challenges I ran into

Since I was not familiar with APL, I spent quite some time learning about it. I ran into multiple issues like text and images cutting off on smaller devices, hence had to modify the style properties depending on the size of the device.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Making the Skill multi-modal ie. compatible on all Alexa devices, ranging from audio only devices like Echo and Echo Dot to visual devices like the Echo Show and Echo Spot, was certainly a big achievement for me, one that took a lot of work.

What I learned

I learned about Alexa Presentation Language, how it functions, how it displays components. I also learned about S3 buckets and how the content is made available to the public.

What's next for Magic Numbers

This Skill currently has just 2 maths puzzles. This can be expanded in the future to contain a lot more puzzles.

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