The story behind the name
Mathematician. Engineer. Inventor. The man who believed abstract ideas should be made physical — around 10 AD.
Heron of Alexandria was one of the most inventive minds of the ancient world. He designed the aeolipile — the first recorded steam engine. He invented an early vending machine. He wrote algorithms for computing square roots that predate modern computing by nearly two thousand years.
His formula for calculating the area of a triangle from its three side lengths — Heron's Formula — is still taught in high schools worldwide today. What made Heron remarkable wasn't just his intellect. It was his conviction that ideas should be made tangible. He didn't just describe geometry — he built machines that demonstrated it.
That's what this app tries to do.
Heron is an indie project built by a single developer with a simple mission: make math more enjoyable and accessible for students everywhere. The best way to understand something is to play with it — not copy steps from a board, but grab it, move it, and see what happens. Heron is free, has no ads, and always will be.
Type any equation into the input field. Each term becomes a draggable tile. Drag a term across the equals sign to move it — the sign flips automatically (+ becomes −, × becomes ÷). Tap a variable to substitute a value. Use the toolbar to apply index laws, trig identities, log rules, or complex number operations.
Drag the point around the circumference of the circle. The sin and cos lines update in real time as you move. Try sweeping through all four quadrants and watch how the signs change — it's the fastest way to understand why sin is negative in the third quadrant.
Enter any number. Drag the decimal point left or right across the digits. The scientific notation updates live — the coefficient and exponent both change as you drag. It makes the relationship between decimal position and powers of ten completely intuitive.
Heron is free and will stay that way. If it's been useful to you or your students, a small donation helps cover the cost of keeping it on the App Store and Play Store.
☕ Buy me a coffeeBug reports, feature ideas, or just want to say the app helped your student? Every email gets read.
heronmathlab@gmail.com