STUDENTS SHOULDN’T HAVE TO PURCHASE THIS OLD TECHNOLOGY THAT PREDATES THE INTERNET.

Such software locks down computers, not allowing anything other than the test. Because its software is free to students, it also removes the financial burden on cashstrapped households.

Texas Instruments, which started life as Geophysical Service Inc. in 1930, doesn’t break out calculator revenue. Sales of the devices are included in a category that includes licensing income and other some other chips. That group accounted for four per cent of the company’s US$13.4 billion in 2016 sales.

Desmos’s software racks up 300,000 hours of use by students in 146 countries every month, the startup said. While it offers the software free to individuals, it charges organizations such as publishers that use it, providing the San Francisco-based company with its revenue. Luberoff founded the company after working as a math tutor, where he saw a market for math education as both the curricula and students moved online. The company secured about US$1 million in seed funding in 2011 from investors including Learn Capital, Kindler Capital and Mitchell Kapor, as it built the product and a revenue model. The startup also received an investment from GV, formerly Google Ventures, in 2012.

Desmos has the backing of Pearson PLC, the world’s largest education company. Pearson is using it as a partner for its high-school math program, enVision. In the U.S., the College Board, which administers the SAT and Advance Placement tests, has endorsed the use of Desmos for its SpringBoard platform, which provides study drills, practice exams and curriculum assessments for students and teachers. Such tie-ups are the key to breaking into the market, Luberoff said. One company has enjoyed a near market monopoly on the sale of graphing calculators for more than 27 years, thanks to strategic relationships with textbook publishers, statewide testing companies, college entrance exam makers and little outside competition, he said.

“Calculator functionality hasn’t significantly increased nor has its price decreased in decades,” he said.