Waves vs Drawing with Math
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Waves
Explore graphical solutions to partial differential equations with interactive activities. Visualize Fourier series and solutions to heat and wave equations, with options to customize conditions and save your work.
- Interactive PDE exploration
- Fourier series plotting
- Heat equation solutions
- Wave equation solutions
- Customizable boundary/initial conditions
- Save and analyze work
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Waves is an interactive environment for exploring graphical solutions to partial differential equations. Waves currently consists of three activities that explore Fourier series as well as series solutions to the heat and wave equations. Fourier is a tool for plotting a Fourier series that best approximates a periodic function. Diffusion plots solutions to the one-dimensional heat equation in space and animates the time evolution. Waves plots solutions to the one-dimensional wave equation in space and allows. In each of these activities you can specify the appropriate boundary and/or initial conditions. The app contains built-in examples as well as the option to save your work for future analysis. You can use Waves for homework, in-class activities or a new research project.
Drawing with Math
This app offers vector and pixel art editors with tools for free drawing, shapes, and function plotting. It allows for linear transformations of images using matrices, eigenvalues, and rotations, alongside pixel image compression.
- Vector and pixel art editors
- Free drawing and shape tools
- Function plotting (Cartesian, polar, parametric)
- Linear image transformations (matrix, rotation)
- Pixel image compression
- Editable greeting cards
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Our “Drawing with Math (Vector and Pixel Art)” app combines two main components: * uniquely versatile image editors, * various methods of linear transformations of both user-entered and system images. Image editors are available in vector and pixelated forms. The editors offer such options as: * free drawing, * entry of all standard shapes, * entry of regular Cartesian, polar, or parametric function into image editor. List of several visually appealing functions is provided. The App stores 10 most recent user entries for each type. Vector images can be linearly transformed in a variety of user-defined ways: * 2x2 matrix, * eigenvalues and eigenvectors, * rotation by degree, * reflection across a given vector. Pixelated images can be compressed by segments to user-selected rank. Mathematical context for the above is provided, whenever possible. Explanation of image compression algorithms requires significant understanding of Linear Algebra, and is available in our “Matrix Solver Step by Step” app. Several bonus images with animations and editable greeting cards are also available. Suggestions and any other feedback are welcome! Write to us at graphmath@aol.com.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Drawing with Math at 100% against Waves's 50%. Drawing with Math also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). Waves's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.5) and ratings volume (16 vs 2). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Waves holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Waves has 16 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 50% of Waves's written reviews are positive against 100% of Drawing with Math's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Waves ships an update every 2 months, Drawing with Math fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Waves | Drawing with Math |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (16 ratings) — better | 4.5 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 16 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 11.4 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 30 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Tim Lucas | Yuri Morozov |
Customer experience
Waves
Drawing with Math
In-app purchases
Waves
No in-app purchases
Drawing with Math
No in-app purchases






