We are always working to make Desmos even better! Below you can find tabs that list out new features added to Desmos Math Tools and Classroom Activities, sorted by date. We hope it can be a valuable resource for those who want to stay up to date on the latest tools and activities, as well as an easy way to get caught up after a break.
Questions or feedback about a particular feature? Please email support@desmos.com.
November 2023
- Explore the new tone expression to create sound in the Desmos Graphing Calculator, Desmos Geometry Tool, and Desmos 3D. Learn more.
- Use desmos.com/diagnostics to send us an automatically generated report that will help diagnose what might be going wrong with any of the Desmos Tools.
September 2023
- Jump into a new dimension of math with Desmos 3D! Explore connections between 2D curves and 3D surfaces. Now in Beta at desmos.com/3D. Learn More.
July 2023
- Check out what's new in Desmos Geometry. Now you can temporarily reveal hidden objects from the settings menu and construct and compute with vectors from the toolbar.
May 2023
- Our next generation Geometry Tool is here! Construct and explore with the power of the graphing calculator built in. Now at desmos.com/geometry-beta.
April 2023
- Visualize data across many orders of magnitude by setting either axis, or both, to a logarithmic scale. Open the settings menu and navigate to ‘more options’ to get started. Learn more about setting an axis to a logarithmic scale.
February 2023
- The first column in a table can now be externally defined. Try it out here. Change the values in the list \(L\) and watch how the table changes.
January 2023
- You can now use our substitution feature to replace any variable in an expression with a constant value, another variable expression, or a list. You'll find the 'with' substitution function under 'advanced features' in the function keypad. Try it out in this example.
2022
July 2022
- New way to create lists of polygons: when the polygon function is given several arguments and one or more of these arguments is a list of points, a list of polygons will be created. See an example graph here.
- The graph settings menu now includes a “Lock Viewport” option that prevents panning and zooming of the graph paper.
- Scroll through available functions all in one place in the new functions menu on the graphing calculator keypad.
- You can duplicate any expression, including sliders, notes, images, tables, and folders (from edit list gear icon at the top of the expression list). Duplicating a folder duplicates all of its contents.
2021
November 2021
- Polygons can now be assigned to variables, used as part of function definitions, and stored in lists.
- Added list comprehensions to the graphing calculator. You can now create new lists based on existing lists using a variety of operations. Learn more.
- Added Actions to the graphing calculator. Actions provide a way to react to events in the calculator, like clicks or clock ticks, by updating variables in the expression list. Learn more.
- The way that math is read when using a screen reader has been updated to speak shorter forms of common numeric fractions and exponents.
- Improved the keyboard accessibility of static labels in the graphing calculator.
- Removed the panning effect for audio trace of graphs in the form \(x=f\left(y\right)\).
- Fixed bugs in the graphing calculator related to the stacking order for moveable points, expressions nested too deeply, opacity of labels, and the round( ) function.
- Fixed bugs in the graphing calculator related to opacity of labels on lists of points, voice over accessibility for regressions, and pasting data into tables.
- Added a unique( ) function to the graphing calculator that takes a list and returns a new list without duplicates.
- Updated the undo/redo stack size in the graphing calculator from 20 to 100.
- Fixed bugs in the graphing calculator related to the redo shortcut for MacOS and zooming in on points.
- The calculator got a new internal representation for expressions that makes nested function and variable definitions more efficient. Many cases that previously produced a “Definitions are nested too deeply” error now work.
- Fixed bugs in the graphing calculator related to piecewise functions and range slice syntax on non-lists.
- The “Projector Mode” toggle in the graphing calculator has been replaced by radio buttons for default and large display sizes.
- Improved the keyboard accessibility of draggable images in the graphing calculator.
- The Braille mode controls in the graphing calculator and scientific calculator are now behind a checkbox.
- Fixed bugs in the graphing calculator related to draggable images, label opacity, voice over accessibility for point labels on lists, and computing finite differences.
- Fixed a bug in the scientific calculator related to decimal to fraction conversion for small decimals.
- Fixed bugs in the graphing calculator related to the “folder” shortcut and custom colors.
- Improved accuracy of pdf and cdf for the binomial, Poisson, and Student’s T distributions for large parameters.
2020
November 2020
- You can now add custom colors to your graphs using the special functions rgb() and hsv() in the Graphing Calculator. When you assign a color expression to a variable, the color you create will appear as an option in the expression styling menu. See an example graph here.
- The expression list in the graphing calculator is now searchable. While focused on an expression, type ctrl+ f / cmd+f to filter down to expressions that contain text matching your search string.
- The styling menu for expressions has new options, including line width, line opacity, point size, point opacity, and label rotation. All of these attributions can be dynamic by assigning them to a variable controlled with parameters. See an example graph here.
- Images added to the Graphing Calculator can now be configured so that they are draggable from anywhere on the image. From the styling menu on images, click the “Make Draggable” button. See an example graph here.
- In the Graphing Calculator, we have added “smart” slider prompts that generate context-aware default bounds and step sizes for properties such as opacity and parameters in our color functions.
September 2020
- The Graphing Calculator now supports outliers in box-plots.
- Our homepage at www.desmos.com and our Graphing Calculator, Scientific Calculator, Four Function Calculator, and Matrix Calculator are now available in a total of 19 languages.
August 2020
- In the graphing calculator logged in users can now attempt to recover lost work if they accidentally end a session without saving. From the menu on the left find the message “Lost work? Attempt recovery.”
- You can now access audio trace from the built in keypad in the graphing calculator. Type an expression and look for the sound icon in the keypad at the bottom of the screen. Learn more about our accessibility features here.
- We updated our Matrix Calculator and added it to our official list of Math Tools. Learn more.
- New features for our Matrix Calculator - rref and trace.
- Updates to the sound and behavior of our audio trace functionality in the graphing calculator. Learn more on our accessibility page.
July 2020
- The graphing calculator now supports vector operations on points. Explore examples here.
- The graphing calculator now supports integrals with infinite bounds. See an example here.
- Added a keyboard shortcut to the Graphing Calculator to show/hide the expression list (Shift + Command/Alt + e).
June 2020
- We released new versions of our iOS and Android graphing calculator apps
- You can now use "arsinh(x)" as an alias for "arcsinh(x)," and similar for other related functions, which should help out our friends in the UK who use the former name for the expression. (It's still "math" and not "maths," though. We are apologetic but firm in this matter.)
- It's Pride Month and Desmos is celebrating. Type "pride" into your graphing calculator.
May 2020
2019
October 2019
- We added Spearman's rank coefficient to the graphing calculator.
July 2019
- We added a new animation mode – "play indefinitely."
June 2019
- We released the newest version of our API.
April 2019
February 2019
- We released support for statistics!
- You can now paste in data sets with 1,000 rows!
2018
December 2018
November 2018
- We released a secure test-mode app so students can use our graphing calculator on in-class tests! [iOS, Android]
October 2018
- We released an app for our scientific calculator for iOS, Android, and...wait for it wait for it..are you still waiting?... Kindle!
September 2018
- Our testing page now includes information for North Carolina and Virginia.
- You can now use variables in slider parameters.
June 2018
- You can now specify label position on points.
May 2018
- New sinks added for expression inputs and table cells.
April 2018
- Italian and Thai translations are complete in the graphing calculator.
- We released transformation tools for our geometry tool. (More here.)
- Our iOS app supports iOS 9 again.
- You can now place images above graphs in the calculator.
- Our calculator is 100% translated into Ukrainian.
- We added Louisiana to our testing page because you'll now find the Desmos calculators on their state test.
- Bug fixes for our iOS app.
- Polygons added to the graphing calculator. (Check it!)
March 2018
- Settings menu in our Four Function and Scientific calculators, including modes for projectors, Braille, and reverse contrast.
- Braille support for our Four Functionand Scientific calculators.
- Polygons in Geometry.
- Upgrades and bug fixes for printing in the Graphing Calculator.
February 2018
- We updated styling options for expression list items.
- iOS and Android app updates released.
- Is Desmos on your test?
January 2018
- We added a quartile function to our graphing calculator.
- Now you can change the font size on point labels.
- Go ahead and rotate images in the graphing calculator.
2017
December 2017
- Now you can re-size the expression list in our calculator.
- Our geometry tool now has angle measures.
September 2017
- We've made usability and performance updates to our iPad Test Mode app.
August 2017
- Go ahead and construct 'til your heart's content! You can now save constructions at desmos.com/geometry.
- Solving simple single variable equations has been deprecated.
June 2017
- Dynamic labeling is here!
- Lists can be used to define locations of images.
April 2017
- Updated Terms of Service.
- We've simultaneously simplified and expanded our share menu for graphs.
January 2017
- Introducing Labels!
2016
October 2016
- iOS App Updates - including limits and parametric domain restriction updates.
June 2016
- Calculator Colors - We've upgraded the current color palette in the graphing calculator to be bolder and even more beautiful.
- iOS updates - Download our latest and greatest version of the Desmos Graphing Calculator app from the App Store.
April 2016
- Offline Test Mode (Chrome App) - We've launched our newest addition to the Desmos family. Desmos Test Mode is now available on desktop devices that support the Google Chrome Browser.
- Integrals - The wait is over. Integrals are officially live.
Desmos Classroom products (Classroom Activities, Activity Builder, Computation Layer and the Desmos Math 6-A1 Program) are now part of Amplify Education. For the most current Desmos Classroom help center resources please visit Amplify’s help center.
The most accurate version of this specific article can be found here.
2022
October 2022
- Students can now share responses using text, uploaded images, or recorded audio with the improved Free Response component. Learn more.
- Challenge Creator is now available for all users to build their own challenges for students to create, solve and share. Learn more.
August 2022
- Polypad by Mathigon is now available in Activity Builder. Polypad is an open canvas with virtual manipulatives that give you the freedom to create, discover, and play with math. Learn more.
- You can now pause and unpause your activity sessions from an activity page or your Dashboard History page.
May 2022
- Polygraph has been integrated into Activity Builder. Add a Polygraph to any activity using the Polygraph component. Learn more about Polygraph.
March 2022
- Just like the scientific calculator, you can now add a graphing or four function calculator to an activity by clicking on the activity title.
January 2022
- Large Text Mode available in the Accessibility Settings menu of the sidebar in student activities... Enabling "Large Text Mode" will make the text in titles, subtitles, notes, text inputs, and math inputs larger!
- Any teacher can edit a student name from their dashboard or from their class roster page. You can also sort your dashboards and class rosters by last name. Learn more.
2021
December 2021
- We made Card Sort more delightful with new group styles and expand/collapse behavior.
November 2021
- Students now receive an alert on their homepage that takes them directly to the activity with the most recent unread feedback.
October 2021
- You can now select multiple student responses at once by selecting the checkboxes above their work in the Teacher View. You will be able to send feedback to all students selected, present selected students work right from the Teacher View, or save them as an album in Snapshots.
- We updated our greeting page for student activities to show the signed in account name. If working with someone else, students can choose “Add their name” to show their partner’s name in that activity.
- Text to speech (Beta) is available for students to turn on in the Accessibility Settings area in the student sidebar (click the hamburger in the top left corner of an activity). Once enabled, students will be able to hear the text in any note on a screen and adjust the playback speed.
September 2021
- Now when viewing the unit collection for any grade of the middle school curriculum, you can switch to any other grade in the header.
- When adding a video to your activity, you can now upload video captions to ensure the video is accessible for your students. Learn more.
- When editing activities, use the radians/degrees toggle to change the default angle measurement for all calculations in an activity, including math inputs, tables, graphs, and Computation Layer. Learn more.
August 2021
- On the teacher and student periscope view in dashboards, you can now select “Show Correctness” to see the correctness for each response on that screen.
- Now when the CL editor is opened, the component/screen documentation will show up by default in a side panel.
- We released a new and improved Student Homepage! Students will see 10 most recent activities with the option to view more instead of seeing every activity at once. They can also filter activities by class.
- Co-teachers now have the option to remove themselves from Desmos Classes.
July 2021
- We updated our list of notable mathematicians used when anonymize mode is turned on from the teacher dashboard. Learn more
- The way that math is read when using a screen reader has been updated to speak shorter forms of common numeric fractions and exponent.
- Teachers can now edit the date when the invitation code is set to expire for Desmos Classes and single sessions. From the invitation code modal, choose “Change Date”.
- Fixed bugs related to Penny Circle, Polygraph, miniscreen layout on activity pages, and error messages for snapshots.
June 2021
- Students can now use Braille displays to read and write equations in Desmos activities. Learn more.
- We updated the flow for students joining classes and single sessions to make them more secure. Learn more.
- Teachers now have the option to require that students log in when joining activity sessions created with a single session code.
- Teachers can now organize activities and collections, including the ability to pin collections to the sidebar. Learn more.
- Teachers can now view the activity history for a single student in a class by going to the Student History Page from the class roster. Learn more.
- The sidebar for logged in students doing in activity now has links to the three most recent activities with unread feedback.
May 2021
- Teachers can now filter the Activity History page by activity. In the dot-dot dropdown next to a specific session select “Filter by Activity” to see all sessions for that activity.
- Teachers can now switch to different activity sessions from the teacher dashboard. From the dropdown in the upper left choose “Switch Dashboard” to quickly jump to another session of the same activity.
- Sessions created via single session code will now show up in the Dashboard History for users added to the dashboard by the primary teacher.
- Added resetOnChange as a sink for table components in Computation Layer for Activity Builder.
- Collaborators on activities now have the option to remove themselves from the activity by choosing “Remove this activity” from the dropdown. This option replaces the “Delete this activity” option for all collaborators except the original activity author.
- Added support for rich text to the coverText sink in Computation Layer for Activity Builder.
April 2021
- Teachers can now hide screens of an activity from the teacher dashboard by clicking the dropdown on the screen they want to remove and clicking “Hide Screen”. Hidden screens will be completely removed from the student experience of the activity and you can “Unhide” a screen at any time to add it back.
- The logged-out homepage of teacher.desmos.com has a new look!
- Authors in Activity Builder now have the option of turning on/off the different sketch tools for sketch components.
- Authors in Activity Builder can now choose between a few different layout options for multiple choice and checkboxes.
- Added a new method, scaleThicknessBy, for sketch components in Computation Layer for Activity Builder.
- Updated the initialTool sink for sketch components in Computation Layer to allow for math and text as initial tools selected for students.
- Authors in Activity Builder can now add bullets to Teacher Tips.
March 2021
- We updated our Computation Layer Documentation page to make it easier to navigate and include more examples.
- Authors in Activity Builder can now include hyperlinks, italics, and bold font in activity descriptions.
- Added saveOnChange as a sink to graph components in Computation Layer for Activity Builder.
- We updated the live preview in Polygraph game play to instead show an animating “...” while students are typing.
- Added showExplain as a sink for multiple choice components in Computation Layer for Activity Builder.
- Fixed bugs related to the color selector on collections, Transformation Golf, images uploaded to the graphing calculator component by students, and Google Classroom imported classes.
- Graph and sketch thumbnails of student responses in the teacher dashboard now show more detail, including labels.
- Teachers can now share individual activity dashboards with co-teachers and other colleagues. Learn more.
- Students will now be able to select from 3 line thickness options in sketch.
February 2021
- We added keyboard shortcuts to sketch components in activities.
- Students will now see two new options on sketch inputs in activities: text and math. Selecting these tools will allow students to type in text boxes on top of the sketch. These options are enabled by default and can be disabled in the sketch component editor.
- Central Park and Function Carnival have been rebuilt using Activity Builder, allowing teachers to copy and edit these activities to make their own adjustments.
- New Desmos Labs feature - you can turn on the Student Image Upload feature (currently in Beta) to allow students to upload images in activities.
- Teachers can now deactivate invitation codes for Desmos Classes and single activity sessions. For security, codes now have a shorter default active period, but teachers can reactive inactive codes at any time to let more students join. Learn more.
- We officially announced the Desmos 6–8 Math Curriculum! Learn more.
January 2021
- Tile Pile and Water Line have been officially retired. You can run a non-saving student version of the activities from museum.desmos.com.
2020
September 2020
- The assign button on activities now opens a modal to choose which classes to assign the activity to, allowing you to assign the same activity to multiple classes at once.
- Google Classroom linked classes now have posting preferences so that you can choose to post immediately to Google Classroom, post as a draft to Google Classroom, or not post at all.
- The teacher dashboard for activities assigned to a Desmos Class now lists all students in the class roster in the Summary tab. This will allow you to see at a glance who still needs to join the activity.
- Co-teachers for classes can now see all the dashboard links for activities assigned to that class from their History page.
- You can now easily share a dashboard link with your co-teachers from the teacher dashboard. From the dropdown next to the activity name, choose “Share Dashboard”.
- Teacher.desmos.com and student.desmos.com are now available in Korean, and Estonian.
- We released Desmos Classes as a way to organize your classes and assign activities to a group of students without needing a code for each activity. Desmos Classes can also be imported from your existing classes in Google Classroom.
- Our note component in activity builder now supports rich text formatting.
- Co-teachers can now see and use the entire classroom conversation tool-kit.
August 2020
- Our Written Feedback feature for giving students feedback in activities has been released from Labs and is now turned on for everyone. Learn more.
- Videos in Activity Builder now start with sound on by default to better support distance learning.
- You can now collaborate with you colleagues on activities. Learn more.
- Added a Getting to Know Each Other activity to teacher.desmos.com to help you and your students get off to a great start this school year.
July 2020
- In Activity Builder, we split our graph component into two distinct components - Graph and Graphing Calc. This change allows activity authors to add a large Graph to a screen that will have the expression list and graph controls hidden.
- In activities with evaluation on math inputs or table cells, we now show the “≈” symbol when the complete evaluation cannot be shown.
- In the teacher dashboard for activities with a Card Sort, we now default to “Show Answer Key” turned off.
- We removed the fullscreen button on the student side of activities due to severe bugs that feature was causing on iPad. We are working to bring back this feature in places that can support it, but have removed it everywhere for now as a precaution.
- In Activity Builder, we added a button to the Graph component to “Convert to Sketch” and a button to the Sketch component to “Convert to Graph” to easily go back and forth between those components.
- Classroom Activities are now available in Italian and Dutch.
- Added timestamps to our feedback feature in activities.
- Added visual indicators to the teacher dashboard for activities to show in the Summary view which screens have unread feedback on them (green triangle) and which screens have feedback that students have read (gray triangle).
June 2020
- We updated our home page. Quickly find our math tools, activities, and other information about Desmos. Students can also jump easily into activities right from the homepage.
- We launched a re-designed Activity Builder, which allows for much more flexibility in the kinds and quantity of components you can add to a screen. Our Computation Layer scripting language is on by default so you can now copy and edit many, many more activities than you could previously.
- The link for students to join activities is now shorter and a little more human readable (e.g. https://student.desmos.com/join/[code]) and continues to take students directly to the student greeting page for the activity.
May 2020
- We now export labels in PNGs, SVGs, and in different places throughout our activities.
April 2020
- We reduced the amount of students send and receive. On average, students are now sending 65% less data to the server, receiving 35% less data from the server, and making 45% fewer requests to the server
- You can choose from three languages in our new language picker at teacher.desmos.com – French, Russian, and Spanish.
- We released a new activity: Faucet.
- You can add co-teachers to your account who can see activity dashboards.
March 2020
- Schools started closing around the United States and we added a lot of new features and content to support teachers. Learn more.
- We released Written Feedback as a beta.
- You can embed a scientific calculator in activities.
- We created collections of distance-friendly activities.
- You can copy and paste screens from other people's activities straight from the preview.
- We created a set of "Starter Screens" to help you get your own activities started.
February 2020
- Sort options in the dashboard! You can now sort student names by the time they entered the activity, by their name, or randomly.
- New activity releases!
January 2020
- Student activities now have a fancy new design!
- We released new activities!
2019
December 2019
- We released Turtle Crossing.
November 2019
- Check out our upgrades to collections, including a whole bunch of middle school statistics activities.
- We released Parallel Lines – an activity that asks students to notice patterns in parallel lines.
October 2019
- We released three new fantastic activities:
September 2019
- Students can now upload images into full-screen graphs in Activity Builder. (This will be extremely useful for all of you folks who assign graph art projects!)
July 2019
- We made major re-designs to our Transformation Golf activity!
- We added a new animation mode – "play indefinitely."
May 2019
- You can now follow other people's collections!
April 2019
- Utah and Iowa include Desmos on their state math exam.
- We released an Ordered List component for Activity Builder.
- We released Collections! Teachers can now create collections of their favorite activities.
- We released Photo Snapshots! Teachers can add photos from their cameraphone to the snapshots gallery.
March 2019
- Our embosser exports to both 11 x 11 and 8.5 x 11 paper sizes. Happy embossing!
January 2019
- Now we have export options for embossers for teachers of students who are blind or visually impaired.
2018
September 2018
- Images are bigger in Activity Builder when they're the only element on the screen.
May 2018
- Card Sort for everyone! Card Sorts are no longer an opt-in feature in labs, but available by default in our editor
April 2018
- You now have access to our Computation Layer scripting language for Activity Builder, which until this point has been private. ( More here.)
- Our class codes now have six characters instead of four. We also make your class codes inactive after six months. (You can re-activate them if you need to – no problem.) This is all an effort at reducing the odds someone will stumble into your Desmos activity and your students' data.
February 2018
- New activities: The Fraction Challenge and The Decimal Challenge.
- We updated two activities with our latest Challenge Creator technology: Pomegraphit and Land the Plane.
January 2018
- You can randomize the options in multiple choice questions in Activity Builder.
2017
November 2017
- If you edit an activity, we'll post a notice in your list of class codes so you know which ones belong to the older version.
October 2017
- We released three new activities: Parabola Slalom, Match My Picture [ blog post], and Translations with Coordinates. We developed a new feature called Challenge Creator, which lets students to create challenges for other students. We added it to three activities – Parabola Slalom, Laser Challenge, and Point Collector: Lines – with many more to come.
September 2017
- We upgraded our entire activity pool to offer more automatic feedback to teachers.
- We released our hot new free activity: Transformation Golf. ( Behind the scenes.)
- Our new teacher dashboard is officially released!
August 2017
- We're working on updates to a new teacher dashboard at teacher.desmos.com. Give it a try - we'd love your feedback.
March 2017
- Text and math type can now co-exist in Activity Builder. Hooray!
February 2017
- Using Teacher Pacing, teachers can now restrict students to multiple screens.
January 2017
- We've added two new bundles to teacher.desmos.com: Conics and Transformations.
2016
December 2016
- You can now import a graph into an Activity Builder activity by copying and pasting the url into the first expression line of a graph component.
November 2016
- Videos in Activity Builder - Play, pause, and more with the addition of videos in our classroom activities.
- We've added a Multiple Choice option for Activity Builder activities.
September 2016
- Teacher Pacing and Pause - Ring in the school year with our newest additions to the teacher dashboard. Find out what we love about these features.
- Classcode Screen - Simply open the dashboard and the student instructions will automatically be projected.
August 2016
- Teacher Account Settings - We've added the ability to update your username, reset your password, and email subscription preferences. Head over to teacher.desmos.com and click on your username in the upper right hand corner.
July 2016
- teacher.desmos.com - We given our teacher site received quite a facelift including the addition of bookmarks, bundles (!), and the brand new Desmos Labs.
May 2016
- Sketch - Have students record their informal thinking with our newest component. Check out one way to use it in one of our Desmos Teaching Faculty's newest activities, Sketchy Graphs.
- Hide Students - By popular demand! You can now hide unruly students from the teacher dashboard and find the account information associated with each student.
April 2016
- Student Side Math Text - Student math responses can now be automatically formatted to beautiful math type.
March 2016
- Tips for Teachers - Give the gift of context to your fellow teachers. It's now possible to view screen-by-screen advice from the original author of activities in Activity Builder. You can also add tips for other teachers to your own authored activities.
- Math Text - It's now possible to format math text in Activity Builder. Say goodbye to ^ and hello to actual exponents!
February 2016
- Anonymize Student List - We've added the ability to anonymize your student list. Click the Anonymous Icon and your class list will show a list of famous mathematician names (only available in Activity Builder).
- Student Preview - You can now preview a student screen in the teacher dashboard. Try it out when discussing a question screen with students or exploring a graph together!
- New Activities - Fresh crop of activities have been added to the search pool: Who's Faster, Roll the Dice, Intro to Rational Functions, String Art 2.0, and Modeling Perimeter and Area.
January 2016
- Invisible Folders - Hide folders from students in Activity Builder graph screens. Check out an example of its implementation in our updated Match My Line activity.
- Graph Exhibits - Graphs can be now be added to question and text screens in Activity Builder.