I’d like to share a side project that has gradually become my main creative outlet: The Algebrator, a web-based algebra and calculus solver I built using Java, Spring Boot, Vaadin 24, and a symbolic math engine under the hood.
It started as a personal attempt to revisit the math I loved in middle/high school, but it evolved into a multi-year design experiment in AI-augmented software engineering. I built and iterated on this app using a paired-programming workflow with LLMs (ChatGPT + GitHub Copilot), and the project ended up teaching me more about agentic AI development than anything else I’ve worked on.
What it does
Lets users type equations, inequalities, and expressions in a calculator-like UI
Solves algebraic equations, systems, trigonometry, calculus operations, and iterative “problem templates”
Supports fraction/decimal modes, radians/degrees, comparison operators, user-defined functions, and multi-character variables
Includes utility “extras” like prime generation, Fibonacci, random integers, etc.
All built in a Vaadin UI designed to feel like a pocket calculator
Why I built it
I wanted a tool that makes algebra feel like it did on my old TI calculator, but with the flexibility of a symbolic engine. I also wanted to explore how far I could push “AI-paired development” in a real project — not just code generation, but architecture, UI/UX reasoning, and rapid iteration.
What might interest HN
It’s a full Java/Vaadin project, not JavaScript
It demonstrates a real, sustained AI-augmented workflow
It blends symbolic math (Symja) with custom arithmetic logic in Java
The UI is dynamic: variables appear as buttons as you type them
It’s deployed live (Spring Boot on Railway)
It’s fully open-source
Looking for feedback on:
Architecture and code clarity
Ideas for additional math features or real-world templates
Best practices for symbolic math in a Java environment
How to present AI-augmented workflows professionally
Repo: [https://github.com/eGantry/algebrator-repo1a] Live demo: [https://algebrator-repo1a-production.up.railway.app/]
Thanks for taking a look — feedback and critique are welcome.