Ashbourne Community School past pupil creates maths puzzle app that's adding up the numbers

A YOUNG Ashbourne man has created an award-winning maths puzzle app, which has already been downloaded 12,000 times with 2,000 people a day playing the game.

David Carr (23), a past pupil of Ashbourne Community School who graduated from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana on Saturday created the daily puzzle with fellow student Cris Fakhimi and the pair recently won the prestigious award for the Best Student Led Venture in the McCloskey New Venture Competition.

David, a son of Bríd and Jonathan Carr studied Actuarial Maths at DCU, before travelling to the US last August to study for a Masters Degree in technology and Entrepreneurship. He graduated on earlier this month with first class honours.

A keen fan of the New York Times daily Wordle puzzle, David thought a similar app with maths puzzles would entertain those who love maths, help students and teachers and build up confidence in those who consider themselves weak at the subject.

The app, Pi Squared, has a daily puzzle as well as many other features and is proving popular among maths teachers as a way of getting students interested in the subject.

“The aim is making maths education more accessible. Many students struggle with traditional learning methods and the app provides a solution that helps them build confidence and improve their marks through a fun game, making it simple and enjoyable.

“When I started here last August I decided to apply for the university's Top Guns programme and was one of five successful applicants. I received $2,000 to work on a start up.”

David paired up with Kris Fakhimi to develop and promote the app. “Chris has a background in computer engineering. He is a great coder, and like me, he loves maths.”

They developed the app and over three months they worked closely with between 300 to 500 students, interviewing them on what they thought of the app, and what needed to be changed.

“We tested it out on students and teachers - all the teachers at Ashbourne Community School, Shane Melia at St Declan's NS in Ashbourne and Sean Hogan at St Paul's NS in Ratoath.

“I've always been passionate about maths and I used to give grinds. What has struck me is that a lot of people have very poor confidence when to comes to maths and Pi Squared helps build confidence.”

In winning the McCloskey Award, David and Chris received $10,000 towards their venture, giving them a real boost.

“We are still building the app and adding new features. There have been 12,000 downloads so far and last week there were 2000 people playing each day. It was ranked first in the educational charts five days last week,” he said.

“We are hoping to keep the numbers high, so we can make some money from it in the future - it would be great if the New York Times or the Irish Times decided to buy it.”

While David and Chris will continue to work on the app, David is looking forward to a starting a new job with AE/Betancourt in Grand Rapis Michigan, where he will be Director of Strategic Insights and Innovation. The company is a large recruitment agency and David will lead a team working on how they will introduce artificial intelligence, make it relevant and how to leverage the shift in technology.

“This will be a great experience for me, a great challenge and I decided to take it up while I'm still young.”

David enjoyed a little taste of home at the weekend when his parents, Bríd and Jonathan, sister, Isobel, who is a nurse and brother William, an accountancy student, flew over for his graduation.

“It was great to see them.”

David is hoping to return to live and work in Ireland in the future.

“I hope one day to open my own company in Ireland. I miss my family, friends, the GAA and the hurling, but this is a great opportunity for me at the moment,” he said.