Audiobooks stop at the first formula
Narrated maths books are rare, and a general read-aloud voice goes quiet or reads loose symbols when it meets an equation.
For mathematics
A maths textbook you can listen to.
Mathematics is the subject audio was never made for: a page is half notation, and a voice that skips the notation skips the mathematics. Aethel reads the symbols as a lecturer would, keeps every formula typeset on screen, and lets you stop at the step you did not follow.
Five books and an hour of narration free. No card needed.
The problem
Notation is a second language
∀, ∃, ⊆, ∇, Σ: you have to know how each is said before you can read a line aloud, even to yourself.
Proofs need more than one pass
The first reading gives the shape of the argument, a later one the detail. Desk time usually allows only one.
How Aethel helps
Notation read as mathematics
Quantifiers, sets, sums, integrals, limits, matrices and Greek letters are spoken in words, in the order you would write them.
Formulas stay on the page
Each equation is typeset where it was printed and highlighted while it is read, so eye and ear work together.
Stop on a step
Tap the line of a proof you did not follow and ask why it holds, or ask for a small example of the definition.
A symbol library to lean on
Every common symbol has a page with its spoken name, meaning and examples, from ∇ to ξ.
What you will hear
These are produced live by the same speech engine the app uses. Press Listen to hear them in your device's voice; in the app you choose a studio or ElevenLabs voice.
e^(iπ) + 1 = 0
Aethel says
e to the power of i pi, plus 1 equals 0
x = (−b ± √(b² − 4ac)) / 2a
Aethel says
x equals the quantity negative b plus or minus the square root of the quantity b squared minus 4 a c, over 2a
θ ← θ − η ∇L(θ)
Aethel says
theta is updated to theta minus eta times the gradient of L of theta
Get started in three steps
- 1Create a free account.
- 2Import a chapter of your textbook, or your lecture notes as a PDF.
- 3Listen to the definitions and theorem statements first. Then work the proofs on paper with the audio paused.
Questions
Can audio really work for proofs?
For the first pass, yes: you hear the statement, the strategy and where the argument turns. Checking each step still needs pencil and paper, and the page stays in step with the audio for that.
Does it read handwritten lecture notes?
Aethel is built for printed and typeset pages. Handwriting is not reliably recognised; typeset notes, such as PDFs made from LaTeX, give the best result.
Which level of mathematics does it cover?
School algebra to graduate courses: calculus, linear algebra, probability, analysis, vector calculus and the notation of machine learning. Very specialised notation may be read letter by letter.
How are Greek letters pronounced?
By their usual English names. See how to pronounce Greek letters.
Hear your own book this way.
Free to start: five books and an hour of narration, no card needed.