This year’s TechCrunch Disrupt Europe has been epic. We’ve seen some of the coolest advancements in portable medical gadgets and cutting-edge smartphone apps that the tech world has to offer. One creation that took the Disrupt forum by storm was an app called Photomath, which is being touted as the world’s first smart camera calculator. Today, less than a week after the app’s launch, it has already unseated Facebook Message to become the top free app in the App Store.

The promo clip for PhotoMath went viral this week and makes the process of using the app appear stunningly simple – a virtual dream come true for those who struggle with or simply loathe the concept of math altogether. For my fellow mathletes out there (yes, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Khrysi Briggs and I am a math geek…) the app offers the awesome option of being able to instantly verify the accuracy of the solution to any math problem. It works in real time and displays the answer to an equation in an augmented reality layer; simply use your smartphone camera to scan a photo of a math equation and the app will display the answer instantly. Currently the functionality is equipped to deal with equations up to the difficulty level of your standard middle school math; trigonometry is a little beyond its reach just yet. As for assisting your kids with their homework or finding instant solutions to math problems you encounter in your everyday life, PhotoMath hits the nail right on the head. Currently the app only supports printed equations, but solving handwritten math problems is on the to-do list for future versions.

While PhotoMath might seem like a teacher’s worst nightmare for the opportunities it provides to cheat during tests and homework, it has quite a few useful functions to work as a learning tool as well. MicroBlink, the Croatian company that created PhotoMath, stated that they see the technology being used in “many places where mobile apps need to be connected to the real world through text recognition”. Additionally, the app is designed from the ground up to me more than just a cheat tool; it also provides a step-by-step guide showing how each of the presented problems is solved. For students struggling with math and unable to obtain a tutor, PhotoMath could actually end up being an integral aspect of their journey to learn and understand math.

The PhotoMath app is available for free on iOS and Windows Phone now, and an Android version is slated for release sometime next year.