Educational apps are usually flashcard, textbook or calculator substitutes: They make games that help with memorization, are references for information, or give you the answer. What’s exciting about Wolfram Alpha’s new apps is that they sometimes give you not just the answer, but a step-by-step explanation of how they arrived at it. Instead of just spitting out an answer and a line for a one-variable equation, for instance, the Algebra app shows each step of the equation.

Both math apps could stand in for an expensive graphing calculator, and they provide more detailed information. The music theory app not only shows you correct chords and intervals, but allows you to hear them as well.