When Juliet told me about the appointment I understood it was a government program to test children at maths, so I was immediately wary and defensive when I learnt it was a commercial product.

I’ve got no opinion on the software. From the demo I would say it clearly has some value and could even be useful. At the quoted price tag of $7530 though (for the complete package) I have no intention of buying it.

Sure, it could be cheaper in the long run than home tutors, and what price do you put on your children’s education? That’s the sales pitch of course and I’m not surprised they were selling strongly in Kalgoorlie where we have a shortage of teachers and high affluence.

I have a few issues though with the whole deal.

Juliet is a soft touch for salespeople, but clearly she misunderstood the initial pitch.

The name “Australian Institute of Mathematics” is legitimate but misleading in my view. For starters, it implies a not-for-profit status.

The cost is huge for the target market of middle-income families. For that investment you get some software and backup from telephone tutors. I could buy all the kids computers for that money, running Windows Vista and a full suite of programs.

I also don’t like being asked to pay that amount upfront without a trial. There should be an introductory module for kids to try. If they liked it and showed progress I might be inclined to consider buying it.

And as with every product purchase, I like to make comparisons.

It turns out there is much cheaper software available called Maths Power. Their site includes a warning for parents about other operators. This section was interesting:

Beware of sales organisations that have official sounding words as part of their name. These words give the impression of some sort of connection to official bodies or places of higher learning. Unfortunately, there is no law preventing sales companies from using the terms in their names to give parents the impression that they are in some way an official body.

I could buy Maths Power for $750, or 10 percent of Mathemagic’s cost.

For all I know it might only be 10 percent as good, but without testing both of them I have no way of knowing.

As it stands I am simply confused and know only that I won’t be buying Mathemagic.