Creator -> Inventor

Wow! I can officially call myself an inventor! It took me a few years to overcome my impostor syndrome and accept that I can call myself a creator. Having a lot of users helps validate that, but now that I had a US patent granted I can say I am an inventor!

I didn't do it alone though and it would never have happened without Martin McKay and Texthelp. The process was a long process and I admit I was not optimistic it would be granted due to all the technical specs, hurdles, and administrative workings. We started the process way back in 2016 and it was finally approved in November 2022, over 6 years later! I don't work with math items much anymore as I left Texthelp a bit over 3 years ago, but it is something that is still close to my heart. It seems like a lifetime ago I was the 'g(Math) guy' and the patent being granted flooded me with so many flashbacks of those days. Half a lifetime ago I was a graduate student in mathematics in Montana and got some great advice from Dr. Jenny McNulty and Dr. Jon Graham:

Take the problem you are working on long term and keep it in the back of your head. During any colloquium or presentation, no matter how much out of your field, see if their talk is a possible solution or application of your problem.

The problem of how to make math easy on a computer was in the back of my head for decades. Finally getting it into g(Math) and then EquatIO was a great way to get it out of my head and into another place. It really intensified there though and became all-consuming as to how to improve and enhance the experience. The patent being granted was a super fun stamp of achievement and celebration of something that was such a large part of me for a long time.