Similar to Letts Science Explorer, Maths Explorer uses the same Pre-rendered environment to navigate a virtual maths learning center, which appears to be set on Mars (The Science one appeared to be set underwater), it kind of gives the feel of Myst.

The application is desinged to run under Windows 95 or 99, but the user guide makes reference to Win32s which is intended for use on Windows 3.11.

The entrance that appears when you start the program, you are prompted to enter your name, which is where your score and progress are saved under. There is also a link to the Letts online website, that opens your default web browser.

Navigation is done by clicking on the edges of the screen to move to a different section of the room, doors can be clicked on to go to a specific room, which are based on different subjects of mathematics. As you browse the center, you are offered various different activities that can be invoked by clicking on them, each zone has its own set of activities. You can quickly view these by clicking on the Map button on the top left of the screen.

The different zones are:

• Number: Fractions, currency & counting.
• Calculation Zone: Use of a calculator and different functions
• Computer Zone: What computers are and a summarization of how they function
• Game Zone: Various activities that are designed to test your maths skills.
• Data Zone: Relating to collecting and analyzing data, and how it becomes information
• Measurement Zone: Various different units of imperial and metric and how they are used
• Shape Zone: Shapes, Angles & Symmetry.

• Information Point: Serves as an introduction to the zone itself and how it relates to mathematics and what can be explored
• Fact Point: Shows an important fact that is relevant to the zone itself
• Puzzle Post: Gives you a challenge that can be done away from the computer.
• Investigations: The main attraction of the zone, this explores a specific subject and they are divided into three sections, Learn About, Main Investigation & Tell Me More
  • Learn About – This is where you learn more about the subject at hand, a narrator will read what is displayed on the screen (which can be muted at any time) and a picture or graphics will appear to accompany the learning material
• Main Investigation – A mini-game or activity that is in relation to what was conveyed in the Learn About section, these typically have three difficulty levels and some allow you to play with another person, but only one player can play at a time.
• Tell Me More: Offer supplementary information on that subject, not essential but information that is good to know
• There is also a Test Yourself activity where you can answer questions related to that subject and can view your score

Towards the top of the screen there is a navigation bar of some sort, that lets you access different areas of the application. The map will let you quickly jump to a specific area of the zone, which saves having to keep clicking in order to navigate.

The catalog gives a directly of the different topics that can be quickly accessed, useful if you need to learn about a specific subject, and which subject they belong to

The Notes section lets you view any saved notes that are specific to your user profile and are tied to any investigations that you complete.

The Logbook will keep track of your progress and will mark any activities taken. Scores from Test Yourself activities are also recorded.

Lastly, there are Print Materials which is its own separate application. Here you can select a subject and a topic that you can print out for later reference.

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