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The Chat tab is where you ask Polya about a course. Polya looks through the materials you brought in, writes an answer, and marks each claim with a numbered citation. You can open any citation to see the page or passage it came from, so you can check the answer yourself.

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Before you begin

  • Add a course. You can start asking while it’s still importing. Polya answers from whatever is ready.
  • Optional: choose a study mode for the course. The mode decides how much Polya gives away on a problem.

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Ask a question

1

Open the course

Select the course in the sidebar. The Chat tab opens with What are you working on?
2

Type your question

In Ask about your course…, type a question about a concept, a reading, or a problem you’re stuck on. You can paste a whole problem. The box grows as you type.
3

Send it

Press Enter or select the send arrow. To add a new line without sending, press Shift+Enter.Polya shows Reading your course materials…, then writes its answer as you watch.
To stop an answer while it’s being written, select Stop. Polya keeps the part it already wrote.

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How Polya answers

  • Concept questions get a direct answer. “What is a Poisson process?” gets a full explanation from your course.
  • Problems get a help ladder. For “solve this,” Polya first asks what you’ve tried or gives a hint. Each time you ask for more or show your work, it moves up one rung: a hint, one guided step, a worked example of a similar problem, and then a full walkthrough. Your study mode sets how far up the ladder Polya goes and how soon.
  • Gaps are named. If your materials don’t cover a question, Polya says so and teaches from general knowledge, connecting back to your course where it can. Those parts have no citation.
Polya can be wrong, even when it cites a source. Open the citation to confirm the answer matches your course before you rely on it.

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Check a source

Each answer that uses your course has small numbered citations, like [1] and [2]. Each number points to one passage from your materials.
  • To open a source, select its citation number in the answer. A PDF opens at the cited page. A Canvas page, assignment, syllabus, or transcript shows the cited text.
  • To see all sources for an answer, look at the Sources panel on the right. It lists each source’s number, title, location, and a short excerpt. Select a source to open it.
  • To go back to the source list, select ← All sources.
  • To open the original, select Open the PDF ↗, Open in Canvas ↗, or Open on the course website ↗ at the bottom of the source. On phones, which often can’t show a PDF inside the page, Open the PDF ↗ opens it in its own tab.
Locations read as a page, like p.12, a page range, like p.12–14, or a time in a lecture transcript, like 12:04–12:31. When you select a citation in an earlier answer, the Sources panel switches to that answer’s sources and shows earlier answer · back to latest. Select it to return to the newest answer’s sources.
On narrow screens, such as phones and small windows, there’s no Sources panel. Selecting a citation opens the source in a sheet from the bottom of the screen. Select Close or tap outside the sheet to go back.

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Get the next step when you’re stuck

When you’re working through a problem, select I’m stuck — next step. Polya treats this as you having made an attempt and gives you the next rung of help, such as a hint or one guided step. The button is available once you’ve asked your first question in a conversation.

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Ask about today’s lecture

Lecture helps you during or right after class. You give Polya the example on the board, and it answers in your professor’s own terms.
1

Turn on Lecture

Below the question box, select Lecture. An On the board box appears above your question.
2

Add what's on the board

In On the board, type or paste the example being worked. To use a photo of the board, copy its text first, for example with your phone’s text recognition, then paste it.
3

Ask your question

Type your question and send it. Polya reads the board text along with your course materials.
The board text stays attached to each question you send until you select Lecture again to turn it off. Polya reads up to about 4,000 characters of board text.

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Check yourself

After Polya has answered at least twice in a conversation, you can test whether you’ve got it.
1

Start a check

Select Check yourself. Polya gives you one related question to solve on your own.
2

Answer without help

The question box changes to Try it on your own — then send your answer. Type your answer and send it.To leave the check without answering, select skip the check.
3

Read the result

Polya marks your answer with one of these labels:
  • You’ve got it
  • Close — one gap
  • Not yet — keep going
Your results are listed on the course’s Materials tab under Check-yourself record. See Check-yourself record.

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Write math

Polya shows math in its answers as formatted equations. You can write math in your own questions the same way:
  • Inline math: \( x^2 + 1 \)
  • Math on its own line: \[ \sum_{k=1}^{n} k \] or $$ \sum_{k=1}^{n} k $$
A single dollar sign isn’t treated as math, so amounts like “$5” stay as written.

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Start or resume a conversation

  • To start over, select New conversation at the top right. On a phone, it reads New.
  • To pick up a recent conversation, open the course’s Chat tab with no conversation open. Under Recent conversations, select one. Polya lists your three most recent conversations, each titled by its first question.
Citations in a resumed conversation still open the right sources.

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When an answer doesn’t come through

If Polya can’t answer, a notice appears where the answer would be, and your typed question goes back into the box so you don’t lose it. Select Try Again to resend.

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Limits

Study modes

Choose how much help Polya gives in each course.

Prepare for an exam

Practice exam-style questions on the Study tab.