Terms of Service

1. Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old to use Calculowl. If you are under 18, or under the age of majority where you live, you may use Calculowl only with the consent of a parent or legal guardian, who agrees to these Terms on your behalf. By using Calculowl, you represent that you meet these requirements.

2. Your account

You are responsible for keeping your password secure and for everything done under your account. Each person may have one account, and accounts are personal: do not share yours or use someone else's. Tell us right away at [email protected] if you think your account has been used without your permission.

3. The service

Calculowl is free and provided for educational purposes. We work to make every problem, answer and explanation correct, but we do not guarantee that they are free of errors, and we do not guarantee any grade, test score, placement or other learning outcome.

4. AI grading and your API key

• Handwriting transcription and proof grading use Claude, an AI model from Anthropic. They are assistive and may be wrong. You confirm each handwriting transcription before it is graded, and you may dispute a proof grading once per attempt.
• These features run only on your own Anthropic API key. You are responsible for that key, for complying with Anthropic's terms, and for any charges Anthropic bills to your account. We are not responsible for Anthropic's service or its charges.

5. Acceptable use

You agree that you will not:

• scrape, crawl or bulk-download Calculowl's problems, lessons or other content;
• interfere with, overload, probe or disrupt Calculowl or its infrastructure, or try to gain unauthorized access to any account, system or data;
• share your account, or create accounts by automated means;
• submit content that is unlawful, infringing or abusive; or
• use Calculowl for any unlawful, harmful or fraudulent purpose.

6. License

Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use Calculowl for your own learning. We reserve all rights not expressly granted.

7. Course content and intellectual property

Much of Calculowl's lesson content is adapted, in original wording, from openly licensed textbooks: OpenStax titles (Prealgebra, Elementary Algebra, Intermediate Algebra, College Algebra, Precalculus and Calculus Volumes 1 to 3), licensed under CC BY 4.0, and CK-12 Geometry, licensed under CC BY-NC 3.0. Those works remain subject to their licenses, and their sources are credited in Calculowl's source code.

Apart from that openly licensed material, Calculowl and its software, problem generators, design, name and logo are owned by Shibby Ventures LLC and are protected by intellectual property laws. You keep ownership of the answers and proofs you submit, and you grant us the right to store and process them to run Calculowl for you. These Terms do not transfer any ownership rights to you.

8. Termination

You may stop using Calculowl at any time, and you may ask us to delete your account by emailing [email protected]. We may suspend or close your account if you break these Terms or if we stop offering Calculowl. Sections 9 through 15 survive termination.

9. No warranty

CALCULOWL IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, ACCURACY, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT CALCULOWL WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, ACCURATE, COMPLETE, OR SECURE. YOU USE CALCULOWL AT YOUR OWN RISK.

10. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL SHIBBY VENTURES LLC OR ITS OWNERS, MEMBERS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO YOUR USE OF (OR INABILITY TO USE) CALCULOWL, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STATUTE, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, OUR TOTAL CUMULATIVE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR CALCULOWL WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE TOTAL AMOUNT YOU PAID US, IF ANY, IN THE TWELVE MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM, OR (B) FIFTY U.S. DOLLARS ($50). Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so some of the above may not apply to you.

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Shibby Ventures LLC and its owners, members, officers, employees, and agents from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to: (a) your use or misuse of Calculowl; (b) your violation of these Terms; (c) your violation of any law or the rights of any third party; or (d) your use of your Anthropic API key.

12. Third-party services

Calculowl relies on third-party services, such as Anthropic for AI grading under your key and an email provider for account emails, that we do not own or control and that are subject to their own terms. We are not responsible for those third parties or for your interactions with them.

13. Binding arbitration and class action waiver

Please read this section carefully. It affects how disputes are resolved.

Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or Calculowl that cannot be resolved informally will be resolved exclusively through final and binding individual arbitration, rather than in court, except that either party may bring an individual claim in small claims court if it qualifies, and either party may seek injunctive or equitable relief in court to protect its intellectual property.

The arbitration will be administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its applicable rules, will take place in the State of Michigan (or by remote or written proceeding where available), and will be conducted in English before a single arbitrator. The arbitrator has exclusive authority to resolve any dispute relating to the interpretation, applicability, or enforceability of this arbitration agreement.

Class action waiver: You and we agree that each may bring claims against the other only in an individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, consolidated, or representative proceeding. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims or preside over any form of a representative or class proceeding.

30-day right to opt out: You may opt out of this arbitration provision by sending written notice to [email protected] within 30 days of first accepting these Terms, stating your name and your intent to opt out. Opting out will not affect any other provision of these Terms.

14. Governing law and venue

These Terms and any dispute arising out of or relating to them are governed by the laws of the State of Michigan, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. To the extent any dispute is not subject to arbitration, you agree that it will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Michigan, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.

15. General

If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, that provision will be limited or severed to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of it. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and us regarding Calculowl and supersede any prior agreements.

16. Changes to Calculowl and to these Terms

We may modify, suspend, or discontinue Calculowl, in whole or in part, at any time. We may also update these Terms from time to time; when we do, we will revise the "Effective" date above. Your continued use of Calculowl after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

17. Contact

Questions about these Terms can be sent to [email protected].