Apparently, Live Search for quite some time has had the ability to solve single and multistep equations directly from the search box. Now none of us would know that because Live Search these days has been overtaken by the mighty Google. Why not give it a try? Here are some test queries:
This certainly exceeds the capabilities of Google Search’s calculator but Google does have an edge with the unit conversion feature.
It’s also important to note the proper keys to use for the different math symbols:
- Add: + (Right next to the backspace key, but I’m sure you already knew that)
- Subtract: - (Right next to the + key, again hopefully you knew that too)
- Multiply: * (That’s SHIFT + 8 )
- Divide: / (Like on a graphing calculator it’s just a forward slash)
- To the power of: ^ (SHIFT + 6)
- Parenthesis: ( ) (Remember Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally, you can use parenthesis in your equations)
So an example query could look like “2*x+(20/x+6)-x^3=6″ (And just for reference 2*x can also be 2x, but 2*4 can’t be 24!).
Note: It is intersting that I just discovered that when trying to solve a quadratic equation, Live Search won’t solve if it is in the form of x^2+ax+y=0. Instead you have to trick the system by doubling making the 0 the value of y and then doubling y like so: x^2+ax+2y=y. This will sometimes work, but overall it’s solving of a quadratic formula is very buggy.
