Mathway - A Step By Step Mathematics Problems Solver

Going to school or college? Already having butterflies in your stomach thinking about the calculus problems that await you? We here at Make Use Of believe there is no alternative to hard work…(well, there just might be one - it IS the age of the internet baby!).

So here is a piece of the Internet that actually helps you solve math problems. Nope its not a calculator and you don’t even need to know the formulae. All you need to solve a problem is the “Problem Statement”. Too good to be true? Lets have a look:

Head on over to Mathway . Enter your problem, select the subject and then just hit solve. Not only will you get the solution to the problem but also the steps that were taken to reach the solution. Cool ha? Take that Mr Maths Teacher!

Lets try and solve (tan(x) - sin(x)) / (sec²(x) - 1 ) . Ya I know you’ve figured it out already and yes the answer is cos(x) but head on over here and see how Mathway actually offers you a step by step solution. Here is a snippet:

If you need a little extra control you might want to check out the other features. You can choose from amongst “Basic Maths, Pre-Algebra, Algebra, Trigonometry, Precalculus, Calculus” to specify the category of your problem. Choosing the category provides you with a set of commonly used symbols for those types of problems, so you don’t have to worry about entering that definite integral from -1 to 1 or that Limit x tends to infinity! Just click on the appropriate page and it provides you with the symbols you may require to enter your problems!

The site also offers a number of solved examples ranging from calculating the area of the circle to calculating Eigen vectors, to evaluating integrals to Infinite series. You can click on a solved example and get a sample step by step solution for that type of problem with the option to get more detailed explanations of any step.

Mathway also offers the option of plotting graphs of functions ranging from polynomials to trigonometric functions to inequalities and a number of other ones. Once you choose the required function you want to graph, you can choose the graphing options and the graph appears. From here in one can share the problem or embed the graph in any webpage.

The last section is the Glossary which offers definitions of common mathematical terms. The site is a good alternative for something like mathematica though not as powerful, but then its free and is still in beta.

Of course there will be problems that Mathway won’t be able to solve and it will make occasional mistakes, but you can definitely use it as a reference. In fact it is not totally accurate I believe - while solving a problem it said 1\0 - 1\0 is 0 (to be fair, I got this when I was testing it with a pretty advanced limits problem). That said, with step by step solved examples and the ability to solve your own mathematical problems there is no reason to be afraid of Maths!!

I am a great fan of such helpful sites and software, do you use other software and sites that help you with your studies or computations? Let everyone know in the comments.

Good Luck with your studies. Study Smart (not hard)!

(By) Varun Kashyap - Programmer, Blogger and Tech enthusiast, who also blogs about tips, tricks and hacks on TechCrazy Blog

Filed Under: Cool Websites
Tags: calculator, college, education, maths, students