Help - Solutions

Understood Input and Final Solutions

Solution and Steps: The first line of the solution displays the input, then the final solution, and at the right hand side, an option to hide the steps.

If the solution differs from what you expected, make sure that the input was understood correctly.

Input isn’t valid: If a problem is inserted that isn’t mathematically you will get the following result

Have another look at the input; it is usually a simple mistake that is easily detectable.

No solution is available: The message of "No solution is available for this problem" can usually occur for one of two reasons.

The input isn’t valid: This case usually occurs when there is a missing parenthesis, or the parentheses not in the right place. The most common instance is when an expression is copied from a document, or a forum, where the writing wasn’t meticulous enough. For instance, when pasting "e^(x+3=4", the input is evaluated as

The good thing is that the input, once pasted into the textbox, will be obviously flawed, so the fix should be easy.

The problem is not in our Scope: : If the problem is not in Symbolab’s current scope, then this message will also appear. Feel free to send us feedback by clicking the floating feedback button on the right side of the screen. We always appreciate any feedback that helps us improve.

Way, way hard: Sometime the problem is just really, really, hard. Sometimes it is so hard that there are no known solutions (in the world!). Here is an example

If you still managed to eventually solve it – please tell us how!

Solution but no Steps: At times, Symbolab reaches a solution, but doesn’t display steps. In that case, the following will be displayed.

Step-by-Step Solutions

You usually can’t learn much from the final solution, alone. This is the reason step-by-step solutions exist.

One Step: Solutions are composed of all the steps leading from the input to the final result. Most steps have an explanation of the move being made, and the result yielded from making that move. The explanation is in gray and the result in black.

When the step is trivial, then only the yielded result is shown. In the following example, the equation is being refined, but since it is obvious, only the result of the refinement is shown

Definitions and Theorems: Important definitions and theorems have the purpose of being general reminders. For that reason, they have a slightly different display. Here is an example of a definition:

Here is an example of a theorem:

Interim Steps:In many cases, the main steps of the solution are comprised of a few, or a lot of, smaller problems. We believe that only if a problem is understood in its entirety, is it really understood.

Sometimes you will understand these smaller problems immediately. In this case showing all the steps of the interim problem may interrupt the flow of the bigger picture. Those steps can be closed, with only the title and the final result being visible.

Sometimes these steps will be hard and difficult to grasp at first. In this case they should probably be opened, at least until they’re understood. You can open and close the inner steps by clicking the hide and show button on the right of each interim step.

Here is an example that shows some open and some closed interim steps:

Did You Mean

Sometimes Symbolab will offer an alternative to your problem.

This can be because solutions to queries like the inputted exercise are usually requested with specific conditions. A common example is trig equations with no range. In this case, under the textbox, a query with the common range will be offered. The solution you see is for the original input, but instead of inserting the condition, you can just click the offered problem.

Another instance occurs when Symbolab did not reach a good solution for the input, but a very similar-looking input will have a much more likely result. Then, under the textbox, it will be stated that a slightly different problem was solved. You can solve the original problem by clicking the link.

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