Individual questions often contain specific instructions displayed directly with the question. When they don't, the following tables provide general guidelines for entering mathematical input.
Operation | Command |
addition \((a+b)\) | a+b |
subtraction \((a-b)\) | a-b |
multiplication \((a \cdot b)\) | a*b |
division \(\left(\dfrac{a}{b}\right)\) | a/b |
exponentiation \((a^{b})\) | a^b |
Constant/Symbol | Command |
\(\pi\) | Pi |
\(\text{e}\) | exp(1) |
\(\text{i}\) | I |
\(\infty\) | infinity |
Function | Command |
trigonometric \(\left(\sin(x), \cos(x), \tan(x), \csc(x), \sec(x), \cot(x)\right)\) | sin(x), cos(x), tan(x), csc(x), sec(x), cot(x) |
inverse trig \(\big(\sin^{-1}(x)\) or \(\arcsin(x)\), \(\cos^{-1}(x)\) or \(\arccos(x)\), \(\tan^{-1}(x)\) or \(\arctan(x)\big)\) | arcsin(x), arccos(x), arctan(x) |
exponential \(\left(e^{x}\right)\) | exp(x) |
logarithmic \(\left(\ln(x), \log_{a}(x)\right)\) | ln(x), ln(x)/ln(a) |
square root \(\left(\sqrt{x}\right)\) | sqrt(x) |
\(\text{n}^{th}\) root \(\left(\sqrt[n]{x}\right)\) | surd(x,n) |
absolute value \(\left(\lvert x \rvert\right)\) | abs(x) |
factorial \(\left(n!\right)\) | factorial(n) |
Function | Command |
horizontal vector \(\begin{bmatrix}a & b & c\end{bmatrix}\) | <a|b|c> |
vertical vector \(\begin{bmatrix}a\\ b\\ c\end{bmatrix}\) | <a,b,c> |
matrix \(\begin{bmatrix}a & b & c\\ d & e & f\\ g & h & i\end{bmatrix}\) | <<a|b|c>, <d|e|f>, <g|h|i>> OR <<a,d,g> | <b,e,h> | <c,f,i>> |
Always check your answers using the preview hyperlink before submitting them. This can be found near the entry box of any formula questions.
Be sure to read each question carefully and make sure that you understand how to enter your answer.