Solve equations and plot graphs in Word and OneNote (video)

Did you know that you can insert professionally formatted formulas and equations into your Word documents? That means you can do your math homework in Word and not get docked points for your illegible handwriting. In addition to that, the free Microsoft Mathematics Add-In for Word and OneNote lets you solve equations and expressions containing real and complex numbers and even plot 2D and 3D graphs. Don't get too excited. It doesn't do all the work for you. You'll still need to show how you solved an equation, but at least this way you can check your work and see if you're getting the correct answer.

If you're a math teacher or student, check out the following video where I demonstrate how to solve equations and plot graphs using the Mathematics Add-In with Microsoft Word 2010. Or download this free Mathematics add-in and see for yourself.

Or if you're having trouble with a certain type of equation, check out the Math Worksheet Generator for Word 2007. It lets you type an equation into the program and it will then create examples of similar equations that you can then practice solving. It's a great tool for studying. However, it's prototype software created by the Microsoft Education Labs team, so it's not a supported product and it won't be available for very long.

Check it out and let me know what you think. Do these programs help you with your math homework?

--Jennifer Bost

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  • Hello, I wonder if it possible to calculate numerical results using the new version of the plugin? I can only obtain exact values. Otherwise... great program!

    Mas

  • Thanks for the comment, Mas. I think this a great program, too! Here's the scoop on numeric results (also known as a decimal result), numeric results are calculated for simple expressions (those without roots, integrals, limits, etc.).

  • Jennifer,

    The  math add in does not give a numerical decimal result for simple square root, but it does return a numeric result for other roots. For instance the square root of 5 [5^(1/2)] does not return a numeric answer but 5^(1/3) does.

    How can we force a numeric answer for square roots of integers? Thanks, Murtaza

  • Hi Murtaza,

    It looks like you found a bug. I've forwarded the issue to the product team. Thanks for sharing your experience.

  • This Maths add in is really good but Maths teachers for my seniors often say that this doesn't have all the functionality of Math Type. I hope that Microsoft can continue to shorten this gap.

  • @aredubbya: Thanks for your comment. The add-ins are great, but for a stronger solution you should look at Microsoft Mathematics 4.0. It's a full featured graphing calculator. You can read more about it in our blog post, Tackle your math homework with Microsoft Mathematics (http://bit.ly/grpRFf). Oh, and it's also free!

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