14 DAY TRIAL // Google is introducing a very cool new feature for math geeks and students alike, a graphical calculator built into the search engine. The calculator is able to plot several mathematical functions, even at the same time.
The graph is displayed as an SVG and you can zoom in and out to see more details or get a perspective view. It's an interesting tool and works rather well, with the set of functions it was designed to handle.
"I still recall the day when my friend Yossi came to school and showed off his brand new graphing calculator. I was stunned by how easy it was to plot complicated functions -- meanwhile, the rest of us were still drawing them by hand on graph paper," Google Engineer Adi Avidor wrote.
"Today, I’m hoping to share that magical feeling with students around the world, with the introduction of graphing functionality on Google," he announced.
"Now you can plot mathematical functions right on the search result page. Just type in a function and you’ll see an interactive graph on the top of the search results page," he explained.
You can use any trigonometric, exponential or logarithmic functions, or several of them in the same graph, but only one variable.
Still, that leaves a lot of potential use cases, though it's students that are probably going to use it the most.
That's because anyone who needs this type of data on a regular basis is going to use Wolfram Alpha which offers a much more robust mathematical engine. It can plot more complex functions, work with several variables and it also offers a lot more info for a query like this.
That said, most people haven't heard of Wolfram Alpha, but they will enjoy and discover the new feature in Google. And it does show that Google can and will slowly work its way into any search niche it can find. It won't compete with Wolfram Alpha any time soon, but for most people it will be good enough.
