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Google can be used as a graphic calculator

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Re: Google can be used as a graphic calculator

#71
post #65

They seem to have come with some nice algorithm to connect the graph dots. The problem: When you draw the graph using a naive formula putPixel(x, y(x)) you get isolated dots. Therefore you have to draw tiny lines between the points to get a nice smooth curve instead of isolated dots. But then there is the question of which points to connect – for example in tan(x) you can’t connect the last point on the ‘upper right…

I got this message after zooming out tan(x) a ways: http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer...

"Try to pan or zoom the function to a different region. The plotting algorithm detected one of the following: - Too many asymptotes - Too many transitions of the function from defined to undefined regions - Too many points on the graph that might not represent the function value currently due to high volatility"

It looks like can actually detect when their graphing algo starts to break down.

Re: Google can be used as a graphic calculator

#72

The easy zooming and panning makes this a better graphing experience than any other calculator/software I have used so far. True, you don't have the capabilities of Mathematica available, but it seems to work great for graphing a single variable function.

Grapher does this quite well. It comes with Mac OS X and plots various things, 2D and 3D: http://www.google.com/search?q=grapher+mac&hl=en&tbm...

It also formats the equations nicely and lets you copy them as PDF. Makes a decent formula editor for Pages (with simple formulas).

Re: Google can be used as a graphic calculator

#73
post #5

Sadly, google's cannot be used to calculate 3D plots, though wolfram's can: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=x%5E2%2By%5E2

Google also can't be used to make noises.

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=play+sin%28440+pi+t+%2B...

(If you don't see the "play sound" link, refresh the page.)

Re: Google can be used as a graphic calculator

#74
post #64
post #61

Great. So can DuckDuckGo: http://duckduckgo.com/?q=sin%28x%29%2B1%2F2+sin%282x%29%2B1%... And on top of that, it also gives you the result right there on the page: http://cl.ly/0a3L0K3T2a0E350d300n Clickable and brings you to wolfram alpha: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=sin(x)%2B1%2F2%20sin(2x... zero-click search is an awesome feature of DuckDuckGo

"Great. So can DuckDuckGo" No, I don't see a fast interactive graph when I clicked on that link.

It seems like it does sometimes, but not at other items. I clicked around on the page a bit, then clicked on the search button, and suddenly it showed me the zero click info, which was hidden before.

Re: Google can be used as a graphic calculator

#76
post #5

Sadly, google's cannot be used to calculate 3D plots, though wolfram's can: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=x%5E2%2By%5E2

Google also can't be used to make noises. http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=play+sin%28440+pi+t+%2B... (If you don't see the "play sound" link, refresh the page.)

Cool! The first thing I thought of when I looked at the Google one was that it'd be sweet if I could play that as a wave form. Anyway to make it play longer?

Re: Google can be used as a graphic calculator

#77
post #65

They seem to have come with some nice algorithm to connect the graph dots. The problem: When you draw the graph using a naive formula putPixel(x, y(x)) you get isolated dots. Therefore you have to draw tiny lines between the points to get a nice smooth curve instead of isolated dots. But then there is the question of which points to connect – for example in tan(x) you can’t connect the last point on the ‘upper right…

If you're using a CAS in your graphing system you can probably decompose the function, identify potentially problematic components (e.g. tan(x^2/5+2x)), and identify asymptotes or undefined areas directly using a database of undefined-generating functions.

This would produce a list of X values for which the overall function is not defined. When your pixel plotting passes one or more of those X values, don't draw a line. If you pass several in a single pixel, give up.

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