Defining a variable and a Root object in Mathematica

[cedriccavents (Cédric Cavents)]

Hello! I have two really basic questions

Question1

I’m using the online Mathematica version (as you can see on the picture). Now, I don’t know why, but Mathematica doest not define variables properly? As it is clear from the screenshot, when I type as input: x = 4, then Mathematica returns the function x = 4, instead of just remembering x as 4. Furthermore, when giving x^2+1 as input, Mathematica returns its roots?

Where does this come from? How can I undo it?

Question2

I just want Mathematica do display the first root of x^2-2x+1, but it clearly does not seem to understand it? How can I define such root objects?

Thanks in advance!

[gianlucagorni]

If you precede your input with the orange boxed “=” symbol, your input will be “interpreted” by Wolfram|Alpha. If you mean your input as regular Wolfram Language, do not type “=” at the beginning of the line.

[cedriccavents (Cédric Cavents)]

That was the first thing I tried, but when I just type (for instance) x = 4 without using the symbol ‘=’ then I don’t get the typical

in[3]:= x = 4

out[3]: =4

I assume you mean this:

but Mathematica does not remember the values this way? I know its a really silly question but its just some kind of setting that I do not know, since I always used ‘=’ beforehand.

[sghuisman (Sander Huisman)]

try using shift-enter to evaluate your lines

[gianlucagorni]

Otherwise, use the menu Evaluation > Evaluate cells

[cedriccavents (Cédric Cavents)]

Thank you for the answers! This really helps me a lot.