Syntax for complex numbers in Wolfram Alpha?

Questions
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1

Hello,

i am new to wolfram alpha but i want to try using it more. when i type:

A=1, B=2 trying to let wolfram alpha solve this: it gives out result=3. so all fine

now i try the thing in the picture and it says it cant understand the syntax. what am i doing wrong?

wolfram alpha.png
wolfram alpha.png797×123 8.33 KB

2

It looks like your expression is big enough that it may exceed the buffer size inside WA.

I tried entering a slightly simplified version of your problem

solve s=(b/z+cz)/(a+b/z+cz+d), a=r+(iwl)/(iwm), d=a, c=1/(iwm) for s

WA page for this

and it seems like WA understood that.

Then I tried a second step where I inserted the value for b, that I left out of the first step, into the result provided by the first step.

s=((2iwm*(r+iw(l-m))+(r+iw(l-m))^2)/(iwm)mw-iz^2)/((2iwm*(r+iw(l-m))+(r+iw(l-m))^2)/(iwm)mw+2mrwz-iz^2)

WA page for this

It looks like it was just barely able to fit into the buffer and WA was able to understand that and gave a solution for s.

If in the second step I instead I tried “solve s=…” from the first step followed by “b=…” then again it didn’t appear that it would fit and WA was not able to understand that.

For larger problems, trying to find a way to successfully break a large problem into smaller steps has been very useful in the past.

You just need, as always, to be very careful to check that the results are correct.

3

Does the buffer size increase with the premium subscription? I’m concerned that there might be larger problems, and I would like to be able to solve them using Wolfram Alpha as well.
but thanks for the advice!

4

I have no idea. I just experiment a little now and then to try to see if I can get WA to solve a particular problem. I have a small list of things that I think I’ve figured out to try to do that.

If I were you then I’d put together a list of half a dozen of the biggest problems that you expect WA to solve for you and contact support, show them that list and ask them whether premium version, or any version, of WA would consistently correctly solve problems like those.