Google algebra help is confusing

3 pointsSnowbird39993y ago2 comments

Was recently using google as a calculator and noticed some very confusing behavior.

See following queries and their results:

1. "100 / .95 = x" -- step-by-step algebra guide precedes all search results

2. "142 / .95 = x -- No algebra guide. Leading article is "Is the blood pressure 142/95 healthy? - Quora"

3. "143 / .95 = x" -- same as (1)

4. "144 / .95 = x" -- same as (2)

5. "200 / .95 = x" -- same as (1)

6. "200 / .22= x" -- Search results for some random products

7. "200 / .22 = x" -- same as (1) ...

Essentially for a structured string such as "<float 1> / <float 2> = x", you can get a wide variety of results based on the particulars of the floating point values inserted in the string, and the spacing between elements in the string!

Some of this might be reasonable uses of google's search AI, but in many cases the system seems fickle and unusable.

2 comments

2 comments · 2 top-level

version_five3y ago

Sounds like you found a class boundary, definitely interesting

I'm curious what the step by step algebra for 100 / .95 = x is, isn't it already solved for x?

Edit: n/m I see, in this case google shows you a trivial solution so it's not surprising that the classification as "algebra problem" or whatever they use is ambiguous here. If I put "x^2 + 3x +1=0" it walks me through the quadratic formula, and I'd speculate I could change the coefficients and it always will do that

nusaru3y ago

My (21 yo) default assumption is that Google gives whatever result is relevant to the most people. If you want algebra, just add the word “algebra” to your query. I think this could be a useful example for teaching people how to narrow down their Google searches.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse