Word problem solver
The hard part of a word problem is turning the sentence into an equation. That is the part this shows you first — what each letter stands for, and where the equation came from.
How to use it
- 1
Paste the whole problem
Including the last sentence. "How long", "how far" and "at what time" are three different answers to the same setup, and that sentence is what decides which one you need.
- 2
Keep the units in
Miles per hour, minutes, dollars, litres. Units are how the setup gets checked — an answer that comes out in the wrong unit is a setup error, and it will be caught.
- 3
Read the definitions first
The solution opens by saying what each variable stands for. If "let t be the time after the second train leaves" is not the reading you intended, you have found the disagreement before the algebra rather than after it.
The setup is the answer
Almost nobody fails a word problem on the algebra. They fail it on the translation: which quantity is unknown, which relationship the sentence is describing, and whether "twice as many" attaches to the thing before or after it.
So the solution is laid out in that order — variables defined, relationship stated as an equation, then the algebra. If the answer is wrong, you can see at a glance which of those three went wrong, which a bare number never tells you.
Kinds it is asked for most
Distance-rate-time with two travellers, head starts or a return journey. Work rate problems where two people or two pipes finish together. Mixtures and concentrations. Age problems. Consecutive integers. Simple and compound interest.
Geometry word problems too — a perimeter or an area described in words, where the first job is drawing what the sentence says.
Common setups
| The shape of the problem | The setup it becomes | Typical wording |
|---|---|---|
| Two travellers, one catches the other | d = rt for each, set the distances equal | Trains, cars, a head start |
| Two workers finishing together | 1/t₁ + 1/t₂ = 1/T | Pipes filling a tank, two people painting |
| Mixing two concentrations | c₁v₁ + c₂v₂ = c_f(v₁ + v₂) | Salt solutions, alloys, coffee blends |
| Ages now and later | Write both in terms of one unknown | "In 6 years, twice as old as…" |
| Consecutive integers | n, n+1, n+2 — or n, n+2, n+4 if even/odd | Three numbers summing to something |
| Money growing | A = P(1 + r/n)^(nt) | Savings, loans, investments |
| A shape described in words | Draw it, then use the area or perimeter formula | Fencing a garden, framing a picture |
Word problem questions
- Will it define the variables for me?
- It does that first, before any algebra. That step is the one people skip and then lose marks on, so it is written out rather than assumed.
- Can it handle problems with a diagram?
- If the diagram matters, photograph the whole thing including the figure — the photo solver reads labelled diagrams, and you get the transcription to correct before it solves.
- What if the problem is ambiguous?
- It picks the most common reading, solves that, and says which reading it picked under "Watch out for" — so you can tell immediately whether it answered your question or a neighbouring one.
- Is there a limit on how many problems I can do?
- There is no per-person limit and no account to run out of credits on. The site shares one daily AI allowance; on the rare day that runs out you are told so plainly, and it resets at midnight UTC.