Browser as Graphing Calculator

January 19, 2011 8:40 AM

An open source, html5 based graphing and computation engine does in your browser what is usually outsourced to the cloud. It graphs, solves, simplifies, integrates and differentiates expressions, and needs no internet connection once you load the page in your browser (or save it on your computer). RTFM.
posted by Obscure Reference (26 comments total)

Web 3.0 is going to be awesome.
posted by oddman at 8:49 AM on January 19, 2011

A bit buggy still. Type in "x^10" or any higher power.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:51 AM on January 19, 2011

Also kills my browser (Ffox 4b10pre) for a while, alternatively with a "Security error" popup or an unresponsive script warning.

Still, once it works, it's awesome
posted by slater at 8:52 AM on January 19, 2011

Heh. My browser, IE7, is "too old/lame". I should file this as a bug report to our corporate helpdesk. And we just upgraded too!
posted by bonehead at 8:56 AM on January 19, 2011

Sure, but can I program it to print FART FART FART FART FART until someone hammers the on button?
posted by theodolite at 8:57 AM on January 19, 2011

I found the text entry kind of annoying. I'd rather just type a formula in and have it convert for display then actually trying to edit directly. Other then that it's pretty nice.

One of the first things I did when trying to learn how to use canvas was to do a little graphing calculator thing, except I just had an entry box where you could write your formula in ordinary JavaScript, and it would get evaluated at every point. Right now it just supports one function but I'm planning on adding support for multiple functions when I get around to it.
posted by delmoi at 8:57 AM on January 19, 2011

Heh. My browser, IE7, is "too old/lame". I should file this as a bug report to our corporate helpdesk. And we just upgraded too!

If you have to use IE, you should get Google Chrome Frame.
posted by delmoi at 8:59 AM on January 19, 2011

Neat. Extremely slow, but neat.

...I just had an entry box where you could write your formula in ordinary JavaScript, and it would get evaluated at every point.

Looks like he's doing the same thing, only he's generating the JS from the formula.
posted by DU at 9:04 AM on January 19, 2011

I've always assumed people in need of this type of functionality either had calculators that did it or specialized software on their computer.
What "cloud based" service is this replacing that people have commonly used?
posted by mulligan at 9:10 AM on January 19, 2011

I can't wait until the day when I can drive to work in my car built with JavaScript. At, like, 1 mile per day.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 9:10 AM on January 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

You can't share an interactive graph online from your calculator.
posted by DU at 9:13 AM on January 19, 2011

An open source, html5 based graphing and computation engine does in your browser what is usually outsourced to the cloud.

That's a pretty strange way of putting it - the last time I ran any kind of computation involving a cloud it was in undergraduate atmosphere physics.
posted by Dr Dracator at 9:17 AM on January 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

...the last time I ran any kind of computation involving a cloud it was in undergraduate atmosphere physics.

Check please!
posted by DU at 9:21 AM on January 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

I can't wait until the day when I can drive to work in my car built with JavaScript. At, like, 1 mile per day.

On the upside, however, when you park it you can just put a placard in the front window that says "(function(){" and one in the back window that says "})()" and nobody will be able to break in to steal the loose change in the center console.
posted by Rhomboid at 9:59 AM on January 19, 2011 [8 favorites]

Killed FF for me too.
posted by Artw at 10:32 AM on January 19, 2011

FF is still alive for me but barely.
posted by Ad hominem at 11:00 AM on January 19, 2011

Runs just fine in Chrome 8.0.552.237. If I knew how to do any of this kind of math, this'd be very useful to me.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 12:39 PM on January 19, 2011

An open source, html5 based graphing and computation engine

This is cool and all, but let's just be clear that Javascript is driving this bad boy (but using the canvas element, a single but super-hyped tag added to HTML5) to push all the visual stuff out. You sort of glossed over that, and I think it's important to mention lest people start thinking you can just do this magically with only HTML5, or lest people get confused about what HTML5 actually is. Which is to say, I like tilting at windmills.

Also, it's kind of disconcerting that browsers are becoming operating systems, although I suppose that's been happening for a while and I should get over it. It's just layers upon layers upon layers...
posted by dubitable at 12:46 PM on January 19, 2011

I'm waiting for HTML 6. I hear it's going to be in 3D.
posted by blue_beetle at 1:42 PM on January 19, 2011

I can't even access the website. But then I'm using Safari on an iPad.
posted by twoleftfeet at 2:55 PM on January 19, 2011

also doesn't work in Lynx.
posted by mrstrotsky at 4:09 PM on January 19, 2011 [6 favorites]

Try using a lowercase l.
posted by Obscure Reference at 4:19 PM on January 19, 2011 [4 favorites]

It's funny, but loading these CPU intensive js/html5 creations often wastes more of my time by freezing the browser temporarily than it would take to quietly send/receive data from a dedicated external processor.

The bandwidth definitely was an issue many years ago when these technologies were first budding, but I would wager that performance is much more crucial since processor power has been temporarily plateaued with the upsurge of netbooks and smart phones.
posted by rubah at 6:13 PM on January 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

Well, you've got people playing videogames via remoting these days...
posted by Artw at 6:35 PM on January 19, 2011

..quietly send/receive data from a dedicated external processor.

Along with who knows what other data. And under what licensing agreements.

I'll keep my data on my computer, thanks.
posted by DU at 6:51 PM on January 19, 2011

So much snark. This is a beautiful demo. If it runs poorly for you, get a better browser. Works great in Chrome/stable on Windows.
posted by Nelson at 7:58 AM on January 20, 2011