Ask HN: does anyone here use wolfram alpha?

I'm able to grasp advanced math concepts, but I have trouble actually working math problems on paper as math classes are usually taught: I understand the concepts and why we're doing things but I accidently transpose symbols, make algebra mistakes, and write down arithmetic wrong. I get distracted so easily that I'll stop and start 10 times on one problem because I keep forgetting that I'm supposed to be working on a problem, when an idea about something unrelated pops into my head. It's just the way my brain is wired - I don't think linearly, my mind is constantly going down multiple parallel threads at once like a Best Buy full of TV's tuned to different channels. I think I have severe ADHD and a very mild form of dyslexia, but I've never been diagnosed - when I was in school, teachers didn't understand that you can be both gifted and impaired at the same time, just in different ways.

So throughout all my math courses it's been constantly frustrating to intuitively grasp the concept many times faster than the other students, and yet see them outpace me with rote mechanization while I struggle to not get the symbols in my equations mixed up.

That's why Wolfram Alpha has been a godsend - I can use it as a sort of "debugger" for my math work; it helps me figure out where I'm making mistakes in my mechanical manipulation of the symbols. It levels the playing field.

they are both good for an afternoon chuckle.