Uh Oh – Popup Issue @ Wolfram

[Otis]

 

[Dr.Peterson]

Took a few tries to see that this is [imath]\tan(14^\circ)[/imath]. Curious.

 

[BigBeachBanana]

 

[Otis]

Those decimal approximation popups occur before you hit enter. BigBeachBanana shows what I got after hitting enter.

Ahem, Wolfram?

 

[Dr.Peterson]

I tried several ways to enter the expression, and if I got a popup at all, it was mostly just suggesting what might come next, like this:

​

Finally, in Natural Language mode after entering the degree sign manually, then the parenthesis, but not enter, I got this:

​

Which is correct. It must depend on details of what you did.

 

[Otis]

It must depend on details of what you did.

What I did was type this: tan(140°)

After typing but before hitting 'enter', I saw a result that I knew to be wrong and decided to take a screen shot.

Perhaps, the issue depends on what hardwares/softwares did.

 

[Steven G]

What I did was type this: tan(140°)

After typing but before hitting 'enter', I saw a result that I knew to be wrong and decided to take a screen shot.

Perhaps, the issue depends on what hardwares/softwares did.

I think that your cat hit a key without you knowing (and WA not showing).

 

[Otis]

I think that your cat hit a key without you knowing

Please do not use your cat's behavior as a basis for judging my cat. (Actually, I don't have a cat.)

There used to be a cat around here for years, but it was dead and entombed seemingly on purpose inside the deep freezer.

Why, you ask? That's what I'd like to know!!

 

[BigBeachBanana]

Using the word "degrees" gave the right pop-up answer. Perhaps it couldn't parse the [imath]\degree[/imath] symbol.

 

[Otis]

Perhaps it couldn't parse the ° symbol.

BigBeachBanana shows what I got after hitting enter.

 

[Dr.Peterson]

Baffling, isn't it? It reminds me of my programming days, when some bugs couldn't be reproduced (even by the customer), and there was nothing we could do.

How did you enter the degree symbol? It worked the way I entered it, but maybe you did something different.

Or maybe it's what browser we're using, or some other difference in how you're accessing the page. Or maybe the site has some special code that says, "This is Otis. Let's give him some fun."

 

[Otis]

How did you enter the degree symbol?

ALT-0176

Yes, weird, but not surprising. To me, 2023 seemed to be a banner year for all manner of intermittent / inconsistent glitches at many sites and with my devices. (I have so many screen shots, lol.)

And, I concede being overly harsh toward Wolfram, since the possibilities in the current case are incalculable. Venting some steam, I suppose.