Evaluate is a verb; In math, it means to find the numerical value of something.
Evaluate: sqrt(144)
Its value is 12
I just evaluated the expression sqrt(144) and found its numerical value is 12.
We evaluate expressions (not equations). That is, we could evaluate the expression on each side of an equation, to determine whether the statement (i.e., the equation) is true or false.
If I were asked to evaluate an equation, then I'd probably assume that the question asks whether the equation is true or false. Otherwise, I don't see requests to evaluate equations.