# Equation Steps

Step-by-step solutions for linear and quadratic equations in one variable.

**Why delegate it:** Three places this algebra goes quietly wrong when reasoned about directly: the sign when distributing a negative across parentheses, which direction a term moves as it crosses the equals sign, and dropping one of the two ± roots of a quadratic or rounding a complex pair into a false "no solution". Exact fraction arithmetic gets all three right every time, and showing the work is the point — a student checking their own scratch paper needs the steps, not the answer.

Site: https://equation-steps.gumballtools.com

## Tools

### `equation_steps_run` — Solve an equation and show every step

Solves a linear or quadratic equation in one variable and returns every step: expanding parentheses, combining like terms, moving terms across the equals sign, and applying the quadratic formula with the discriminant stated. Reports identities and contradictions as such rather than as "no answer", gives roots as exact fractions with a decimal alongside, and labels complex roots explicitly instead of claiming no solution. Refuses rather than guesses on a missing or duplicated "=", a second variable, a function name, an unsupported exponent, or an inequality — every refusal says what to change. Covers only one-variable linear and quadratic equations: not systems, not inequalities, not degree three or higher.

Direct endpoint: `https://equation-steps.gumballtools.com/api/v1/run`

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Via the aggregator: `https://gumballtools.com/api/mcp`
Direct: `https://equation-steps.gumballtools.com/api/mcp`