Finding the single unknown in an equation

Question

I need a library to be able to parse an equation an give me the result giving the inputs.

For example something like this:

String equation = "5 = 6 / z"; 

EquationSolver solver = new EquationSolver(equation); 

double result = solver.getResult(); 

System.out.println("result: " + result);

And evaluates to: 6/5

Is there any kind of library for java that can do that for me? Basically I need the program to isolate the single unknown variable in an arbitrary equation...

Thanks Thomas

Answer 1

What you're looking for is a computer algebra system.

Wikipedia lists some options. I would check out Java Algebra System

Answer 2

You need a Java expression Library for this. I found MVEL to be a good Java Expression Library

You can check this link for other java expression libraries. http://java-source.net/open-source/expression-languages