Why does Wolfram Alpha timeout when graphing the following equation?

Question

I tried to graph this equation I found on the Math SE on Wolfram Alpha. I got the following error:

Wolfram|Alpha needs more time to respond to your query...

When I clicked on Go on computing, I ended up with an incorrect representation of the equation and the following note:

Using closest Wolfram|Alpha interpretation: SQRT(ABS(y+3*SQRT(33)/7)/(y+3*SQRT(33)/7))-1=0 ABS(x/2)-((3*SQRT(33)-7)/112)*x^2-3+SQRT(1-(ABS(ABS(x)-2)-1)^2)-y

Further at the end there was a note:

Computation timed out. Experimental feature: Try again with more time »

I clicked on Try again with more time and ended up with yet another incorrect representation and this note at the end:

Computation timed out. No more results available.

The input I entered into Wolfram Alpha was:

(x/7)^2*SQRT(ABS(ABS(x)-3)/(ABS(x)-3))+(y/3)^2\*SQRT(ABS(y+3*SQRT(33)/7)/(y+3*SQRT(33)/7))-1=0

ABS(x/2)-((3*SQRT(33)-7)/112)*x^2-3+SQRT(1-(ABS(ABS(x)-2)-1)^2)-y=0

9*SQRT(ABS((ABS(x)-1)*(ABS(x)-0.75))/((1-ABS(x))*(ABS(x)-0.75)))-8*ABS(x)-y=0

3*ABS(x)+0.75*SQRT(ABS((ABS(x)-0.75)*(ABS(x)-0.5))/((0.75-ABS(x))*(ABS(x)-0.5)))-y=0

Does anyone know why this is happening?

Is it a problem with my input?

Answer 1

WolframAlpha is only a limited subset of what the software behind it (Mathematica) can do. The computation time and complexity restriction is in place to make it harder to flood the server with request to bring it down.

Answer 2

You can see this by inputting

batman equation

and something similar by inputting

batman curve

Your version is timing out because the equation requires lots of inequalities which aren't shown in the photo you link to.

You might also be interested in Making Formulas… for Everything—From Pi to the Pink Panther to Sir Isaac Newton a blog post on the Wolfram blog by Michael Trott.