# Behaviour of Symbolics.solve\_for

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/behaviour-of-symbolics-solve-for/62019>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** symbolic, symbolics\
**Created:** [May 28, 2021, 8:56pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/behaviour-of-symbolics-solve-for/62019 "2021-05-28T20:56:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![EvoArt](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/evoart/32/25357_2.png) [@EvoArt](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/EvoArt)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2021, 8:56pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/behaviour-of-symbolics-solve-for/62019/1 "2021-05-28T20:56:42Z")

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I’ve just started using Symbolics, and I really like it. However, I’m not sure about the output from `solve_for`

```julia
using Symbolics
@variables p x y
eq = x *p + y * (1 - p) ~0
Symbolics.solve_for(eq,p)

```

returns

```julia
(p*y + y*(1 - p))*((y - x)^-1)

```

I have to ` expand()` in order to get back an answer without p in it. Is this the expected behaviour?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ChrisRackauckas](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/chrisrackauckas/32/77_2.png) [@ChrisRackauckas](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ChrisRackauckas)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2021, 10:02pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/behaviour-of-symbolics-solve-for/62019/2 "2021-05-28T22:02:21Z")

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That’s funny, it trolled you. Ehh, gotta watch out for those evolving AI systems, they have a mind of their own.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![EvoArt](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/evoart/32/25357_2.png) [@EvoArt](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/EvoArt)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2021, 2:45pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/behaviour-of-symbolics-solve-for/62019/3 "2021-05-29T14:45:23Z")

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So just to confirm, it’s not a bug? If I want to see one variable in terms of the other variables `solve_for ` isn’t the way to go?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ChrisRackauckas](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/chrisrackauckas/32/77_2.png) [@ChrisRackauckas](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ChrisRackauckas)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2021, 3:02pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/behaviour-of-symbolics-solve-for/62019/4 "2021-05-29T15:02:54Z")

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Yeah, open an issue. That’s definitely odd behavior.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![EvoArt](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/evoart/32/25357_2.png) [@EvoArt](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/EvoArt)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2021, 3:07pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/behaviour-of-symbolics-solve-for/62019/5 "2021-05-29T15:07:21Z")

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Yeah, sorry to be dim! Math isn’t my first language, so I was still open to the possibility that my expectations were wrong.