Why WebAssign says your answer is wrong (and how to enter it right)

Why does WebAssign say my answer is wrong?

The grader is not re-deriving your math. It compares what you entered with the answer key under rules set for that question. A correct-looking answer gets a red X for one of these reasons:

1. Significant figures: the value is right but has too few digits.
2. Tolerance: you rounded mid-problem and drifted outside the accepted band.
3. Units: missing, extra, or in a form the question does not accept.
4. Notation: a subscript, exponent, interval or scientific-notation format the field read differently, such as a capital E.
5. Re-submitting a green part: you overwrote a correct answer or used a submission.

The sections below show the exact format WebAssign expects for each kind of answer, then a checklist for when it still says wrong. A solver app can get the math right and still lose the point on these rules; Photomath on PC: Photomath vs Mathway vs Symbolab covers what those apps do on a computer.

How do you do a subscript in WebAssign?

Type an underscore before it: H_2O in chemPad, x_1 in calcPad. In chemistry answers you use chemPad, and the notation is in WebAssign’s chemPad guide: type an underscore for a subscript and a caret for a superscript. Its examples: “type H_2O to display H2O, or Na^+ + Cl^- to display Na+ + Cl-.”

chemPad updates a display area with the formatted result as you type, and the guide warns that “The same rules are used to display the formatted notation and to score your response.” If the preview does not show H₂O, neither will the grader.

Subscripts in math and physics answers (calcPad)

The underscore works outside chemistry too. WebAssign’s calcPad notation reference lists _ as “Base or subscript,” so typing x_1 shows x₁ and v_0 shows v₀. To give the same variable an exponent as well, type the subscript, press the right arrow key to leave it, then type ^ and the power. Type variables exactly as the question shows them: “Variables are case-sensitive. You can’t substitute x for X.” If your Cengage course runs on WebAssign, these are the rules for a subscript in Cengage too.

How many significant figures does WebAssign want?

When a question checks significant figures, WebAssign’s student help says to “type a number with the correct number of significant figures for your answer,” and is blunt about the penalty: “No credit is awarded if you specify too few significant figures.” Going the other way is gentler: “If enabled by your instructor, you might receive partial credit if you specify the correct value with more than the required number of significant figures.”

• Match the significant figures in the given data. Three in, three out: 0.0123, not 0.012.
• Trailing zeros count only with a decimal point: 2.50 has three, 500 has one.
• To show 1000 to two or three figures, “you must use scientific notation, for example, 1.0e3 or 1.00e3.”
• “Commas are not allowed when significant figures are checked.”

What is WebAssign’s tolerance?

Numerical answers are graded within a band, not as an exact string. WebAssign’s tolerance documentation says numerical tolerance “determines how close your students’ answers must be to the answer key to be counted as correct,” and that “the default tolerances used in WebAssign (±2% or ±1 at the last significant digit)” usually apply. Instructors can override them, though WebAssign recommends against it.

That is why rounding early hurts. Rounding π to 3.14 or clipping an intermediate result can push the final number just outside the band. Carry full precision and round once, at the end.

WebAssign’s numerical question help puts the default simply: “By default, numerical questions require the answer to be within 2% of the correct value.” Its rounding page adds that “in many cases, the default tolerances of ±2% or ±1 at the last significant digit allow you to round differently and be considered correct,” unless your instructor set different tolerances.

How do you enter scientific notation in WebAssign?

Type a lowercase e followed by a whole-number exponent. WebAssign’s numerical question help says: “When entering scientific notation, always use a lowercase e and an integer exponent, for example, 1.23e-5.” So 6.022 × 10²³ becomes 6.022e23, and 4.5 × 10⁻³ becomes 4.5e-3.

• A capital E is an error. WebAssign’s syntax-error list shows 1.2E15 as incorrect and 1.2e15 as correct.
• Decimal exponents do not work. Its scoring checklist warns that an exponent like 1e2.5 “will not be calculated correctly.”
• calcPad, the equation editor, also has a “Power of 10” entry typed as 10^ in its notation table.
• Scientific notation is how you show trailing zeros when significant figures are checked: 1000 to three figures is 1.00e3.
• With units, put a space before the unit. Cengage’s units page treats 2500 meters, 2.5 km and 2.5e+6 mm as the same answer.

How do you enter interval notation in WebAssign?

Type the opening bracket or parenthesis, the two endpoints and a comma; in calcPad answer boxes the closing symbol is added for you. Write infinity as the word infinity, so (−∞, 2] is (-infinity, 2]. These entries come from WebAssign’s calcPad notation and calculator notation references:

Use brackets only for intervals. In ordinary expressions WebAssign wants parentheses for grouping, and its syntax-error list marks 4*{x+3} as wrong and 4*(x+3) as right.

How do you use the WebAssign equation editor for exponents, fractions and roots?

WebAssign’s equation editor is calcPad, and chemistry formulas go in chemPad. Some questions use mathPad or physPad instead. calcPad formats as you type, per its notation reference: “Type / to enter a fraction,” ^ starts an exponent, _ a subscript and sqrt a square root, and a closing parenthesis, bracket or brace “is added automatically.” “Typing a function name such as sin automatically adds parentheses to delimit the argument of the function,” so you may need to move out of those parentheses before you finish, for example to set the base of a log. Questions that use calculator notation instead take the typed forms in the table below.

Use calculator notation: ^ for powers, / for fractions, sqrt() for square roots and abs() for absolute value. WebAssign grades the expression, not its look: “Any response that is equivalent to the answer formula will be graded as correct,” so 4x+12 and (x+3)4 both match (Cengage). Click the preview button before you submit to check where your parentheses landed. WeBWorK has a Preview button too, and its documentation says Preview checks syntax only and does not count as an attempt.

Three rules catch a lot of people. “Answers are case-sensitive; x and X are not the same.” “Do not type commas in numbers; 5,280 is not correct.” And copying an answer in from somewhere else and pasting it “will result in an error,” so type it or use the palette buttons.

How do you enter vector notation in WebAssign?

Use the Vectors button, not plain letters. WebAssign’s scoring checklist says it “treats letters typed into answer boxes as variables, not vectors. To represent a vector, use the Vectors button and select the correct notation.”

In calcPad, the notation table puts vectors in their own Vectors button group: vector bracket, arrow vector, bold vector, i, j and k unit vectors, and unit (hat) vector. Only the vector bracket has a keyboard entry there, <> followed by the left arrow key. For the bold vector it says “There is no keyboard equivalent for this button.”

In Show My Work boxes, WebAssign’s vector notation reference lists the vector bracket, arrow vector, unit (hat) vector, cross product and dot product under the Vectors menu, and notes for each one: “You cannot use the keyboard.”

How do you use the WebAssign graphing tool and number line?

To graph on WebAssign, pick the object tool, then click points on the grid. WebAssign’s graphing tool “supports points, rays, segments, lines, circles, and parabolas,” and you show an inequality by filling a region. A line takes two clicks, a circle takes its center then a point on it, and a parabola takes its vertex then another point.

• Endpoints: click an endpoint of a ray or segment to switch it between open and closed.
• Dashed lines: select the object, then click Dash in Graph Layers to mark a strict inequality.
• Fill last. “Clicking any button in the graphing tool after you add fills will remove them, so be sure to fill regions last.” Click the middle of the region, not near a boundary line.
• No solution: use the No Solution button. If your browser asks, do not choose to stop the page from creating dialogs; the tool needs them.
• Extra objects cost you. WebAssign says incorrect scoring in the graphing tool “often happens when extra objects like points or segments are included in your graph.” Click Submission Data to see what you actually drew.

The NumberLine tool works the same way. Choose a closed circle, open circle, parenthesis or bracket for each endpoint, draw the segment or ray, or click No Solution. “Two objects or points cannot be placed at exactly the same position on the number line,” and you finish with Submit Answer.

WebAssign still says it’s wrong: what else to check?

If WebAssign still says your answer is wrong after you fixed the format, look for what you can’t see: characters that came in with a paste (Cengage lists “Copying and pasting an answer from another source” as a common cause), a variable in the wrong case, a decimal where the question wants an exact answer (“2/3”, not “.67”), or numbers from an earlier randomization. If you are still sure you are right, tell your instructor which question it was and what you entered.

Work down this list before you spend another submission. Most of it comes from Cengage’s Incorrect Scoring checklist for WebAssign:

1. Typos and pasted text. Retype the answer. Pasted text and some foreign-language keyboard layouts add characters WebAssign cannot grade.
2. Exact or decimal. “Most math questions require an exact answer, not a decimal approximation,” so enter 2/3, not .67.
3. Significant figures. Too few earns no credit when they are checked. Match the data in the problem.
4. Rounding. Carry full precision and round once at the end, so you stay inside the ±2% default tolerance.
5. Units. Put a space between number and unit (20 g), match the case (60 s, not 60 S), write mi^2 rather than “square miles,” use / instead of “per,” and do not use a fraction for the number when units are required.
6. Variables and Greek letters. Use the exact case from the problem, and type Greek letters by name, such as rho.
7. Parentheses. Write sin(x)+2, not sin x + 2. Do not write f(x) = when the question asks for y =; WebAssign “treats notation like f(x) or y(x) as multiplication.”
8. Notation. Lowercase e and a whole-number exponent for scientific notation; the Vectors button for vectors; every blank filled on a matching question.
9. The right numbers. “Most questions in WebAssign use randomized values,” so solve with the values on your screen, and recheck them after a new randomization.
10. Submissions left. “After you use all of your allowed submissions, you can’t change your answers, even if the assignment due date has not passed.”

If you are still sure you are right, report it. Cengage says to tell your instructor, “reference both the assignment and question for which it happened, and include the answer you believe to be correct.” Your instructor can check it and decide whether to award the points.

Saved is not submitted in WebAssign

WebAssign saves your answers as you go, and saving is not submitting. Cengage’s WebAssign student guide says “Your answers are not automatically submitted for untimed assignments,” though a timed assignment submits for you when time runs out, and “You can’t use the Enter key to submit answers.” Press Submit Answer or Submit Assignment, whichever your assignment shows; due dates, extensions and Submit Saved Work are in our guide Does WebAssign automatically submit?

WebAssign answer keys, in short

Not one you can download. WebAssign’s randomization help says “Most questions in WebAssign use randomized values,” so your numbers differ from a classmate’s. Keys appear only if your instructor allows it: “If allowed by your instructor, answer keys might be displayed automatically before the due date, usually after a specified number of submissions” (Answer Keys). Cengage adds that if you view the answer key, “your instructor will probably not grant you an extension for the assignment.”

For View Key, class keys and WebAssign’s own help buttons, see our guide: Is there a WebAssign answer key? To find your class key, see Cengage course key or WebAssign class key: where to find it.

Is there an app that does WebAssign?

Disclosure: we make Silent Student. Cengage’s own Student Assistant “is a generative AI assistant that provides students with guidance, but it will not reveal answers,” and it is enabled for supported assignments “except quizzes, exams and tests”. Silent Student, which we make, is a different kind of tool: a desktop app for Mac and Windows that opens your WebAssign assignment from Canvas, types each answer into WebAssign’s equation editor or chemPad, presses that part’s own Submit and reads the result back.

It skips parts that already show a green check or have no submissions left, retries a wrong part only a bounded number of times, and cannot win back a submission already used. Notation can still fail it, as it can fail you. On two WebAssign-style replicas we built, its Vision agent got 8 of 8 and 16 of 16 graded parts, scored September 22, 2026: our own replicas, not live WebAssign and not an independent test. WebAssign work is submitted as it goes; it is not held for your approval.

Cengage’s Terms of Service for its higher-education platforms bar access “through any automated means (including use of scrapers, scripts, robots, spiders, or web crawlers)”. Read them and your course policy first. See the WebAssign solver that types into the equation editor or WebAssign AI solvers compared. If you are weighing a study subscription instead, see is Chegg worth it in 2026?

WebAssign is included in every Silent Student plan, from $11.99 a month. There is no free plan; see pricing.

Sources

Checked October 20, 2026. Every quotation on this page was re-read against its source that day.

• WebAssign, Answering numerical questions that check significant figures
• WebAssign, Numerical Tolerance for Assignments
• Cengage Help, WebAssign: chemPad Questions
• Cengage Help, WebAssign: Submit Your Answers
• Cengage Help, WebAssign: Randomization
• Cengage Help, WebAssign: Answer Keys
• Cengage Help, WebAssign: Enable Student Assistant
• Cengage, Terms of Service for Cengage Higher Education Platform
• Cengage Help, WebAssign: Numerical Questions
• Cengage Help, WebAssign: Numerical Questions With Units
• Cengage Help, WebAssign: Rounding Values
• Cengage Help, WebAssign: Math Questions with Calculator Notation
• Cengage Help, WebAssign: Calculator Notation for Symbolic Questions
• Cengage Help, WebAssign: calcPad Notation
• Cengage Help, WebAssign: calcPad Answers That Cannot Be Understood
• Cengage Help, WebAssign: Characters That Can’t Be Graded
• Cengage Help, WebAssign: Vector Notation
• Cengage Help, WebAssign: Graphing Questions
• Cengage Help, WebAssign: NumberLine Questions
• Cengage Help, WebAssign: Incorrect Scoring