# trouble in quoting a page from Wolfram Alpha

I wanted to put a link to Wolfram Alpha. I have plotted $(n!)^{(1/n)}$ (with parentheses included). But

[this page](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=plot+%28n!%29^%281%2Fn%29)

produces

As you see here the quoted page does not turn blue, nor is there a link.

Using the link in an address bar does give the right page though.

What is the error?

The problem here is the caret, i.e. the "^" symbol. The problem is that "^" is not a valid html symbol, and is deemed unsafe. This is not really a bug. More about that can be seen on Meta.SO: Links with caret ^ do not work?

This does not resolve the problem you have - one possible workaround is to use ** instead of ^, which W|A interprets correctly.

[better](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=plot+%28n!%29**%281%2Fn%29)

produces

better

• Since this is not a bug, should the tag (bug) be removed, so that SE developers closely watching meta.MSE (heh) can focus on real bugs? Not sure what is appropriate here. – user53153 Mar 4 '13 at 2:57

Another approach is to put the hyperlink in using the link tool in the editor (or ctrl+l); this does something like this with all the correct encoding, which is to say:

[like this][1]

[1]: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=plot%20%28n!%29%5E%281/n%29


The better (safer) way to embed a link with special characters is to use the "chain" icon above the answer box. It automatically applies any necessary encoding.

Like this

Look's like whatever comes after the /input/... is causing an error. For some reason it can't embed the link because of it. Changing formats for links doesn't help either.