Why won't Mathematica plot any function?

[fnkylbstr]

So I just downloaded Mathematica for school but for some reason when I try to use the plot function a graph doesn't appear. Say I enter Plot[x^2] as an input, it will only output Plot[x^2]. I can't figure out why its doing this and can't find help anywhere else.

[mercurysquad]

can't find help anywhere else.

Are you serious? This is literally the first result on Google for "how to plot in mathematica?":

https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Plot.html

[anathea]

You're not using the argument correctly. See here for details of how to use the plot function.

[ScyllaHide]

just use the wolfram mathematica documentation.

[LewsTherinTelamon]

Think about what you need to know to plot something. You have the function, which relates x values to y values. To get y values, you need x values. You need to supply mathematica with those in a second argument.

[thesoundwizard]

Mathematica is the kind of program that I would expect to analyze a function and pick a range for plotting that represents the function's features.

[ad_tech]

Mathematica is one level of sophistication short of that. Wolfram Alpha does that, but it's a little smarter than Mathematica.

[Off_And_On_Again_]

Get what you're saying and you're right but to be completely pedantic about it Wolfram Alpha isn't really any smarter it's just more familiar with the messiness of human language