Software Arts also released a series of "Solverpacks" - "ready-made versions of some of the formulas most commonly used in specific areas of application.
"[4] The New York Times described TK Solver as doing "for science and engineering what word processing did for corporate communictions [sic] and calc packages did for finance.
The interface uses toolbars and a hierarchal navigation bar that resembles the directory tree seen on the left side of the Windows Explorer.
A list solver feature allows variables to be associated with ranges of data or probability distributions, solving for multiple values, which is useful for generating tables and plots and for running Monte Carlo simulations.
The premium version now also includes a "Solution Optimizer" for direct setting of bounds and constraints in solving models[8] for minimum, maximum, or specific conditions.
Tables, plots, comments, and the MathLook notation display tool can be used to enrich TK Solver models.
BYTE's 1982 preview of TK Solver said that it was "an interesting program that does for equation-solving what the pocket calculator does for arithmetic—replacees drudgery and the possibility of error with speed and accuracy".
[12][13][14] Dan Bricklin, known for VisiCalc and his Software Arts's initial development of TK Solver, was quoted as saying that the market "wasn't as big as we thought it would be because not that many people think in equations.