Many years ago I used MathCad 2.5 and in this one could type in an equation with essentially anything on either side, use a colon as the equal sign and give the equ command. It did not restrict what you did and there was no attempt to evaluate a variable or expression or assign a value. On could then go through and modify/manipulate the equation to simplify etc.
Having downloaded the above on a trial basis with a view to buying a licence, I find that this cannot be done, there seem to be no options other than using = to find the value of a variable or expression or : to assign a value.
Is there any way of just being able to write an equation without either of the above occurring?