or download this
my $equ= $q->param("equation");
my( $var, $expr )= $equ =~ /^\s*(\w+)\s*=(.*)/
or fail("Invalid equation");
...
$expr =~ s/(\w+)/ $words{$1} /ge;
my $sub= eval 'sub { my($x,$y,$z)= @_; return ' . $expr . '}';
fail( "Invalid expression ($expr): $@" ) if $@;