Microsoft Calculator
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 Microsoft Calculator, Scientific Mode, running on Windows Vista. |
Microsoft Calculator is a calculation application for Microsoft Windows.
The relatively small sized program (112 kilobytes in Windows XP) is bundled with most versions of Microsoft Windows. By default, it is available by clicking the start button, selecting Programs or All Programs depending on which version of Windows is running, then selecting Accessories, and finally clicking on Calculator. It is alternatively available by selecting Start, Run..., typing calc, and pressing OK.
Many recently made "multimedia keyboards" have a specialized "calculator" key, which launches Calculator by default, for the user's convenience.
Calculator, despite its simple interface and small size, can perform all of the functions of most four-function or scientific calculators. By default, the application is in the Standard mode, and functions as a four-function calculator. By selecting View, then Scientific, more advanced functions are available, including logarithms, numerical base conversions, some logical operators, radian, degree and gradians support as well as simple single-variable statistical functions.
However, it offers no support for user-defined functions or complex numbers, no storage variables for intermediate results (other than the classic accumulator memory of pocket calculators), no automated polar-cartesian coordinates conversion and lack of support for two-variables statistics, making it hard or impractical to use with many common simple engineering, physics or even high school tasks, despite its seemingly many functions.
[edit] Other Calculator Applications from Microsoft
Microsoft has released other calculator applications during the past via Internet. They contained improvements over Microsoft Calculator; however, none of those variants have ever become a Windows component.
- Microsoft Calculator Plus - In addition to the 'Standard' and 'Scientific' modes offered by Microsoft Calculator, MS Calculator Plus also offers a 'Conversion' mode. 'Conversion' mode supports unit conversion and currency conversion. Calculator Plus supports direct update of exchange rates for European currencies from European Central Bank website.
- Power Calculator - Distributed as a Microsoft PowerToy, Power Calculator supports graphing. (But know this: The Power Calculator is not reliable. Try sin(5*pi) or have a look at the graph g(x)=sin(x*pi))
[edit] Trivia
- The version of Calculator shipped with Windows 3.0 and Windows 3.1 suffered from a bug causing it to display completely wrong results for certain classes of calculations. The most typical example was the 1-1.1 operation, which would lead to a long number sequence approximating the expected result, -0.1, such as -0.095645564564564.... One of the most joked about calculation is 3.11-3.1, results in 0.00. This leads to the joke "Q: What is the difference between 3.11 and 3.1? A: Nothing!" (In this case, "3.11" and "3.1" imply the version numbers of Windows.)
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base for "Calculator" and you will find info on some other bugs on various versions of Calculator, as well as fixes for some of them, including this one.
- Some versions of Calculator have a way to automate long calculations. Writing a text file in e.g. Notepad or another text editor containing a number on the first row, then operators followed by numbers on the next row and pasting this content to calculator's textbox will result in it performing the described calculations. This may not work correctly with all versions of Calculator, and depends on precise text formatting. Also, this sort of "automation" does not work with commands other that the standard arithmetic operators (+, - , /, *), making it only suitable for computing large cumulative sums starting from a file or spreadsheet data.
