Calculator (Windows)
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| Calculator | |
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 Calculator in Windows Vista in Standard mode |
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| Developed by | Microsoft |
| Latest release | 6.0.6001.18000 / February 4, 2008 |
| OS | Microsoft Windows |
| Genre | Calculator |
| License | MS-EULA |
| Website | Windows Vista Help: Calculator: Frequently asked questions |
Microsoft Calculator is a calculation application included with all Microsoft Windows operating systems.
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[edit] Overview
The Calculator application has a simplified interface, small size, and 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. More advanced functions are available in "Scientific" mode, including logarithms, numerical base conversions, some logical operators, radian, degree and gradians support as well as simple single-variable statistical functions. It does not provide support for user-defined functions, complex numbers, storage variables for intermediate results (other than the classic accumulator memory of pocket calculators), automated polar-cartesian coordinates conversion, or support two-variables statistics, making it impractical to use with many engineering, physics or high school mathematics tasks. Calculator is not able to do "constant calculations". When a user wants to apply the same constant and operation many times, the second and following calculations can be done without retyping the operation and constant. So one can type: 2*7=[14] 3=[21] 4=[28] etc. Calculator ignores the number typed before the equal sign.
Some versions of Calculator have a way to automate long calculations. Writing a text file in 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.
Calculator has been included with every release of Microsoft Windows, but the user interface and the core feature set, has largely remained unchanged in form and function since Windows 95. The Calculator in Windows 2000 and later Windows NT-based versions uses an arbitrary-precision arithmetic library, replacing the standard IEEE floating point library.[1] It offers infinite precision for basic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) and 32 digits of precision for advanced operations (square root, transcendental operators).
Many specialized keyboards have a "calculator" key, which launches Calculator by default.
[edit] Bugs
The version of Calculator shipped with Windows 3.0 and Windows 3.1 suffered from a bug causing it to display incorrect 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.) This may, however, be attributed to floating point calculations with insufficient accuracy as they are prone to yield wrong results in calculations with numbers that cannot be accurately represented in binary. The modern versions, described above, eliminate this bug by using arbitrary-precision arithmetic rather than floating-point arithmetic.
Calculator since Windows 3.0 has had the "sqrt", "square root" button available only in the standard mode. Switching over to scientific mode will make this button disappear, which has been sometimes reported as a bug, while it is only a change of the interfaces between the standard and the scientific modes: the right way to obtain a square root in the scientific mode is to check the "Inv", "inverse" checkbox and to push the "x^2", "raise to square power" button, which it is the correct inverse operation. The same way, "Inv" plus "x^3", "raise to cube power" gives the cube root. An alternative, even suggested as a solution by Microsoft[2] is to raise numbers to fractional powers (e.g. the half power, number ^ 0.5, to get the square root) which, mathematically, it is a correct operation, but it is not an intuitive nor quick method.
In standard mode, typing @ is short-hand for "sqrt". In scientific mode, it does "x^2".[3]
If you type “calc /.setup“ into the RUN box on windows, calculator will be launched, but displaying “0,e+0“ instead of “0“ and when you click a number-button 1-9, it will only make a characteristic sound instead of typing a number.
A correction for the above states that typing "calc /p #" where # is a number limits the number of digits typed to that number (ex: "calc /.p 3" allows you to only type 3 numbers into the calculator) Any word that has a "p" in it does the same thing.
All Calculator versions including the one in Windows XP, save the configuration (whether to use scientific or standard mode) to the legacy win.ini - a file that is not writable for users. So non-admin users will always start in standard mode. On NT-based operating systems, using INI file redirection, this issue can be addressed by modifying the registry. [4] Calculator Plus also fixes this bug by saving the information where it belongs - into the user portion of the registry.
[edit] Optional Calculator replacements
Microsoft has released two other calculator applications to the Microsoft Download Center, both of which offer features not found in the Calculator included with Windows.
Microsoft Calculator Plus - In addition to the 'Standard' and 'Scientific' modes offered by Microsoft Calculator, 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. Calculator Plus also provides an alternate interface.
Power Calculator - Released as a Windows XP PowerToy. Power Calculator supports graphing. Although the program allows user to adjust the precision of calculations, there are flaws in the implementation. For example, the program produces an erroneous graph for the function sin(πx). It also returns incorrect values for the sine function for a large number of radians. For example, it gives sin(10000) = − 3.3326e + 4265.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ The Old New Thing blog by Raymond Chen: When you change the insides, nobody notices
- ^ Square Root (sqrt) in Calculator's Scientific Mode
- ^ Windows XP and Calculator Keyboard Shortcuts
- ^ Remembering Calculator and Character Map Settings
