# My Giant Calculator

**URL:** <https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/my-giant-calculator/966>\
**Category:** blog\
**Created:** [November 8, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/my-giant-calculator/966 "2005-11-08T00:00:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 18\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![RiX0R](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/r/e95f7d/32.png) [@RiX0R](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/RiX0R)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/my-giant-calculator/966/22 "2005-11-10T00:00:00Z")

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calc.exe is the worst piece of ConfuseWare ever.

For those not able to find sqrt or log: Have you tried scientific mode? (View Scientific)

Interesting piece of trivia: in scientific mode, order of operator application is obeyed. Not so in Standard mode (or as the developers apparently assumed: “dumb user mode”).

calc.exe, scientific mode:  
7 + 3 \* 5 = 22

calc.exe, standard mode:  
7 + 3 \* 50 = 50

I wonder whoever made the conscious design decision to implement it this way.

In any case, I prefer PowerCalc (from the Windows XP PowerToys): it shows a history and a command-line. I never understood what the obsession was anyway with recreating a physical calculator on a computer, down to the GUI buttons. We are using a computer with a keyboard – a superior input device!

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**Author:** ![AlexanderG](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@AlexanderG](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/AlexanderG)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/my-giant-calculator/966/23 "2005-11-10T00:00:00Z")

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I have calc.exe assigned to a key on a standard Windows keyboard (no extra keys for music). This even without having to sacrifice a hotkey in some application.

The Scroll key remains widely unsused these days. Actually I don’t know any application making use of it. I’ve used a keyboard remapper (a href="[http://webpages.charter.net/krumsick/](http://webpages.charter.net/krumsick/))"[http://webpages.charter.net/krumsick/](http://webpages.charter.net/krumsick/))/a to assign calc.exe to the otherwise orphaned Scroll key.

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**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/user_avatar/discourse.codinghorror.com/codinghorror/32/36371_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/codinghorror)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/my-giant-calculator/966/24 "2005-11-10T00:00:00Z")

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> ADDED A CALCULATOR, a separate module outside the mainline logic which could be invoked when an arithmetic computation was detected.

Ah, that’s great. A calculator mode to fool humans into thinking they aren’t talking with a giant calculator..

> calc.exe doesnt support (or at least I don’t know how and I’m too lazy to rtfm) typing in functions such as sqrt or log.

Yeah, I don’t see any way to do it. The help file makes no mention of accelerators for SQRT, SIN, etc and the calculator buttons can’t receive focus either (!)

Hmm. Wait a second. Hitting “p” enters PI.. hitting “l” appears to perform a LOG function. Well, there are no VISIBLE keyboard accelerators, and no documentation, but keyboard keys do.. stuff.. in CALC.

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**Author:** ![David\_V](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/d/7bcc69/32.png) [@David\_V](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/David_V)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/my-giant-calculator/966/25 "2005-11-11T00:00:00Z")

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Try this: Open the Calc.exe property page, and click into the ‘Shortcut key’ field. Assign a shortcut (I use Ctrl-F10).

Now, whenever you need a calculator, hit the shortcut key. I find it faster than lokking for the four-function wonder thats at the bottom of one of the piles on my desk.

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**Author:** ![Rimantas](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Rimantas](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Rimantas)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/my-giant-calculator/966/26 "2005-11-11T00:00:00Z")

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Ok, second scenario (first was when my hand is on the mouse):

When on Mac - hit F12, dashboard appears with calculator sitting here and waiting :)

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**Author:** ![stooges](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@stooges](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/stooges)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/my-giant-calculator/966/27 "2005-11-13T00:00:00Z")

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On the ladder idea: Anyone know if the selection context menu is extensible?

On windows, if you select anything on any program, the context menu shows: undo, copy, cut, paste, delete, select all, right to left reading order, show unicode control characters, insert unicode control characters.

There MUST be a way to insert commands on this menu! And then we could insert a “perform calculation” one.. or “google”, or whatever.

If you know email me!

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**Author:** ![chris55](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/c/b38774/32.png) [@chris55](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/chris55)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/my-giant-calculator/966/28 "2005-11-15T00:00:00Z")

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@RiX0R the reason why calc.exe obeys order of operations in scientific mode but not in standard mode is because that’s how scientific and standard calculators work in the real world.

Go to any store and find a calculator that doesn’t say “scientific calculator” (hint - the only “special” operators it will have are percent and square root, and it will be really cheap) and try it out - no order of operations obeyed. None that I’ve seen anyway.

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**Author:** ![Damn](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@Damn](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Damn)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/my-giant-calculator/966/29 "2005-11-30T00:00:00Z")

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OK So you figured out a way to get back all the time you wasted trying to figure out how to save that time in the first place

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**Author:** ![Russ](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/r/e36b37/32.png) [@Russ](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Russ)\
**Post date:** [January 31, 2006, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/my-giant-calculator/966/30 "2006-01-31T00:00:00Z")

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If you use calc often, you could have it as a shortcut icon on your menu bar. Just click once and it opens…

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**Author:** ![Lori](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/l/8dc957/32.png) [@Lori](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Lori)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2006, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/my-giant-calculator/966/31 "2006-05-01T00:00:00Z")

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OK… the PowerToy Calculator is freaking AWESOME. The default ‘view’ it uses kinda sucks though…

I like to do the following:  
View / History View (enabled)  
View / Show Samples (unchecked)

and then make the window somewhat smaller.

Now you have a very decent and powerful calculator.

The other features it has are neat… but from a usability point of view… they are a bit of a pain to use (the advanced view is horid… and the app really should keep a seperate window size for that view… as well.. its pretty much a ‘seperate’ application.

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**Author:** ![MattL](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@MattL](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/MattL)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/my-giant-calculator/966/32 "2007-05-24T00:00:00Z")

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I thought this would be useful to those in a work environment that prevents calc from saving your settings to default to the scientific mode.

Save the code lines below as a \*.vbs script then set up a shortcut to it as desired, with hotkeys, etc.

```auto
' Copy/Paste to file called CalcSci.vbs
' Must have .vbs ending to run as VBScript
' CalcSci.vbs by Matt Larkowski
'
' This will open calc and immediately setup the scientific mode with digit grouping
'
Dim WshSHell
set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.Run("%SystemRoot%\system32\calc.exe") 'path to Calc.exe, works for C:\Windows or C:\WinNt installs'
WScript.Sleep(100) 'wait a bit, if we dont, sendkeys may affect other windows besides calc'
WshShell.SendKeys("%") 'Send the Alt Key to open menu bar'
WshShell.SendKeys("v") 'send V to choose View menu'
WshShell.SendKeys("s") 'send S for Scientific calculator mode'
WScript.Sleep(100) 'wait a bit'
WshShell.SendKeys("%") 'send Alt key to do another menu item'
WshShell.SendKeys("v") 'send V to go to View menu'
WshShell.SendKeys("i") 'send I to enable dIgit grouping'

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Andrew](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Andrew](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Andrew)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/my-giant-calculator/966/33 "2007-10-30T00:00:00Z")

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Anybody know how to do scientific notation on calc.exe?

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**Author:** ![NathanB](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/n/ba9def/32.png) [@NathanB](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/NathanB)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/my-giant-calculator/966/35 "2008-04-06T00:00:00Z")

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My Calculator launching work flow on Mac is CMD+SPACE to launch Quicksilver, then press “C”, then ENTER. What’s great is that ALL my apps (and files/folders) work this way. Quicksilver is smart enough to know that “c” or “ca” or “calc” == “Calculator.app” but “cal” == "iCal.

WindowsKey+R is just terrible because you have to know the full name of your app. I’ve heard (I think on codinghorror) that they’ve made launching apps better in Vista via incremental searching, but I don’t have experience with Vista.

Granted, Quicksilver is not built into OSX, but Spotlight is almost as smart, just not as usable and application focused.

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**Author:** ![Barry\_Kelly](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Barry\_Kelly](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Barry_Kelly)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/my-giant-calculator/966/36 "2008-04-07T00:00:00Z")

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Unfortunately, the built in Windows calculator sucks. It uses postfix notation for functions (like sin, cos, log, etc.), doesn’t support useful functions like cartesian/polar conversion, combinations permutations (nCr, nPr on my real calculator), fractions etc., doesn’t understand standard mathematical operations like multiplication: “5(8+2)” doesn’t get the right result - instead, it returns “10”. Also, no expression editing or graphing.

Also, I can’t find the random number generator, and the statistics mode seems to be missing. Overall, calc.exe doesn’t leave a good impression.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Barry\_Kelly](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Barry\_Kelly](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Barry_Kelly)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/my-giant-calculator/966/37 "2008-04-07T00:00:00Z")

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Oh, I found the stastics mode. I don’t like it! :)

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**Author:** ![Jon\_Mathias](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/j/6de8d8/32.png) [@Jon\_Mathias](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Jon_Mathias)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/my-giant-calculator/966/38 "2010-02-06T00:00:00Z")

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anyone ever use an Apricot PC - one of the pre - “IBM-comaptible” machines made by a UK company in the mid-80s ?

 ![](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/uploads/default/original/3X/8/5/8568299058202a53a398b3404fa3a43e1705d976.jpg)

The model I used [here are some pictures from someone else’s site](http://www.actapricot.org/machines/apricot_this_is_my_pc.html) - it had an lcd screen in the keyboard and you could use the number pad to perform calcs on it, then - this is the cool bit - you pressed another key and the contents of the lcd display got pasted into wherever the cursor was. Never seen that feature since !

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**Author:** ![Duston](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v2/letter/d/8baadc/32.png) [@Duston](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/Duston)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/my-giant-calculator/966/39 "2010-02-06T00:00:00Z")

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OS X Leopard has integrated the calculator into spotlight. Just shortcut cmd-space and the spotlight opens in the corner. Type in your equation and it gives you the answer right there in spotlight. No switching programs or anything. Very handy!

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**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/user_avatar/discourse.codinghorror.com/codinghorror/32/36371_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/u/codinghorror)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 6:39am UTC](https://discourse.codinghorror.com/t/my-giant-calculator/966/40 "2025-01-07T06:39:53Z")

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Closed on January 7, 2025, 6:39am UTC



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