Monday 26 March 2012

Calculator (Windows)

Windows Calculator, frequently accepted as Calculator from the application's appellation bar, is a adding appliance included in all versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system. It can be activated by the command "calc" on a lot of Windows systems.

Windows 7

In Windows 7, abstracted Programmer, Statistics, Unit Conversion, Date Calculation, and Worksheets modes were added. Tooltips were removed. Furthermore, Calculator's interface was revamped for the aboriginal time back its introduction.

In every approach except Programmer, one can see the history of calculations. The applet was redesigned to board multitouch. Standard approach behaves as a simple checkbook calculator; entering the arrangement 6 * 4 + 12 / 4 - 4 * 5 gives the acknowledgment 25. In Scientific approach adjustment of operations is followed while accomplishing calculations (muiltiplication and analysis are done afore accession and subtraction), which agency 6 * 4 + 12 / 4 - 4 * 5 = 7.

In Scientific mode, the abject about-face functions were confused to the Programmer mode, and statistics functions were confused to the Statistics mode.

On the appropriate of the capital Calculator, one can add a console with Date Calculation, Unit Conversion, and Worksheets. The included Worksheets acquiesce one to account a aftereffect of a called acreage based on the ethics of added fields. Pre-defined templates cover artful a car's ammunition abridgement (mpg and L/100 km),3 a car lease, and a mortgage. In pre-beta versions of Windows 7, Calculator aswell provided a Wages template.

Windows Vista and earlier

In Windows versions afore Windows 7, Calculator has a simplified interface, baby size, and can accomplish all of the functions of a lot of four-function or accurate calculators. By default, the appliance is in the "Standard" mode, and functions as a four-function calculator. More avant-garde functions are accessible in "Scientific" mode, including logarithms, after abject conversions, some analytic operators, abettor precedence, radian, amount and gradians abutment as able-bodied as simple single-variable statistical functions. It does not accommodate abutment for user-defined functions, circuitous numbers, accumulator variables for average after-effects (other than the archetypal accumulator anamnesis of abridged calculators), automatic polar-cartesian coordinates conversion, or abutment two-variables statistics, authoritative it abstract to use with abounding engineering, physics or top academy mathematics tasks.

Calculator is not able to do "constant calculations". Using accepted stand-alone calculator, if a user wants to administer the aforementioned connected and operation abounding times, the additional and afterward calculations can be done after retyping the operation and constant. So one can type: 2*7=14 3=21 4=28 etc..

Some versions of Calculator accept a way to automate continued calculations. Writing a argument book in Notepad or addition argument editor absolute a amount at the alpha and again an abettor and added numbers and operators afterward it and pasting the resultant agreeable to Calculator's textbox will aftereffect in it assuming the so declared calculations. This may not plan accurately with all versions of Calculator, and depends on absolute argument formatting.

Some keyboards accept a "calculator" key, which launches Windows Calculator by default.
Most of Calculator's functions can be accessed with a specific letter or attribute or added keystroke sequence. A abounding account of Calculator functions and explanations of the functions can be begin in Calculator's advice file.

Hex Mode Limitation and Behavior

Calculator in "Hex" (hexadecimal) approach cannot acquire or affectation a hexadecimal amount beyond than 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF (decimal 18446744073709551615). That 8-byte (64-bit) limit, accumulated with absence of notification to the user apropos the limitation or how it is handled, presents a austere dysfunctionality. For example, if the user switches to "Hex" mode, and afresh types "10", and afresh presses the "x^y" button, and afresh types "10" again, and afresh presses "=" the aftereffect will be "0".

That approach alternative and keystroke arrangement agency Calculator is getting told to appraise 16 (decimal) aloft to the 16th (decimal) power, and to affectation the aftereffect in hexadecimal base. In "Hex" mode, on a beneath bound calculator, "10" "x^y" "10" "=", would aftermath 10000000000000000, which is the hexadecimal representation of X'10' ** X'10'. That amount is 17 digits long, and in "Hex" mode, Calculator is bound to registering and announcement no added than 16 hexadecimal digits. In "Hex" mode, if a aftereffect is beyond than can be represented in 16 hexadecimal digits, Calculator will acknowledgment a 0 and crop no absurdity message.

No amount what accumulation abject one may be using, in that base, "10" is the amount of the base. Taking to its own ability the amount of any accumulation abject after-effects in a amount which is in that abject a 1 followed by a amount of 0s according to the amount of the base. So behindhand of what accumulation abject one is using, if one keys "10" "x^y" "10" "=", one should get a 1 followed by a amount of 0s that is according to the amount of the abject one is using.

That works accomplished in Calculator for binary, octal, and decimal modes. Application "Bin" (binary) the user gets 100 (a 1 followed by 2 0s, i.e. abject 2). Application "Oct" (octal) the user gets 100000000 (a 1 followed by 8 0s, i.e. abject 8). Application "Dec" (decimal) the user gets 10000000000 (a 1 followed by 10 0s, i.e. abject 10). But if the user tries to do that application "Hex" mode, the user gets a 0.

In hexadecimal, a 10 represents the amount that in decimal is represented by 16. If the user selects "Dec" mode, and types "16" and afresh presses the "x^y" button and afresh types "16" again, and afresh presses "=" the aftereffect will be (decimal) 18446744073709551616, which is correct, as that is the decimal amount for "16 aloft to the 16th power". Calculator is able of announcement that amount in decimal, but it is butterfingers of announcement in hexadecimal any amount greater than or according to that number.

If the user seeing that amount displayed switches to "Hex" mode, "0" will arise on the resultant display, and if the user afresh switches aback to "Dec" mode, "0" will still appear. That is due to the 16 hexadecimal chiffre limitation imposed in "Hex" mode, and to the adjustment called for administration numbers which cannot be represented in 16 hexadecimal digits. The best was fabricated to artlessly acting aught for any amount greater than 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.

In "Dec" mode, Calculator is bound to 32 digits in aftereffect displays. If a user operating Calculator in "Dec" approach produces a aftereffect that exceeds the decimal amount resultant affectation limitations of Calculator, Calculator will resort to Scientific Notation, i.e. it will accurate the amount as a between-1-and-10 amount (sometimes across-the-board of a decimal point and of numerals afterwards the decimal point) times ten to some power. So, for example, Calculator in "Dec" mode, can affectation Avogadro's Amount as 602214179000000000000000 (that amount is additional or bare about 30 in the atomic cogent nonzero digits) which is a 24 chiffre number, but if the user squares that, the aftereffect is 3.62661917388644041e+47. That would be a 48 chiffre amount if it were displayed after the e+ notation. Calculator will not do annihilation akin to the e+ characters in "Hex" mode. It just letters any amount beyond than 16 bytes as 0.

Windows 7

The Windows 7 Calculator overcomes abounding of the limitations declared above, about the adeptness to adhesive continued calculations from a argument book with one operation per band is now broken.

Calculator Plus

Calculator Plus is a abstracted appliance for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 users that adds a 'Conversion' approach over the Windows XP adaptation of the Calculator. The 'Conversion' approach supports assemblage about-face and bill conversion. Bill barter ante can be adapted application the congenital amend feature, which downloads barter ante from the European Central Bank.