Seven Scientific Calculators for Laptop Customers

This can be a transient publish on scientific calculators for laptop customers. It’s partially a followup to the publish Ten Nice Fast Calculators for Laptop Customers and overlaps a number of the content material on this earlier publish.

A scientific calculator can rapidly carry out a spread of operations and features past fundamental arithmetic. All scientific calculators carry out floating level arithmetic. Most scientific calculators have trigonometric features, logarithm and energy features, hyperbolic features, and the factorial. Most scientific calculators assist scientific notation. Some scientific calculators can carry out varied extra superior arithmetic akin to calculus. On this publish, we take a look at scientific calculator packages for laptop customers, primarily for performing fast scientific or engineering calculations whereas engaged on a pc.

(1) Microsoft Home windows Calculator

Microsoft Home windows comes with a built-in calculator utility that has a fundamental and a scientific mode.

The scientific calculator mode might be chosen by deciding on the Scientific Menu Merchandise within the View Menu as proven beneath. The Home windows Calculator from Microsoft Home windows 7 House Premium is proven.

(2) Macintosh OS X Calculator

Like Microsoft Home windows, the Macintosh OS X working system comes with a built-in calculator with a scientific calculator mode.

The scientific calculator might be chosen by deciding on the Scientific menu merchandise within the View pulldown menu as proven beneath.

(3) Unix/X Window System xcalc Utility

The X Window System comes with a scientific calculator xcalc. xcalc emulates the Texas Devices TI-30 scientific calculator by default.

xcalc -rpn

launches xcalc emulating the basic Hewlett-Packard HP-10C scientific calculator.

(4) Google

The Google search field has been capable of consider mathematical expressions for years. It has the capabilities of a scientific calculator. In the previous few weeks, Google modified its search interface to show a scientific calculator when a scientific mathematical expression is entered.

(5) Wolfram Alpha

Wolfram Alpha has intensive scientific calculator performance and way more.

(6) iPhone (IOS)

The iPhone calculator utility morphs right into a scientific calculator whenever you maintain the iPhone in panorama (not portrait) mode. Notice that when the iPhone is held in portrait mode (lengthy facet vertical/quick facet horizontal) the iPhone Calculator is a fundamental arithmetic calculator.

(7) GNU Emacs Textual content Editor

The broadly used and broadly obtainable GNU Emacs textual content editor has each a classy calculator mode with a big studying curve and an easy-to-use fast calculator command. This calculator has intensive scientific calculator features bordering on a poor man’s MATLAB.

M-x
quick-calc
a (op) b

In most variations of GNU Emacs, the results of the fast calculation is positioned within the Emacs “kill ring” and might be then pasted into the present edit buffer by utilizing Ctrl-y (“yank”).

The image beneath exhibits the GNU Emacs calculator computing the sin(2.1*3.1) beneath. Notice that the GNU Emacs calculator defaults to levels fairly than radians (Google, Wolfram Alpha) so the outcome differs from the outcome computed by Google and Wolfram Alpha.

The GNU Emacs calculator has an intensive person guide.

Conclusion

This transient publish has offered seven scientific calculators for laptop customers:

The Microsoft Home windows Calculator

The Mac OS X Calculator

The Unix/X Window System xcalc Utility

Google

Wolfram Alpha

The iPhone Calculator

The GNU Emacs Calculator

© 2012 John F. McGowan

In regards to the Creator

John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves issues utilizing arithmetic and mathematical software program, together with growing video compression and speech recognition applied sciences. He has intensive expertise growing software program in C, C++, Visible Fundamental, Mathematica, MATLAB, and lots of different programming languages. He’s most likely greatest identified for his AVI Overview, an Web FAQ (Steadily Requested Questions) on the Microsoft AVI (Audio Video Interleave) file format. He has labored as a contractor at NASA Ames Analysis Heart concerned within the analysis and improvement of picture and video processing algorithms and know-how. He has revealed articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the invention of methane on Mars), and low-cost entry to area. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the College of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Know-how (Caltech). He might be reached at [email protected].