Visual Calculator™
Help Page

Below are answers to questions people have asked about using Visual Calculator™, plus a few answers to anticipated questions.

Summary

• How do I use exponents, square roots, trig functions, etc?
• How does the interactive calculation history help?
• How do Undo, Redo, and Reset work?
• Can I resizeVisual Calculator™?
• Why aren't there buttons for the advanced features?
• Why does Visual Calculator™ look or behave differently in some browsers?
• Additional Help

How do I use exponents, square roots, trig functions, etc? (top)

All advanced or scientific functionality in Visual Calculator™ is explained in the Scientific article. Here are a few simple examples of expressions that may be calculated with Visual Calculator™:

• 2^2
• 4^.5
• sin(pi/3)
• 1.66e-27
• 2(ln(e^1)) + ln(e^2)
• 5:14 to 9:48

How does the interactive calculation history help? (top)

• It's easy to see when you've made a mistake.
  • In traditional pocket calculators, there's no way to know that what you meant to calculate is actually what was calculated. At the end of your calculation, you're left with a number that has no significance or context.
• You can build complicated expressions easily.
  • Clicking any expression in the calculation history puts it at the end of the expression you are currently building. This means you can do several intermediate calculations and then easily use them as terms in a new, larger expression. An example of where this would be useful would be if you were calculating the total cost of an item, including tax. You could first type '15.99 * .0825' to determine the tax is $1.32. Then just clicking '15.99 * .0825' loads it back into the input area where you can type '+15.99' and calculate the total cost.
• It saves you time.
  • Once you become proficient with this new way of using a calculator, you will recognize that the previous example wasted some effort. By typing '15.99' and pressing the Enter key you load that single number into the calculation history. Then by clicking it, you can retrieve it from the history whenever you need it again, saving you time and preventing needless mistakes.

How do Undo, Redo, and Reset work? (top)

Undo & Redo were modeled after the Undo & Redo features found in common desktop software. The Reset button adds a new clean slate for the calculation history, which may be removed via an Undo operation and then put back with a Redo. There is no theoretical limit to how much you can Undo, Redo, or Reset in a session. Here are some brief definitions:

• Reset
  • Reset is treated as a calculation by Undo & Redo. This is so you may Undo & Redo a Reset operation.
• Undo
  • Removes the previous calculation (or Reset), and puts it in the Redo list.
• Redo
  • Puts back something you've "undone". Note that any time you perform a calculation or a Reset, the Redo list is cleared.

The only way to permanently remove a calculation from your calculation history (aside from a page refresh) would be to Undo that calculation and then immediately perform another calculation or Reset, either of which clears the Redo list. Otherwise, you may traverse backward and forward in your Undo/Redo history without permanently removing any calculations. This can be especially useful when you've Reset the history multiple times, leaving a group of calculations behind each time that you need to refer to later.

I work with large expressions and I want to see more of them on the screen at one time. Can I resize Visual Calculator™? (top)

Visual Calculator™ has a flexible layout that is designed to utilize the available area of any screen resolution. If you decrease the height of your browser window and keep the width as wide as possible, Visual Calculator™ will decrease the font size while retaining the same width, thereby allowing you to work with larger expressions without needing to scroll.

Why aren't there buttons for the advanced features of Visual Calculator™? (top)

In early interface designs, we developed a button for every feature of Visual Calculator™. We discovered that this approach significantly degraded its visual appeal, and more importantly, caused the casual user to be overwhelmed with mathematical symbols and functions. We decided to compromise by allowing advanced users to type in their expressions (as they are likely to do anyway) while casual users may simply click the buttons. In future versions of Visual Calculator™ we will bring advanced mathematics back into the interface.

Why does Visual Calculator™ look or behave differently in some browsers? (top)

From its inception, Visual Calculator™ has been designed to utilize the cutting edge of web technology. Unfortunately, this means that it will be unusable in certain older browsers, and appear or behave differently in others. Below is a list of the browsers we are currently targeting. All are free to download, and all are compatible with Visual Calculator™.

• Mozilla Firefox 2 (highly recommended)
• Opera 9
• Netscape 8
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 7
  • (installation only recommended for advanced users)
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6
  • compatible with Visual Calculator™, but with some minor appearance & behavioral differences

Also, Internet Explorer browsers have a "feature" whereby they ignore many of the clicks in a fast repetition. If you find this tedious, you are encouraged to download one or more of the other browsers listed above; none of which have this issue.

Due to finite time and resources, we are unable to test Visual Calculator™ in all browsers. If you are using a browser we are not targeting, we encourage you to leave feedback below about your user experience and your browser. This will greatly help us in our continuing drive to improve the usability and accessibility of Visual Calculator™.

Additional Help (top)

For additional help or to leave feedback, please use the following form:

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