Show HN: All desktop software calculators are wrong, so I had to build my own

Post by laacz » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 7:05 AM UTC

chacha21 wrote: post #139

laacz wrote: post #137

If you enjoy skeumorphic calculators with their data interfaces, and haven't already, look into the RPN[1] notation used in (most, I believe) scientific/programmable calculators. Once you go there, you stay there. Just Google[2] or DDG[3] for it to play around. 1: Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_Polish_notation 2: Google search: https://www.google.com/search?q=rpn%20calculator%20online 3: DDG:…

Chalk has an option to use RPN

Post by chacha21 » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 7:13 AM UTC

shhsshs wrote: post #97

zelon88 wrote: post #92

To be honest I read all the materials, 85% of the blog post, and your website and you still have not told me WHY software calculators are wrong. You drone on and on and on. I'm 15 minutes into this rant of yours and I know all your personal preferences about pocket calculators and software calculators and yet no evidence to suggest why your design is actually better. No evidence to suggest that existing calculators a…

The TLDR as I understand it: - Most software calculators take up too much space. You don't need buttons on the screen, your keyboard already has the buttons. - Software calculators don't often give good feedback of what digits/buttons are being pressed. Physical calculators keep the keys and the display in the same small visual space: you can see the buttons you're pressing and the screen at the same time, and you ha…

Post by chacha21 » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 7:15 AM UTC

orbital-decay wrote: post #67

I love the ground-up design. However, i feel that in-place operations are missing from your rationale. Good algebraic calculators are typically able to 1/x or invert anything on the screen with one button without breaking the input flow, and repeat operations for the same left- or right-side operand by pressing =. This massively reduces the time spent on certain guesstimations when doing napkin math.

Post by nathan_phoenix » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 8:59 AM UTC

ytjohn wrote: post #90

eliah wrote: post #51

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Soulver yet ( https://soulver.app/ ). I have used it for years -- it looks like it has pretty similar functionality to this but (IMO) with a more native-feeling UI. I love it. I don't think it supports as wide a range of math, but it does seem to pass the accuracy test given in the article (sin(exp(37))). It also lets you assign variables which I find handy. On the other hand, the p…

I haven't seen Soulver, but it looks very similiar to the one I use on Mac, called Numi. On Android, I use an app called CalcNote which works in a similiar way. Neither does graphing, but you can do common formulas and functions like cos/sin/rad. I use numi for simple calculations, and find it fantastic when I'm trying to figure out project stuff. A recent use is entering wall dimensions to figure out square footage…

Post by darnir » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 9:07 AM UTC

chacha21 wrote: post #49

makapuf wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So does firefox if you're using this browser https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/Responsive_De...

Thanks, I have added some more "mobile compliant" CSS styles.