manual
console
calculator
the most precise and handy 3-in-1 freeware calculator that i know of!
Console Calculator version 2.4.5
The calculator has 3 main components:
High-precision scientific calculator: | |
Base converter: | |
Units converter: |
Calculator Tutorial: The Basics
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At the "> " prompt, type a mathematical expression or formula and
press enter to calculate the result. For example, after the prompt, type
"4+5*4" followed by the enter key. The result
would be:
ans = 24
If you then typed, "ans / 2",
your result would be:
ans = 12
To perform a quick calculation on the previous result, instead of typing "ans", you may type the operator (*, /, +, or -) at the new prompt and the "ans" will be inserted automatically. For example, if you type "-" the prompt line will be replaced with "ans-". (If you want just the negative sign, type the "-" key twice, and you will be left with a single negative sign.)
Put multiple calculations in a single line, separated by a
semicolon. "m = 5;
m+2" would result
with:
ans = 7
Using a semicolon also suppressed the result from being displayed, similar to Matlab. This is useful when making script files.
Use hex and binary: "0xFF + 0b1001" would result
with:
ans = 264
Use as a unit converter: "10 in->cm" converts 10 inches into
centimeters. The result is how many centimeters are in 10 inches:
ans = 25.4
Valid Operators
| -, +, *, / | Subtract, Add, Multiply, Divide |
| ^ | Raise to power (or exponent) ie. 3^3 = 27 |
| % | Integer modulo, or remainder function. ie. 7%3 = 1 |
| ! | Factorial. i.e. 4! = 4*3*2*1 = 24 |
| <<, >> | Bitwise shift left, right |
| &, |, @ | Bitwise AND, OR, XOR |
| ( ), [ ] | Parenthesis may be used |
More advanced math functions are available, such as square root and trig functions. More information on these functions is available: Built-In Math Functions.
Handy Features
History: Recall Previous Entries
You may press the up or down arrows to quickly copy previous entries to the current prompt, similar to a UNIX console.
Create Variables
For example, "m = 25" creates a variable m which can be used in later calculations. The variable pi = 3.14159... is predefined. The variable ans is always equal to the previous result.
Define Custom Functions
For example, "par(x,y) = x*y/(x+y)" creates a function which takes 2 parameters, in this case to calculate the resistance of two resistors in parallel. Call the function like this: "par(10,10)" and the result will be "5". Functions that you create will be automatically saved after you exit for future console calculator sessions. Type the command "list" to see all available functions.
Copy Previous Result
If there is no text highlighted and you copy, the previous result will automatically be placed into the clipboard. For example, if the previous result was "ans = 128" and you typed Ctrl-C to copy, the text "128" would be in the clipboard and ready to paste into another application.
High Precision Floating Point
Arithmetic with high precision floating point numbers. Over 100 significant digits of decimal accuracy (350 bits). Most calculators perform double-byte floating point calculations, which are 64 bit structures. Console Calculator gives you not 64 bits or 128 bits or 144 bits but 269 bits of arithmetic accuracy! This is known as astronomical precision. More on the calculator precision is available here: high precision calculator note.
SI-Unit Prefixes
You may use metric unit prefixes appended to the end of a number to
automatically adjust units. For example, "5c
+ 5m" + enter would result
with:
ans = 0.055
Metric Prefixes: |
|
Peta- P 10^15
1 000 000 000 000 000 Tera- T 10^12 1 000 000 000 000 Giga- G 10^9 1 000 000 000 Mega- M 10^6 1 000 000 kilo- k 10^3 1000 centi- c 10^-2 0.01 milli- m 10^-3 0.001 micro- u 10^-6 0.000 001 nano- n 10^-9 0.000 000 001 pico- p 10^-12 0.000 000 000 001 femto- f 10^-15 0.000 000 000 000 001 atto- a 10^-18 0.000 000 000 000 000 001 |
Save and Open Scripts
You may save the contents of the current console to a script file which may be run again at a later time. Each line of a script file must be a valid mathematical expression and commands may be seperated by semicolons.
To save a script, choose "Save Script..." from the "File" menu. Choose "Save As..." to save the entire contents of the CCalc window.
Command-Line Interface
The calculator has some command-line options that may be useful. Blind students have found it useful, and others have found it useful for automated calculations.
ccalc [inputfile] [-o outputfile] [-q]
- inputfile: a script file which is run immediately when ccalc starts.
- outputfile: the contents of the session are saved to this file once the CCalc window is closed.
- -q: if the -q tag is used, the calculator will perform the calculations in the inputfile, save results in the outputfile, and immediately quit. The console calculator window never even opens in this case. This is most useful for automated calculations.
Built-in Math Functions
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Functions include scientific, trig and math.h compatible functions.- sqrt - square root
- ln - natural log
- log - log base 10
- logxx - log base xx (log2 for log base 2, log8 for log base 8, etc)
- ln - natural log
- exp - exponential, e^...
- sin - sine
- cos - cosine
- tan - tangent
- asin - arcsine
- acos - arcosine
- atan - arctangent
- sinh - hyperbolic sine
- cosh - hyperbolic cosine
- tanh - hyperbolic tangent
- abs - absolute value
- round - round function, rounds up or down to the nearest integer
- ceil - ceiling function, rounds up to the nearest integer
- floor - floor function, rounds down to the nearest integer
Options: Customize Fonts, Appearance and Behavior
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Console Calculator has several options which may be set to control the look and behavior of the calculator. All the options mentioned below can be changed with the "Options" menu.
Radian or Degree mode | This effects trigonometric functions. |
Font and Colors | Change the font, size, color, and background color. |
Displayed Base | The base can be set to either Binary, Decimal, or Hexadecimal. 100 may be displayed as 100, 0x64, or 0b1100100. This effects only the displayed result. |
Display Scientific Notation |
Auto: Scientific notation is only used for extremely small or large floating point numbers. Large Numbers: Same as Auto, but scientific notation is also used for large integers. Always Scientific: Scientific notation is used at all times. (Scientific notation example: 123.88 is displayed as 1.23880e2) Engineering: Engineering notation is used. (Numbers are displayed with exponents in multiples of 3.) Engineering Prefix: Engineering SI-unit prefixes are used. (123.88e-6 is displayed as 123.88u) |
Max Significant Figures | Maximum number of significant figures to display, used when displaying in scientific notation. (Significant figures are not applied to integers unless they are being displayed in scientific notation.) |
Display Thousands Separator | For certain large numbers, when not using scientific notation, it is helpful to use a thousands separator, such as a comma. For example: 12,888.12. Note that this is for display only; separators are not recognized when entering an equation. |
Two's Complement | When displaying HEX or BINARY values, negative values can optionally be displayed as two's complement notation. |
Transparency | Transparency of the window may be adjusted between 0% and 100%. |
Command History Size | Number of stored previous entries. |
Always on Top | When enabled, the window will float above all other windows. |
Snap-to Screen Edge | When enabled, the window will snap to screen edged when moved. |
Minimize to system tray | When enabled, the calculator will minimize to a system tray icon. |
Allow multiple instances | When enabled, multiple CCalc.exe windows (instances) can be running at the same time. Otherwise, only a single CCalc window can be active, and this window will be brought to the forefront if CCalc.exe is opened again. |
Reassign Calculator AppKey |
Certain keyboards have a calculator appkey, which opens the windows
calculator by default. If this box is checked, Console Calculator
will become the default application when the appkey is pressed.
(This is accomplished by editing the Windows registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AppKey\18 ) |
Auto-evaluate | When enabled, current expression is calculated as it is typed in the Status Bar. Enable the Status Bar in the Options menu or Ctrl-B. |
European style delimiters | When enabled, this essentially swaps the meaning of the comma "," and period "." as the decimal delimiter and to separate arguments in a function. For example, with european style, 1024.56 would be 1024,56. Also, instead of f(x,y) you must use f(x.y) to separate arguments in a function. Hopefully this is clear. You may also use Ctrl-. or Ctrl-, to switch between settings. |
10-Key Calculator Mode |
When enabled, the calculator behaves as a 10-key calculator.
Basically, a tenkey assumes that you are adding a series of numbers.
Consequently, the fundamental operation consists of entering numbers and
their signs, which the application will sum:
1) Enter number. 2) Enter its sign. 3) Repeat steps 1 and 2 as desired. Examples: 2+ 3+ => 5 2- 3+ => 1 2+ 3+ 4- => 1 A tenkey also keeps the last number you entered in its cache; if you enter another operator without explicitly typing a new number, the tenkey will use the contents of the cache. Examples: 2+++ => 2+ 2+ 2+ => 6 2+3++ => 2+ 3+ 3+ => 8 |
Calculator Commands
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Several of the options above can be scripted or changed via commands at the prompt. Below are the available commands.
Command List: | |
| clear or cls | Clear the screen text. |
| del X (or rem X) | Deletes user-defined function or variable X |
| disp X | Prints a variable name and value. |
| display [dec|hex|bin] | Sets the display base, such as display hex |
| echo text string | Prints a text to console (useful for scripting). |
| european [on|off] | Turns european delimiters on/off. |
| exit | Exit the calculator. |
| list | Lists all user-defined functions. |
| mode [rad|deg] | Sets to radian or degree mode. |
| scimode [auto|large|always|eng] | Sets the scientific display mode preference. |
| sigfigs X | Sets the number of max significant figures to X. |
| unit newunit | Define a new unit type for units converter. See below. |
| gospel | The good news. |
Base Converter
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This calculator interprets several different numerical bases and can convert from one base to another. You may change the displayed base in the "Options" menu or using the keyboard shortcuts shown below. Holding down the shift key while changing the base will display the previous answer in the new base without changing the default base permanently.
Set display base: | Shortcut: |
| Binary (base 2) | Ctrl-1 |
| Decimal (base 10) | Ctrl-2 |
| Hexadecimal (base 16) | Ctrl-3 |
Using Decimal, Hex and Binary
Decimal numbers are assumed, but you can specify a number as binary with a "0b" or hex with a "0x".
The number 15 (decimal) in different bases:
Decimal: 15
Binary: 0b1111
Hexadecimal: 0xF
For example, "15 + 0x5
+ 0b101" would result with:
ans = 25
Two's Complement
When viewing negative numbers as binary or hex, two's complement notation is optional. Two's complement is the way that computers typically store signed integers in memory. For example, -5 could be displayed in hex as a 32-bit two's complement, which would be 0xFFFFFFFB rather than -0x0005. This can be a handy option for software developers, though it is off by default.
Unit Converter
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CCalc is also a fully featured units conversion utility. Convert from SI units to non-SI units. Convert between units of length, area, volume, force, and many other types of units in a convenient way. The syntax is very simple and yet very flexible. Don't forget, if you need a unit that is not a built-in unit, you can define your own custom unit! Once created, new unit definitions are saved permanently in the ccalc_functions.txt for future console calculator sessions. Below are some unit conversion examples.
Description | Example | Result |
| Get conversion factor | in->cm | ans = 2.54 |
| Inches to centimeters | 20*5 in->cm | ans = 254 |
| Miles per hour to meters per second | 70 mi/h->m/s | ans = 31.2928 |
| Newton-meters to milljoules | 50 N-m->millijoules | ans = 50000 |
| Square meters to acres (4 examples) |
10000 m^2->acres
10000 m^2->acre 10000 m*m->acre 10000 m-m->acre |
ans = 2.4710538 |
| Define a new unit: furlong | unit furlong = 201.168 meters | new unit created! |
Table of Built-In Units
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