Windows XP in a Nutshell

Name

Calculator — \windows\system32\calc.exe

Synopsis

Numerical scientific and nonscientific calculator.

To Open

Start → Programs → Accessories → Calculator

Command Prompt → calc

Description

By default, the Calculator starts in Standard mode, containing only the numeric keypad and some basic functions (add, subtract, invert, square root, etc.). Select Scientific from the View menu to use the calculator in Scientific mode, useful for more advanced functions, such as logarithmic, logical, trigonomic, and base functions (see Figure 4-13). Each time you subsequently open the calculator, it will appear in the previously used mode.

Figure 4-13. The scientific view of the Calculator provides access to many more functions than the standard view

Entering data and performing calculations

Data can be entered by clicking the buttons or by pressing keys on the keyboard. All keys have keyboard equivalents; key mappings that are not quite obvious (such as log) are documented in Table 4-2. Note that many of the functions below are only available in Scientific mode.

Table 4-2. Calculations and keyboard equivalents

Calc button	Keyboard key	Action
C	Esc	Clear all calculations
CE	Del	Clear the last entry
Back	Backspace	Clear the last digit
MR	Ctrl-R	Display the number stored in memory
MS	Ctrl-M	Store the current value in memory
M+	Ctrl-P	Add the current value to ...