Scientific Calculator

How to use the scientific calculator

1. Type an expression with your keyboard, or build it with the keypad. For example: 2 sin(30) + √16.
2. Choose the angle unit with DEG (degrees) or RAD (radians) before using sin, cos, tan or their inverses.
3. Press = or Enter to calculate. While you type, a grey preview of the result is already shown.
4. The line above the result shows how the expression was understood, with every multiplication and bracket written out, so you can check that the calculator read it the way you meant.
5. Each result is added to the History. Click an entry to put that expression back in the input; Clear history empties the list.

After a result, pressing an operator such as + or × continues from it (the input becomes “Ans+”), while typing a number or a function starts a new calculation. Ans always holds the last result at full precision. ⌫ deletes one character and AC clears the input (Esc does the same on a keyboard). Copy copies the last result.

What you can type

• Operations: + − × ÷ (or * and /), ^ for powers, ! for factorial, brackets ( ).
• Functions: sin, cos, tan, asin, acos, atan (also written sin⁻¹ or arcsin), sinh, cosh, tanh, ln (natural log), log (base 10), sqrt or √, cbrt or ∛, abs, exp.
• Constants: π (or pi), e, and Ans.
• Numbers: a decimal point or a decimal comma (2.5 or 2,5), and scientific notation with the EXP key: 1.5E3 = 1500, 2E-3 = 0.002.

Functions can take brackets, sin(30), or apply to the next number, sin 30. Brackets left open at the end are closed automatically.

Order of operations

The calculator follows the usual mathematical conventions:

1. Brackets first.
2. Factorials: −3! = −(3!) = −6.
3. Powers, from right to left: 2^3^2 = 2^9 = 512.
4. The minus sign in front of a number: −2^2 = −4, but (−2)^2 = 4.
5. Multiplication and division, from left to right, including implicit multiplication such as 2π or 3(4 + 1).
6. Addition and subtraction, from left to right.

When in doubt, add brackets, and check the interpretation line above the result.

Degrees and radians

In DEG mode, trigonometric functions take angles in degrees and inverse functions return degrees: sin(30) = 0.5 and asin(0.5) = 30. In RAD mode they use radians: sin(π/6) = 0.5. Angles on the axes give exact values, so sin(180) in degrees is exactly 0 rather than a tiny rounding error, and tan(90) is reported as undefined.

Accuracy

Results are computed in double precision (about 15–16 significant digits) and displayed with up to 12 significant digits, which hides the binary rounding noise: 0.1 + 0.2 shows 0.3. Very large or very small results use scientific notation. The factorial of a non-integer uses the gamma function, so 0.5! ≈ 0.886227. Math errors, such as a division by zero, the square root of a negative number or the log of 0, are explained in a message rather than shown as a wrong number.