Talk:Windows Calculator

message: Someone gotta be kidding me by saying that that picture is from XP. Come on, anyone can see that it's Windows 95 or something...to make up for it, I'll add a shot of the newest version available: the Windows Vista version. Oh!..... Shandristhe azylean 19:45, 2 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, not everybody uses XP with the fancy blue bars and all.  I uploaded a new version, though.  --Merovingian {T C @} 21:22, 2 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: You're to be replaced =) Shandristhe azylean 12:03, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Picture 

message: How many digits of pi does the calculator store?  I once clicked pi, then clicked copy, then clicked the button to subtract, then clicked paste, and finally multiplied the result of that by 10^31, and then I got the next thirty-something digits of pi, and then repeated, and using this method figured out that it had stored at least the first 200 digits of pi.  I wonder how whether every microsoft computer has the first 1000 digits of pi stored in some obscure file, or if it was generating them on demand using some algorithm.  Any ideas?  And the same holds true with e, obtainable by just typing 1, then inv, then ln.
209.6.229.150 23:36, 18 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Well that's a silly comment, microsoft used a very precise pi more precise than most data types support, in fact I think it probably is 32 significant digits guaranteed so that would make it a decimal variable (a double precision double)83.226.47.248 20:38, 30 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  pi 

message: I lack a pre-Windows XP version of Calculator to test this functionality on older versions, or I might have just replaced the existing trivia section. In the Windows XP version the effect of pasted text is different than noted in trivia. Can anyone confirm this on other versions?
For one, it doesn't matter if the pasted text is on one or several lines. Hard returns are ignored, although tabs seem to effectively stop input at that point.
While order of operation seems to be preserved (3 + 5 * 2 equals 13, not 16), it seems that otherwise the effect is essentially identical to typing the same characters. One isn't limited to the basic four functions, but can use the keyboard equivalents of most other buttons. These can be found in the Calculator help file's "Using keyboard equivalents of Calculator buttons" or by right clicking on such a button and selecting "What's this?"
For example, 4i@= is like clicking 4, checking Inv (inverse), and clicking x^2, producing 2 (the square root of 4).
This functionality can be useful when parenthesis are involved, such as for fractions. However, the written out expressions can still become long and unwieldy. For example, (((3/4)+(16/9))/(1/3))y(1+(7/8)) for three quarters plus sixteen ninths, the result divided by a third, and that result raised to the one and seven eighths power. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.41.110.107 (talk) 01:11, 23 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Pasted Text 

message: I removed a gallery of fair use screenshots from this page; this did not meet the minimal use requirements of WP:FUP. Christopher Parham (talk) 23:15, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Fair use gallery

message: :Image:Calcplusconversion.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
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BetacommandBot 14:26, 26 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Fair use rationale for Image:Calcplusconversion.jpg

message: :Image:Microsoft Powercalc.PNG is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is  other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page.  Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot 20:44, 6 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Fair use rationale for Image:Microsoft Powercalc.PNG

message: The Calculator in Windows 2000 and later Windows NT-based versions uses an arbitrary-precision arithmetic library, replacing the standard IEEE floating point library.
I believe the "arbitrary-precision arithmetic library" was already used in Win98 SE. I still have this version and I can calculate as high as 2 ^ 65536 in full precision, while the floating point calculator (double precision) in QBasic has a limit of 2 ^ 1024. What's the limit of MS Calculator anyway?--Tai Ferret (talk) 19:55, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Arbitrary-precision vs IEEE 

message: :Image:Powercalc.PNG is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is  other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page.  Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot (talk) 20:22, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Fair use rationale for Image:Powercalc.PNG

message: Referenced below. Massively POV to say the least (most joked about?), minutiae that is unnecessary in a description of the program to begin with and would be better off in a Trivia section, which is not indicated anymore anyway. WP is not a bug database, a place to document software defects or an advocacy platform. The one salvageable paragraph would be this, I guess:
All Calculator versions including the one in Windows XP, save the configuration (whether to use scientific or standard mode) to the legacy win.ini - a file that is not writable for users. So non-admin users will always start in standard mode. On NT-based operating systems, using INI file redirection, this issue can be addressed by modifying the registry.  Remembering Calculator and Character Map Settings  Calculator Plus also fixes this bug by saving the information where it belongs - into the user portion of the registry.
But that's also irrelevant to the article, IMO. Thoughts? §FreeRangeFrog 02:22, 16 October 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Although WP isn't a how-to, the above solved my problem of how to get it to start in Sci mode, even without editing registry. The info that it was in win.ini was all that was needed. That file had been deleted as being what you said - legacy, which sounds like "useless". Didn't connect that to later disappearance of default Sci view. Imagine my surprise when a search through the Registry had no config info for Calc. Restoring the win.ini file did the trick. ... This is an oddity, because most apps store their config info in the registry, in, say, HKCU\Software. Because it's an oddity, it's notable. Unimaginative Username (talk) 05:04, 19 January 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Bugs section 

message: This section seems to be a long rant about an extremely minor point and it strays a long way from Windows Calculator into general mathematics. Also, my recollection (I'm under Linux right now, so can't check) is that the limitation applies to binary and octal as well, but is bit-based rather than digit-based.
Surely all that needs be said is "though the calculator operates in arbitrary precision for base ten, in other bases it is limited to 64-bit integers"?
--Clive Jones (talk) 03:27, 7 August 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Hex Mode Limitation and Behavior" 

message: This article suffers from the same lack as most of Microsoft's own help articles: It assumes you've found the function in question! I came here with a very simple question: How do I open the Calculator in Windows 7? The article doesn't answer that.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by GeorgeTSLC (talk • contribs) 13:49, 27 August 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  But where IS it? 

message: I am removing the Erros Section.  It does not apply to the newest (Windows 7) version of calculaator (at least there is no error on my computer).  If anyone feels it should exist, then it needs to be specific as to affected versions and it needs to be referenced.Millermk90 (talk) 05:20, 27 November 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Errors

message: In programmer mode, calculator always assumes signed numbers. Therefore a single byte cannot represent anything higher than 127. This actually makes it completely useless for a lot of people.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.103.71.106 (talk) 08:21, 23 April 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: windows7 calculator : calculating the faraday constant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_constant : F= avogadro constant multiplied with elementary charge gives 9648533.21233100184 instead of 96485.332123..... , so there is factor 10^2 difference. --Konfressor (talk) 08:50, 4 July 2023 (UTC)
replies: text:  oops, not microsoft but me broke it, i used it wrong, i used the phrases x10e23 and x10e-19 instead of x10^23 and x10^-19 . sry , i will come back and delete this mess. shame --Konfressor (talk) 12:29, 4 July 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Microsoft broke it. 

message: Calculator in "Hex" (hexadecimal) mode cannot accept or display a hexadecimal number larger than 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF (decimal 18446744073709551615). That 8-byte (64-bit) limit, combined with absence of notification to the user regarding the limitation or how it is handled, presents a serious dysfunctionality. For example, if the user switches to "Hex" mode, and then types "10", and then presses the "x^y" button, and then types "10" again, and then presses "=" the result will be "0". 
That mode selection and keystroke sequence means Calculator is being told to evaluate 16 (decimal) raised to the 16th (decimal) power, and to display the result in hexadecimal base. In "Hex" mode, on a less limited calculator, "10" "x^y" "10" "=", would produce 10000000000000000, which is the hexadecimal representation of X'10' ** X'10'. That number is 17 digits long, and in "Hex" mode, Calculator is limited to registering and displaying no more than 16 hexadecimal digits. In "Hex" mode, if a result is larger than can be represented in 16 hexadecimal digits, Calculator will return a 0 and yield no error message.
No matter what integer base one may be using, in that base, "10" is the number of the base. Taking to its own power the number of any integer base results in a number which is in that base a 1 followed by a number of 0s equal to the number of the base. So regardless of what integer base one is using, if one keys "10" "x^y" "10" "=", one should get a 1 followed by a number of 0s that is equal to the number of the base one is using.
That works fine in Calculator for binary, octal, and decimal modes. Using "Bin" (binary) the user gets 100 (a 1 followed by 2 0s, i.e. base 2). Using "Oct" (octal) the user gets 100000000 (a 1 followed by 8 0s, i.e. base 8). Using "Dec" (decimal) the user gets 10000000000 (a 1 followed by 10 0s, i.e. base 10). But if the user tries to do that using "Hex" mode, the user gets a 0. 
In hexadecimal, a 10 represents the number that in decimal is represented by 16. If the user selects "Dec" mode, and types "16" and then presses the "x^y" button and then types "16" again, and then presses "=" the result will be (decimal) 18446744073709551616, which is correct, as that is the decimal number for "16 raised to the 16th power". Calculator is capable of displaying that number in decimal, but it is incapable of displaying in hexadecimal any number greater than or equal to that number.  
If the user seeing that number displayed switches to "Hex" mode, "0" will appear on the resultant display, and if the user then switches back to "Dec" mode, "0" will still appear. That is due to the 16 hexadecimal digit limitation imposed in "Hex" mode, and to the method chosen for handling numbers which cannot be represented in 16 hexadecimal digits. The choice was made to simply substitute zero for any number greater than 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.
In "Dec" mode, Calculator is limited to 32 digits in result displays. If a user operating Calculator in "Dec" mode produces a result that exceeds the decimal number resultant display limitations of Calculator, Calculator will resort to Scientific Notation, i.e. it will express the number as a between-1-and-10 number (sometimes inclusive of a decimal point and of numerals after the decimal point) times ten to some power. So, for example, Calculator in "Dec" mode, can display Avogadro's Number as 602214179000000000000000 (that value is plus or minus about 30 in the least significant nonzero digits) which is a 24 digit number, but if the user squares that, the result is 3.62661917388644041e+47. That would be a 48 digit number if it were displayed without the e+ notation. Calculator won't do anything analogous to the e+ notation in "Hex" mode. It just reports any number larger than 16 bytes as 0.
Isn't this whole section basically saying that the Hex mode is limited to 16 hexadecimal characters? It's basically repeating itself for paragraphs and paragraphs just to reiterate that point. 86.160.180.131 (talk) 22:55, 17 September 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: That's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen on Wikipedia. I've reduced it as you suggest. – Smyth\talk 06:01, 15 December 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Redundant section 

message: The article states that unit conversion for the metro calculator was introduced in Windows 10, but this was already present in Windows 8.1. --LyThienDao1984 (talk) 06:04, 7 July 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Unit conversion 

message: AFAIK, 'calc.exe' is the de facto Proof of Concept used by security researchers to show that they can execute arbitrary code.
Searching in the Metasploit project or on Twitter seems to confirm this. Xjomo (talk) 23:10, 25 September 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  'calc.exe' as PoC for exploits 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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