Help Page for cal

Quick Calculator

Purpose

Use the Quick Calculator for everyday arithmetic, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, powers, and square roots. It is useful for quickly preparing a number to enter into another qCalc calculator.

Enter a calculation with the on-screen buttons or keyboard, then select = or press Enter to see the result.

Calculations

Use +, -, *, and / for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Use parentheses to control the order of a calculation:

(2 + 3) * 4

Use xʸ to enter a power. For example, 2 xʸ 3 calculates 2^3. The √x button adds a power of 0.5, which calculates the square root of the current expression.

The exp button enters e for scientific notation, such as 1e6 for one million. The π and e buttons insert the mathematical constants pi and Euler's number.

Buttons

=

Calculates the expression currently shown.

1/x

Calculates the reciprocal of the current expression. For example, if the display shows 4, this button returns 0.25.

Bksp and Clear

Bksp removes the last entered character. Clear removes the entire current expression and returns the display to 0.

±

Adds a minus sign to the expression. Use it to enter a negative value or a subtraction operation.

Recall

Switches between the current expression and the expression that was calculated most recently. This is useful when you want to check or adjust the preceding calculation.

Copy

Copies the current displayed result or expression to your clipboard.

Keyboard Shortcuts

You can use the number keys, decimal point, +, -, *, /, parentheses, and ^ to enter a calculation.

  • Press Enter to calculate.
  • Press Escape to clear the display.
  • Press Backspace to remove the last character.

Use the Unit Converter when values include measurement units, the Simple Currency Converter for currency exchange, the Simple Expression Evaluator for multi-step qCalc expressions, or the Command Line for interactive qCalc commands and variables. The matching buttons at the bottom of the Quick Calculator open each of these tools.

Note

The Quick Calculator is for arithmetic only. It does not convert units or currencies, and invalid expressions display Error. Very long expressions are limited to 255 displayed characters.