Ever wonder if there’s more to the Calculator app on the Mac than just a simple four-function calculator? Here’s a quick tour of some of its best features…
When you were in school you probably kept asking yourself when you’d ever need the math that you were learning. Differentials, volume of objects, plotting formula, etc, all seem rather abstract and quite distant from our day to day lives. And yet, while those parts of mathematics might indeed be distant, basic math is something that everyone encounters on a daily basis. What’s 15% off $135? How do we split a lunch bill in thirds so we all pay the same?
If you’re on a Mac system, you probably haven’t ever realized just how math friendly the system is. And it’s really worth knowing.
In fact, the best place to start is with Spotlight, a feature that has way more power than you realize.
Press Command-Space to open up the Spotlight Search window and type in a mathematical equation:
Look, it’s solved it. Nice. Even better, if you use Copy and Paste, you’ll learn that your smart Mac system pastes the solution to the equation, not the equation itself. In my case, it’d be 86.58.
But we’re not done. Now press Return and the humble Calculator app will be opened up on your Mac OS X MacBook Pro, Air or iMac:
Not much to look at, is it? But click on the green button on the top left.
Now theoretically the green button on a Mac app is supposed to alternate between maximizing the window and going back to the original state. But on the Calculator it has rather a different function:
There ya go. “Scientific” mode.
But we’re still not done with the Calculator! Look up at the View menu:
We’re looking at the Scientific calculator, so choose Command-3 to go into “Programmer” mode:
If you’re an old school Hewlett-Packard trained calculator user, you might actually prefer RPN (“Reverse Polish Notation”) for your calculator where 4+4= turns into “4” “enter”, “4” “+”. That’s easily done by switching to RPN Mode with a Command-R.
Cool, eh?
One more quick trick: If you like to have a “paper tape” that shows all your previous calculations, that’s doable too, but off the “Window” menu:
The Paper Tape shows up as a separate window. Put everything together and…
That, you have to admit, is pretty darn cool.
All tucked away in the humble Calculator app. Now go do some math!
This is great! Didn’t realize I could use the Mac Calculator in RPN mode!
Mac OS X 10.9.5
Dave, your calculator doesn’t look like the one on my Mac Desktop.
There is no Green button/light – Just Red and Yellow
Have to go to View or Cmd to change calc mode, and go to Window to select Paper Tape
Your Calculator is more colourful !
My HAL-2012, (MacBook Pro early 2011). does not open a calculator via cmd space return. It also does not know what 4*4 equals. Was HAL in the wrong line when they passed out the “good” stuff?
What version of Mac OS X are you running, Charles?