| scicalc is a scientific calculator for the palm
pilot. here is the latest version, 2.15 [140k].
see whats new!
scicalc is an ongoing project to build a better pocket calculator for PDAs. the calculator operates like most old-style algebraic entry calculators. the algebraic expression for your calculation is automatically constructed on the top line for your reference. this expression may be edited and re-evaluated. see the manual for more details. here is a command line windows version with the same expression syntax. NOTE: PalmOS 3.0 or later is required. |
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scicalc has the following objectives:
 | to be simple and straightforward to operate. to this end, scicalc performs calculations directly as you enter them. normal operation is not formula entry. however, for convenience, the corresponding formula is automatically displayed on the top line. this line can be edited for corrections and re-evaluation. |
| to have more precision than the normal offerings. scicalc experiments with an extended precision arithmetic initially proposed by douglas priest [1991]. the idea is to use a set of floating point numbers with independent exponents to approximate a real number. this differs from multiple digit methods because each float has its own exponent which can track a point on the real number line. scicalc uses two ieee-754 doubles for each of its numbers and can thus track two points of the real number line. the two doubles can be regarded as the equivalent of a 106 bit mantissa. |
| to correct for common calculator problems. see the torture test |
| to add new and interesting functions not normally found on
calculators. the help|functions menu displays a catalog of extended functions that are not on the keyboard. these may be used in the expression window only. eg. normal(x), computation of the normal probability function. |
| to make it programmable! yes! its about time we had a easy to program pocket calculator for PDAs. |