OS X's Calculator application is something I basically ignore. Between Spotlight and Terminal's bc, I rarely if ever use it. So it was a pleasant and welcome surprise when TUAW reader Roberto Mateu gave us a heads up that Leopard's calculator was updated with better RPN support.
Calculator has done RPN for some time--if you're still running Tiger, you can see the old version by selecting View > RPN for any of the three calculator types. Under Tiger, the = button changed to Enter and that was about it. Leopard has updated the RPN calculator by adding multi-line entry so you can see your stack as it grows. It's a much nicer way to use RPN and TUAW heartily approves.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-10-2007 @ 3:06PM
Mat Lu said...
This is awesome! I had no idea this had been added. It brings all those HP 48 memories from high school flooding back -- though it's true I used it more for playing games than doing homework!
Reply
12-10-2007 @ 4:29PM
peeweejd said...
oh snap!
i didnt know it had RPN? I HATE algebraic calculators.
Reply
12-10-2007 @ 4:29PM
Seb Payne said...
I don't know if this was in Tiger but the Binary/Hex calculator are very very handy for a Computer Science student like myself - the envy of those fools using Windows Calc :)
Reply
12-10-2007 @ 5:41PM
Marcos said...
Windows built-in calc has HEX and Binary modes. I use them a lot. I don't know how it compares to Leopard's calculator though.
12-10-2007 @ 4:30PM
Brian said...
Nice! Now if only they would extend that same functionality to the iPhone! RPN calculators are so nice. Sadly my trusty HP 48 was stolen two years ago.
Reply
12-10-2007 @ 4:37PM
Think Adrian said...
What is RPN?
Reply
12-10-2007 @ 5:07PM
CW said...
Reverse Polish Notation
12-10-2007 @ 5:24PM
JD said...
Why not just use Grapher, which comes with the OS? It's sadly overlooked, I think. Not only is it a great graphing program, but if you erase the "y=" part, it does a fine job as a calculator, with the full array of functions. The only thing better than RPN, in my opinion, is being able to write the whole equation out with parentheses and all (and grapher formats fractions and exponents very nicely), which you can of course edit as needed.
Reply
12-10-2007 @ 5:25PM
GothGod said...
Mein godt in himmel! So here have I been looking through tons of calculation application, with no one fitting my needs, and all I had to do was look in the menus of the standard one. (I feel stupid right now, but it will pass once I explain this to others...)
Reply
12-10-2007 @ 5:47PM
mmoore said...
someone please port this to the iphone, quick.
Reply
12-10-2007 @ 6:16PM
rjbs said...
Calling this a step up is sort of weird. This simply makes it usable. Using RPN without being able to see the stack is insane.
Reply
12-10-2007 @ 9:12PM
Charles said...
Wow, I haven't seen anything this good since my old HP-35, I grew up on RPN but none of the 3rd party calcs seemed to come close. I never knew this was in Calculator.app, thanks much for pointing it out. The only way this could be better is if it had a Dietzgen Slide Rule mode.. ha.
Reply
12-10-2007 @ 11:09PM
Pancho said...
@mmoore
For the iPhone try http://scicalc.belfry.com/
Mathpad is still the best calculator eva! ( http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mwidholm/MathPad/ ). Mark, please port Mathpad to the iPhone.
Reply
12-11-2007 @ 12:24PM
Stephen Lang said...
I would be happy with a Universal binary of MathPad for now...