Filed under: iPod Family, Bugs/Recalls, iPhone
Apple's tasty calculator mistake
This error can be demonstrated by entering Pi (3.141592654) manually, instead of using the Pi button -- you will get the correct answer each time. Therefore, this error only shows up when you use the Pi button.
So, be sure to read up on this bug from the tipsters website before you use the calculator for anything too important.
Update: Reader Vineet writes in the comments to note that he believes this behavior is typical of stack-based calculators and should be considered more of an operator-expectations issue than a true bug. Dr. Drang responds (with a little bit of attitude) to disagree, maintaining that the behavior is a legitimate bug.
Thanks for the tip, Dr. Drang!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Rafael Cabral said 9:10AM on 8-26-2008
Get a life Dr. Drang
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eric f. said 9:09AM on 8-26-2008
ZOMG. Now all my daily Pi calculations are ruined!
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Welcome Mel! said 9:12AM on 8-26-2008
This happens with constants on both sides of the equation. Also, with (2 x Pi) will give 6 but then when hit + it goes back to 2. LOL!
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tim said 12:14PM on 8-26-2008
I'd be willing to bet that is incase you accidentally hit the Pi button or any other button on the left. It seems to happen with most, if not all buttons on that side.
Christian A. Stroemmen said 9:18AM on 8-26-2008
I just made a calculator myself last year in Java, and I can honestly see where these mistakes are coming from.
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puhsitch said 9:39AM on 8-26-2008
Interesting
RyAndrew11 said 9:26AM on 8-26-2008
This can be corrected if you press "=" after typing "2 × π", and then adding 5.
Seems the calculator just doesn't do the multiplication automatically like it should.
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rich said 11:21AM on 8-26-2008
I'm guessing that the "Pi" key doesn't have a stored constant associated with it, but instead an operation or two that gets a very accurate value of Pi without needing to store all those digits in memory (can't remember what the old trick is...).
At any rate, it seems that this isn't getting stored properly in the temporary memory for ANY operation - try 2 / pi + 5, 2 - pi + 5, 2 + pi + 5, 2 (y^x) pi + 5, etc. As soon as you hit the operation key, your value of Pi goes away and the original number you put in first (2, in this case) is displayed.
Mark said 9:25AM on 8-26-2008
I still get the error even when I enclose the 2 x Pi in parentheses. When I close the parens, I get the correct value of 2Pi, but as soon as I hit plus, it reverts to 2.
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Mark said 9:29AM on 8-26-2008
Ha, Welcome Mel! beat me to it.
jonny appleseed said 9:31AM on 8-26-2008
I never liked Pi anyway... I'm more of a cake guy myself!
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Olav Haugen said 9:31AM on 8-26-2008
OMG! Whats happening!!!! ??!?
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Jam said 9:38AM on 8-26-2008
I did the same calculation in the Calculator application included in Mac OS X Leopard and it is also answering with 11.283[...] So perhaps its a bug in the Mac OS X Calculator that they ported.
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puhsitch said 9:44AM on 8-26-2008
11.283[...] is the correct answer, though. The iPhone calculator is coming up with 7 as the answer when you do 2*pi+5. That's not happening to me in Leopard...
Think Adrian said 10:17AM on 8-26-2008
fail
minivanmegafun said 10:47AM on 8-26-2008
lmao you suck at math
Dale said 10:08AM on 8-26-2008
I AM GOING TO START A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT. HOW CAN I POSSIBLY CALCULATE THE SURFACE AREA OF A CIRCULAR OBJECT ON THE BUS NOW, APPLE?
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Jash Sayani said 10:29AM on 8-26-2008
Tip of the Day: Never trust Apple's calculator.
NOTE: I wont buy a Scientific calculator if Apple comes up with one.
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Bonehead said 11:06AM on 8-26-2008
It would probably be the thinnest in the world!
Ken Cohen said 11:24AM on 8-26-2008
Another delicious recipe for Apple Pi.
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