Help for WinCalc

Overview

WinCalc provides all of the most useful calculator functions in a single, organized format, and it features a 13-digit display, a 500-line scrollable tape, 10 memory cells, conversions between Decimal, Hexadecimal, Octal, and Binary modes, the ability to copy, paste, or edit the current calculator value, and the ability to save the tape and/or memory data to a text file to be printed or to be restored later.

When changing numeric modes (Decimal to Hexadecimal, for example), the letter 'd' after a number indicates that it is a Decimal number, 'h' indicates a Hexadecimal number, 'o' indicates an Octal number, and 'b' indicates a Binary number.

Buttons and Controls

CA, CE, Back

CA (Clear All):

Clears the current calculation in order to begin a new calculation. The ESC key will also perform this function.

CE (Clear Entry):

Clears the current value without affecting the current calculation. The Delete key will also perform this function.

Back (Backspace):

Removes the right-most digit from the display. The Backspace key will also perform this function.
Memory Functions (M+, MV, MR, MC)

M+ (Memory Add):

Displays the values of the 10 memory cells. To add the current calculator value to one of the memory cells, simply click that cell (or press the appropriate number on your keyboard).
To Cancel this operation, click the C button (or press the C key on your keyboard).

MV (Memory View):

Displays the values of the 10 memory cells. To return to your calculation, press any key or click any button.

MR (Memory Recall):

Displays the values of the 10 memory cells. To use one of these values in the current calculation, click that memory cell (or press the appropriate number on your keyboard).
To Cancel this operation, click the C button (or press the C key on your keyboard).

MC (Memory Clear):

Displays the values of the 10 memory cells. To clear out one of the memory cells, click that memory cell (or press the appropriate number on your keyboard).
To clear out all memory cells, click the A button (or press the A key on your keyboard).
To Cancel this operation, click the C button (or press the C key on your keyboard).
Number Keys and Simple Math Functions (/, *, -, +, =)

Self-explanatory.
Other Functions (+/-, %, ( ), 1/x, x^y, SQRT, n!, MOD)

+/-: Changes the sign of the current calculator value.
%: Percent key. Examples:

16% = 0.16
16 * 25% = 4
16 - 25% = 12

( ): Parentheses are used to change the order in which operations are evaluated and performed. Each time you click the Left Parenthesis button, it will display a number which indicates how many left parentheses have not yet been closed off (by clicking the Right Parenthesis button). Examples:

1 + 2 * 3 + 4 = 13
(1 + 2) * (3 + 4) = 21
1 + (2 * 3) + 4 = 11
1 + (2 * (3 + 4)) = 15

1/x: Reciprocal function. Examples:

10 1/x = 0.1
0.125 1/x = 8
0 1/x = "Invalid value for 1/x" (click any button or press any key to clear the error).

x^y: Power function, i.e. "x to the power of y". Examples:

10 x^y 2 = 100
2 x^y 3 = 8
5 x^y 0 = 1

SQRT: Square Root function. Examples:

16 SQRT = 4
100 SQRT = 10

n!: Factorial function, i.e. "n * (n-1) * (n-2) * ... * 1". Examples:

4 n! = 4 * 3 * 2 * 1 = 24
12 n! = 479,001,600
13 n! = "Invalid value for n!" (click any button or press any key to clear the error). This is an error because the answer is too large to be displayed.

MOD: Modulus function (returns the remainder after dividing the first value by the second value). Examples:

5 MOD 3 = 2
6 MOD 3 = 0
Trigonometry Functions (SIN, COS, TANG)

The sine, cosine, and tangent functions.
Binary Functions (AND, NOT, OR, XOR)

AND: Performs the AND operation:

0 AND 0 = 0
0 AND 1 = 0
1 AND 0 = 0
1 AND 1 = 1

NOT: Performs the NOT operation:

1 NOT = 0
0 NOT = 1

OR: Performs the OR operation:

0 OR 0 = 0
0 OR 1 = 1
1 OR 0 = 1
1 OR 1 = 1

XOR: Performs the XOR (eXclusive OR) operation:

0 XOR 0 = 0
0 XOR 1 = 1
1 XOR 0 = 1
1 XOR 1 = 0

These operators do not work in Decimal mode.
DECIMAL, HEX, OCT, BIN

DECIMAL: Converts the current value and all subsequent values to decimal notation, i.e. the digits 0 to 9.
HEX: Converts the current value and all subsequent values to hexadecimal notation, i.e. the digits 0 to 9 and A to F.
OCT: Converts the current value and all subsequent values to octal notation, i.e. the digits 0 to 7.
BIN: Converts the current value and all subsequent values to binary notation, i.e. the digits 0 and 1.
When changing numeric modes (Decimal to Hexadecimal, for example), the letter 'd' after a number indicates that it is a Decimal number, 'h' indicates a Hexadecimal number, 'o' indicates an Octal number, and 'b' indicates a Binary number.
A, B, C, D, E, F

Used in hexadecimal notation (A = 10, B = 11, C = 12, etc.).
When using any of the memory functions (M+, MV, MR, or MC), the C button can be used to Cancel the memory function.
When using the Memory Clear function (MC), the A button can be used to clear out all of the memory cells.

File menu

Save Tape and Memory (Ctrl+S)

Pops up a dialog box to allow you to select the directory and filename where you would like the tape and memory data to be saved (so that you can restore it later and return to your calculations).
For example, you might be in the middle of a calculation, but then you need to do another set of calculations in order to use the result in your current calculation. Simply save the tape (i.e. your current calculations) to a file, do the other calculations, copy the result to the Clipboard, load your previous calculations from the file where you had saved them, then paste the other result into the current calculation.
Load Tape and Memory (Ctrl+L)

Pops up a dialog box to allow you to select the directory and filename of a file containing previously-saved tape and memory data (so that you can restore the tape and return to your calculations).
Save Tape for Printing (Ctrl+P)

Pops up a dialog box to allow you to select the directory and filename where you would like the tape data to be saved. The tape data is saved as a formatted text file suitable for printing.
Exit (Alt+F4)

Ends WinCalc.

Edit menu

Copy (Ctrl+C)

Copies the current calculator value to the Clipboard so that you can paste it into another application (such as a word processor or spreadsheet).
Paste (Ctrl+V)

Gets the contents of the Clipboard and uses that number as the current value in the current calculation, replacing the value that was being displayed.
If the Clipboard contains a picture or a string which does not start with a number then no change is made to the current calculation. If the Clipboard contains a string that begins with a number (such as "123abc") then only the number portion (123) will be returned and displayed.
Edit the Current Value (Ctrl+E)

Pops up a dialog box displaying the current calculator value to allow you to manually truncate it, round it up or down at any decimal position, and so on.

Tape menu

Clear the Entire Tape

Deletes the contents of the scrollable tape.
Jump to the Top (Ctrl+T)

Positions you at the top of the scrollable tape.
Jump to the Bottom (Ctrl+B)

Positions you at the bottom of the scrollable tape.
Return to the Current Calculation (Ctrl+R)

Positions you at the end of the current calculation.
Advance the Tape (Ctrl+A)

Positions you at the end of the current calculation, then advances the tape by adding a blank line.

List of Enhancements in the New Version

New Features

Now you can press the Alt, Ctrl, or Shift keys when you click a number on the tape, and that number will become the current calculator value (replacing the previous value). This makes it easy to re-use numbers from the tape, and it only works in Decimal mode.
Modified Features

Previous versions of WinCalc had a box below the tape which displayed the number of Left Parentheses that had not yet been closed off with Right Parentheses. Now this information is displayed on the Left Parenthesis button.
Also, the scrollable tape is now longer on the screen (although it still has a 500-line limit).
Deleted Features
Previous versions of WinCalc had a Conversions menu which allowed you to do a limited number of conversions (such as converting from gallons to liters). However, it turned out that there were too few conversion options to make it a useful feature, and there are too many possible conversions to make it worthwhile adding them all into WinCalc.
Instead, take a look at these websites for a wide variety of conversion formulas and conversion software:
Some of these websites contain lists of conversion formulas, and you can click the File/Save As menu option in your Web browser to save those websites to your computer (so that you don't have to be on the Internet in order to see the conversion formulas). You can copy and paste the conversion factors into WinCalc in order to convert the current WinCalc amount into a different unit of measurement.
Previous versions of WinCalc also had two keys labeled "<" and ">" which allowed you to scroll the tape using the keyboard. These were deleted in order to lengthen the tape.
In previous versions you had the option of changing the background color of WinCalc, but this option has been removed (because WinCalc no longer has an INI file in order to improve performance).

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