Changes to Calculator in Service Pack 4 (187696)

MORE INFORMATION

Switching Between Standard and Scientific

In Service Pack 4 and later, Calculator now clears the display when switching between the Standard and Scientific views. To transfer numbers between Standard and Scientific view, follow these steps:

1. Click MS to store the displayed number.
2. On the View menu, click the desired view.
3. Click MR to recall the stored number.

NOTE: A number typed in hexadecimal, octal, or binary format will be converted to decimal format when transferring from Scientific to Standard view.

Understanding Extended Precision

Extended Precision, a new feature of Calculator, means that all operations are accurate to at least 32 digits. Calculator also stores rational numbers as fractions to retain accuracy. For example, 1/3 is stored as 1/3, rather than .333. However, errors accumulate during repeated operations on irrational numbers. For example, Calculator will truncate pi to 32 digits, so repeated operations on pi will lose accuracy as the number of operations increases.

New Additional Information

The following applies to all versions of the Calculator even though it is not documented in Service Pack 3 and earlier.

Performing Calculations with Large Numbers

In the hexadecimal, octal, and binary number systems, Calculator displays only the lower digits of an answer when the result has more digits than your display size allows. This behavior mimics the way calculations work in computers.

DWORD results can contain up to eight digits; Word results can contain up to four digits; and Byte results can contain up to two digits.

For example, using the hexadecimal number system displayed as Word, the largest result you can generate is FFFF (equal to 65535 in decimal). If you double that number (FFFFx2), the answer is 1FFFE. This contains five digits, so Calculator will display only the lower four digits of the answer: FFFE.