Console Calculator is a powerful calculator with a simple console interface.

In addition to being a high-

precision calculator (300+ bits of precision), it also support base conversion, units conversion, and much
more. The interface is convenient and easy to use. Create your own variables and functions, recall
previous entries, and quickly hide it with a keystroke. Many other conveniences are included that make
Console Calculator a multi-function tool that engineers or software developers will appreciate.

• Calculator Tutorial: The Basics

High-precision
• Convenient Features
scientific calculator:
• Built-in Math Functions
• Calculator Options
• Calculator Commands
• Using Scripts and Command-Line Interface

• CCalc as a Base Converter (Decimal, Binary, Hex)

Base converter:

• CCalc as a Units Conversion Utility

Units converter:

Calculator Tutorial: The Basics

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At the “> ” prompt, type a mathematical expression or formula and press enter to calculate the result. For
example, after the prompt, type “4+5*4” followed by the enter key. The result would be:
ans = 24

If you then typed, “ans / 2“, your result would be:

ans = 12

To perform a quick calculation on the previous result, instead of typing “ans“, you may type the operator
(*, /, +, or -) at the new prompt and the “ans” will be inserted automatically. For example, type “+” at the
beginning of a new line, and “ans+” will automatically appear. The “-” key is an exception. The first “-” will
be interpreted as a negative sign. Type the “-” key twice at the beginning of the prompt line to be replaced
with “ans-“.

Put multiple calculations in a single line, separated by a semicolon. “m = 5; m+2” would result with:
ans = 7

Using a semicolon also suppressed the result from being displayed, similar to Matlab. This is useful when
making script files.

Use hex and binary: “0xFF + 0b1001” would result with:

ans = 264
Use as a unit converter: “10 in->cm” converts 10 inches into centimeters. The result is how many
centimeters are in 10 inches:
ans = 25.4

Valid Operators
-, +, *, / Subtract, Add, Multiply, Divide

^ Raise to power (or exponent) ie. 3^3 = 27

% Integer modulo, or remainder function. ie. 7%3 = 1

! Factorial. i.e. 4! = 4*3*2*1 = 24

<<, >> Bitwise shift left, right

&, |, @ Bitwise AND, OR, XOR

<, <=, >, >=,

Comparison and inequalities
==, !=

&&, || C-style logical AND, OR (non-zero is logical TRUE)

( ), [ ] Parenthesis may be used

More advanced math functions are available, such as square root and trig functions. More information on
these functions is available: Built-In Math Functions.

Convenient Features
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History: Recall Previous Entries

You may press the up or down arrows to quickly copy previous entries to the current prompt, similar to a
UNIX console.

Create Variables

For example, “m = 25” creates a variable m which can be used in later calculations. The variable pi =
3.14159… is predefined. The variable ans is always equal to the previous result.

Define Custom Functions

For example, “par(x,y) = x*y/(x+y)” creates a function which takes 2 parameters, x and y. Then use
the function like this: “par(10,10)“ and the result is “5″. Functions that you create are saved for use in
future console calculator sessions. The ”list” command will display all user-defined functions.

Copy Previous Result

If you copy with no text selected, the previous result is automatically placed into the clipboard and ready to
paste into another application. (Only the numerical answer is copied, the “ans =″ text is not!)

High Precision Floating Point

Arithmetic with high precision floating point numbers. Over 100 significant digits of decimal accuracy.
Most calculators perform double-byte floating point calculations, which are 64 bit structures. Console
Calculator gives you not 64 bits or 128 bits but (352 bits of arithmetic accuracy! This is nearly
astronomical precision.

SI-Unit Prefixes

You may use metric unit prefixes appended to the end of a number to automatically adjust units. For
example, “5M + 100k” + enter would result with:
ans = 5100000

Metric Prefixes:
Peta- P 10^15 1 000 000 000 000 000
Tera- T 10^12 1 000 000 000 000
Giga- G 10^9 1 000 000 000
Mega- M 10^6 1 000 000
kilo- k 10^3 1000
centi- c 10^-2 0.01
milli- m 10^-3 0.001
micro- u 10^-6 0.000 001
nano- n 10^-9 0.000 000 001
pico- p 10^-12 0.000 000 000 001
femto- f 10^-15 0.000 000 000 000 001
atto- a 10^-18 0.000 000 000 000 000 001

Save and Open Scripts

You may save the contents of the current console to a script file which may be run again at a later time.
Each line of a script file must be a valid mathematical expression and commands may be seperated by
semicolons. Script lines ending with a semicolon will have their console output suppressed when
run. Lines beginning with # sign are ignored as comments.

Mac OS X Note: A script file is just a plain text file, but the *.script extension is assigned to Console
Calculator.
Command-Line Interface (Windows Only)

The calculator has some command-line options that may be useful. Blind students have found it useful,
and others have found it useful for automated calculations.

ccalc [inputfile] [-o outputfile] [-q]

• inputfile: a script file which is run immediately when ccalc starts.

• outputfile: the contents of the session are saved to this file once the CCalc window is closed.
• -q: if the -q tag is used, the calculator will perform the calculations in the inputfile, save results in
the outputfile, and immediately quit. The console calculator window never even opens in this
case. This is most useful for automated calculations.

Built-in Math Functions

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Built-in functions include scientific, trig and math.h compatible functions. Function names are case-
insensitive.

• sqrt – square root

• ln – natural log
• log – log base 10
• logxx – log base xx (log2 for log base 2, log8 for log base 8, etc)
• ln – natural log
• exp – exponential, e^J
• sin – sine
• cos – cosine
• tan – tangent
• asin – arcsine
• acos – arcosine
• atan – arctangent
• sinh – hyperbolic sine
• cosh – hyperbolic cosine
• tanh – hyperbolic tangent
• abs – absolute value
• round – round function, rounds up or down to the nearest integer
• ceil – ceiling function, rounds up to the nearest integer
• floor – floor function, rounds down to the nearest integer
• rand – random number generator, with maximum value specified
• mod – modulus function (remainder)

As mentioned previously, custom functions may also be created.

Calculator Options
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Preferences may be set to control the look and behavior of the calculator. Note some options mentioned
below are for Windows only.

Radian or Degree mode This effects trigonometric functions.

Font and Colors Change the font, size, color, and background color.

The base can be set to either Binary, Decimal, or Hexadecimal. 100

Displayed Base may be displayed as 100, 0×64, or 0b1100100. This effects only
the displayed result.
Auto: Scientific notation is only used for very small or large floating
point numbers.Never: Scientific notation is never used.Always
Scientific: Scientific notation is used at all times. (Scientific notation
example: 123.88 is displayed as 1.23880e2)Engineering:
Display Scientific Notation
Engineering notation is used. (Numbers are displayed with exponents
in multiples of 3.)Engineering Prefix: Engineering SI-unit prefixes are
used. (123.88e-6 is displayed as 123.88u)Financial: Constant
number of decimal places. Scientific notation is never used.
Maximum number of significant figures to display, used when
Max Significant Figures displaying in scientific notation. (Significant figures are not applied to
integers unless they are being displayed in scientific notation.)
For certain large numbers, when not using scientific notation, it is
helpful to use a thousands separator, such as a comma. For example:
Display Thousands Separator
12,888.12. Note that this is for display only; separators are not
recognized when entering an equation.
When displaying HEX or BINARY values, negative values can
Two’s Complement
optionally be displayed as two’s complement notation.

Transparency Transparency of the window may be adjusted between 0% and 100%.

Command History Size Number of stored previous entries.

When enabled, the window will float above all other windows. Indicated
Always on Top
also by a pushpin icon in the calculator window.

Snap-to Screen Edge When enabled, the window will snap to screen edged when moved.
Minimize to system tray When enabled, the calculator will minimize to a system tray icon.

When enabled, multiple CCalc.exe windows (instances) can be running

at the same time. Otherwise, only a single CCalc window can be active,
Allow multiple instances
and this window will be brought to the forefront if CCalc.exe is opened
again.
Certain keyboards have a calculator appkey, which opens the windows
calculator by default. If this box is checked, Console Calculator
will become the default application when the appkey is pressed. (This is
Reassign Calculator AppKey
accomplished by editing the Windows registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AppKey\18 )
When enabled, current expression is calculated as it is typed in the
Auto-evaluate
Status Bar. Enable the Status Bar in the Options menu or Ctrl-B.
When enabled, this essentially swaps the meaning of the comma “,”
and period “.” from the US custom, so that a period separates
thousands and comma indicates decimals. For example, with
European style delimiters
european style 1,024.56 would be 1.024,56. This will also effect the
character used to separate arguments in a function. instead of f(x,y)
you must use f(x.y) to separate the x and y arguments.
When enabled, the calculator behaves as a 10-key calculator.
Basically, a tenkey assumes that you are adding a series of numbers.
Consequently, the fundamental operation consists of entering numbers
and their signs, which the application will sum:

1) Enter number.
2) Enter its sign.
3) Repeat steps 1 and 2 as desired.

Examples:

10-Key Calculator Mode 2+ 3+ => 5

2- 3+ => 1
2+ 3+ 4- => 1

A tenkey also keeps the last number you entered in its cache; if you
enter another operator without explicitly typing a new number, the
tenkey will use the contents of the cache.

Examples:

2+++ => 2+ 2+ 2+ => 6

2+3++ => 2+ 3+ 3+ => 8
Calculator Commands
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Several of the options above can be scripted or changed via commands at the prompt. Below are the
available commands.

Command List:
clear or cls Clear the screen text.
Deletes user-defined function or variable X. To delete all stored
del X (or rem X)
variables, use del all.
disp X Prints a variable name and value.
display [dec|hex|bin] Sets the display base, such as display hex
echo text string Prints a text to console (useful for scripting).
european [on|off] Turns european delimiters on/off.
exit Exit the calculator.
list Lists all user-defined functions.
mode [rad|deg] Sets to radian or degree mode.
scimode
Sets the scientific display mode preference.
[auto|never|always|eng|prefix|finance]
sigfigs X Sets the number of max significant figures to X.
Define a new unit type for units converter.
unit newunit
See below.
gospel The good news.

Base Converter
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This calculator interprets several different numerical bases and can convert from one base to another. You
may change the displayed base in the “Options” menu or using the keyboard shortcuts shown below.
Holding down the shift key while changing the base will display the previous answer in the new base
without changing the default base permanently.

Set display base: Shortcut:

Binary (base 2) Ctrl-1
Decimal (base 10) Ctrl-2
Hexadecimal (base 16) Ctrl-3
Using Decimal, Hex and Binary

Decimal numbers are assumed, but you can specify a number as binary with a “0b” or hex with a “0x“.

The number 15 (decimal) in different bases:

Decimal: 15
Binary: 0b1111
Hexadecimal: 0xF

For example, “15 + 0×5 + 0b101” would result with:

ans = 25

Two’s Complement

When viewing negative numbers as binary or hex, two’s complement notation is optional. Two’s
complement is the way that computers typically store signed integers in memory. For example, -5 could be
displayed in hex as a 32-bit two’s complement, which would be 0xFFFFFFFB rather than -0×0005. This
can be a handy option for software developers, though it is off by default.

Unit Converter
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CCalc is also a fully featured units conversion utility. Convert from SI units to non-SI units. Convert
between units of length, area, volume, force, and many other types of units in a convenient way. Simply
enter the number and unit you are converting from, type the convert operator (a minus and greater-than
sign, “->”), and finally the unit to convert to. If you need a unit that is not a built-in, you can define your
own custom units! Once created, new unit definitions are saved permanently in the ccalc_functions.txt for
future console calculator sessions. Below are some unit conversion examples.

Description Example Result

Get conversion factor in -> cm ans = 2.54
Inches to centimeters 20*5 in -> cm ans = 254
Miles per hour to meters per second 70 mi/h->m/s ans = 31.2928
Newton-meters to milljoules 50 N-m->millijoules ans = 50000
10000 m^2->acres
Square meters to acres 10000 m^2->acre
ans = 2.4710538
(4 examples) 10000 m*m->acre
10000 m-m->acre
Define a new unit: furlong unit furlong = 201.168 meters new unit created!
Table of Built-In Units and Abbreviations

SI-Base Units Abbreviations

meter A ampere

gram AU astronomicalUnit

second Bq becquerel

ampere cd candela

kelvin C coulomb

mole eV electronVolt

candela F farad
ft foot
SI-Derived Units
gal gallon
radian meter/meter gr grain
steradian meter^2/meter^2 g gram
hertz /second Gy gray
newton meter-kilogram/second^2 ha hectare
pascal kilogram/meter-second^2 H henry
joule meter^2-kilogram/second^2 Hz hertz
watt meter^2-kilogram/second^3 h hour
coulomb second-ampere hr hour
volt meter^2-kilogram/second^3-ampere in inch
farad second^4-ampere^2/meter^2-kilogram J joule
ohm meter^2-kilogram/second^3-ampere^2 K kelvin
siemens second^3-ampere^2/meter^2-kilogram L liter
weber meter^2-kilogram/second^2-ampere lm lumen
tesla kilogram/second^2-ampere lx lux
henry meter^2-kilogram/second^2-ampere^2 Mx maxwell
lumen candela-steradian m meter
lux candela-steradian/meter^2 mi mile
becquerel /second min minute
gray meter^2/second^2 mol mole
sievert meter^2/second^2 N newton
oz ounce
Non-SI Units
pc parsec
acre 4.04685642E3meter^2 Pa pascal
angstrom 1.0E-10meter qt quart
astronomicalUnit 1.495979E11meter lb pound
atmosphere 1.01325E5pascal rad radian
bar 1.0E5pascal rpm revolutionPerMinute
calorie 4.1868joule s second
cup 0.236588236liter sec second
curie 3.7E10becquerel S siemens
day 8.64E4second Sv sievert
degree 1.745329E-2radian sr steradian
electronVolt 1.60219E-19joule T tesla
erg 1.0E-7joule tbsp tablespoon
faraday 9.648531coulomb tsp teaspoon
fermi 1.0E-15meter V volt
foot 3.048E-1meter W watt
gallon 16cup Wb weber
gauss 1.0E-4tesla wk week
gilbert 7.957747E-1ampere yd yard
grain 6.479891E-5kilogram yr year
hectare 1.0E4meter^2
hour 3.6E3second
inch 2.54E-2meter
lightYear 9.46073E15meter
liter 1.0E-3meter^3
maxwell 1.0E-8weber
mho 1.0siemens
micron 1.0E-6meter
mil 2.54E-5meter
mile 1.609344E3meter
minute 6.0E1second
ounce 28.3495231gram
parsec 3.085E16meter
pica 4.233333E-3meter
pint 2cup
pound 4.535924E-1kilogram
quart 4cup
revolution 6.283185radian
revolutionPerMinute 1.047198E-1radian/second
tablespoon 0.0625cup
teaspoon 0.0208333cup
week 6.048E5second
yard 9.144E-1meter
year 3.1536E7second