twoCalc Complete Instructions

Overview

TwoCalc has a two-line display field containing a calculation line for you to enter your equation (top) and a result line (bottom) so you can view both simultaneously. You can see your calculation as you enter it and edit it if you make a mistake. Each calculation and result is recorded to the calculator “tape”, which you can view or email.

The special function key allows access to more advanced functions when you need them, including square root, basic trigonometry, percentages, and metric to imperial conversions. For programmers, twoCalc converts between decimal, binary, and hexadecimal and optionally displays negative numbers in two's complement form with a user-specified word size.

Preferences

Many aspects of twoCalc can be modified to suit your preferences. All of these listed below are found when choosing “Preferences” from the application menu (accessed by tapping "twoCalc" in the upper left corner of the screen).

• “Tape length” – calculator tape can range from one to ninety-nine entries. Set to more than the default 10 if you want to keep track of more calculations.
• “Maximum decimals” – can be set from 0 to 14. The result of your calculation will be rounded to that many decimal places. Note that trailing zeros are not shown, so with a maximum decimal place setting of 3, 20/3 will show as 6.667 and 21/2 will show as 10.5
• "Number size" - this determines the font size of the numbers that show up in the calculator display, the tape, and the status line. Set to "larger" if the normal font size is a bit too small for your eyes, or set to "smaller" to see more on the display at once.
• "Vibrate" - turn on or off to cause the phone to vibrate with each key press. As with the audio feedback, the overhead of invoking the vibrate service may have a slight impact on performance.
• “Click Sound” - several options for choosing a different key press sound or no sound. Two theme settings are available. The Calc theme uses the standard click for all keys, except for the equals sign, which will make the shutter sound. The Phone theme will use standard touch tone sounds for each number key, with the other keys making the “star” touch tone. This can be useful for ensuring that you pressed different keys. Or for annoying your coworkers or family members.
  If you have audible click sounds turned on and use the calculator while listening to music you may notice a slight delay between when you press the key and when the sound plays. If this is bothersome, turn off the sound in either the music player or twoCalc. This effect may be worse when streaming music over the internet.
• “Negative as” – for hex and binary math, choose either negative sign or two's complement form. If you choose two's complement form, a word size must be chosen so twoCalc will know where to place the sign bit. When using two's complement form, you should enter negative numbers in the proper two's complement form, using as many digits as necessary to make up the full word size. Positive numbers do not need to be zero-padded, though.
• “Word size” – for hex and binary math, select word size or choose it to be not fixed if you are not using two's complement.
• “Colors” - each section of the calculator can be changed independently. Your changes will appear on the sample calculator display shown. “Default” will return the colors to the original palette.
• "Msg Check" - The message check function determines how frequently twoCalc will check our server for updated messages. See the FAQ for more details. This option can not be changed in the free version.
• "Keyboard Type" - This overrides the default keyboard layout detection. Again, see the FAQ for details, and this option can not be changed in the free version, which can't use keyboard input.

Doing calculations with twoCalc

To start entering a calculation, simply start tapping on the numbers on the twoCalc keyboard. To enter a negative number enter a negative sign in front of it.

The math keys are used to enter the math functions. Note that * key does multiplication and the / key does division. TwoCalc does proper operator precedence: multiplication and division operations are performed before addition and subtraction. This means if you enter 1+2*3, the result will be 7, not 9 as it would be if you entered those key strokes on a less sophisticated calculator. The parentheses may be used to specify the order of operations as well, so (1+2)*3 = 9.

When you press the equals key, the calculation that was entered on the top line is evaluated and the result shown on the bottom line of the display. Note that the result will be rounded to as many decimal places as set in the preferences. If twoCalc could not properly interpret your calculation, "error" will be displayed. If no error was found, both the calculation and the result are stored to the tape. If the tape is "full", the oldest entry will be removed.

After pressing the equals key, if you wish to make a new calculation, simply start entering the first number. The calculation line will be cleared when you press a number key. However, if the first key you press is an operator, the calculation line will be cleared, the result from the previous calculation will be copied to it, and then the operator will be entered. This feature is for users who prefer to press equals between terms. For example 1+2= *3= will result in 9 being the final result.

Editing Calculations

Use the arrow keys to move the cursor through the calculation on the top line. Press the "Del" key to delete the character to the left of the cursor. New characters can be inserted by pressing the corresponding key.

Viewing past calculations

TwoCalc contains the history of your recent calculations on a “calculator tape”. (The calculator tape is retained during, but not between, sessions.) Press the two-line display field to make the calculator tape appear. The top of the calculator tape contains buttons that let you clear the tape, email the tape or close the tape display. Tapping on a calculation or result in the tape will copy it to the calculation line. Flick or drag to scroll through the tape. You may change the tape length to hold between one and ninety-nine entries. After choosing "Preferences" from the application menu, find tape length in the “General” section. Note that a larger tape may slow down twoCalc very slightly. The contents of the calculator tape are lost when you close twoCalc.

Action keys

• “Sto” allows you to put whatever is in your result line into storage. You can choose which of the ten storage areas (A to J) to use each time you store information. Tap on a field to store it in that space. Note that you can drag to scroll through the list to see all 10 fields. To close the list of storage areas, tap the close button or the “Sto” or “Rcl” key. The information on the storage fields is retained after closing twoCalc for use at future sessions. To store a calculation instead of a number, see “Calc->Rslt” in the Function section below.
• “Rcl” brings up the entries in your ten storage areas. Tapping an entry will copy it to the calculation line. To close the list of storage areas, tap the close button or the “Sto” or “Rcl” key. Note that when you recall an item it is inserted into the calculation line wherever the cursor is.
• “Del” deletes one character at a time.
• “Clr” clears the entire two-line display. It does not clear the calculator tape nor items in storage.
• “Ans” copies the result of the last successful calculation to the calculation line for use in your next equation.
• “Fn” applies a function to the entry in the calculation line. Pressing "Fn" will bring up a menu of functions. “Fn” only works in decimal mode.

Letter keys

In binary or decimal base, the letter keys serve as rapid recall from the first six memory storage fields. You can store equations or results in the memory. When you have an equation or result to store, simply press "Sto" which will open the list of memory fields. Letter keys represent the actual letter, and cannot be used for storage, in hexadecimal base.

Function operations

To keep the keypad clean and increase the amount of functions available to you, the functions will only be shown when you press “Fn”. Most are self-explanatory; those that may not be are explained here. Functions include square, square root, percentages, basic trigonometry functions and conversions between metric and imperial measurements.

For most functions, the calculation line is first evaluated and becomes the input for the function. Note that the calculation line may include a full calculation or may be a simple number. When you select the function, it is applied to the result of the calculation line. For instance, entering 6+3 and then selecting the square root function will return 3.

• “Calc->Rslt” moves whatever you have in the calculation line onto the result line of the display. This is useful when you want to save a calculation in one of the 10 memory fields. This is particularly useful for doing repetitive calculations if you save the partial calculation to one of the first six memory fields. For example, if you have a list of numbers you need to multiply by 52.1, enter 52.1* on the calculation line, press Fn and select “Calc->Rslt” to move it to the result line. Store that to location A by tapping “Sto” then tap line A. Continue with your first calculation. After pressing equals, start your second calculation by tapping the A key and 52.1* will automatically be entered on the calculation line so you only have to enter the next number to finish the calculation.
• The add (+%) or subtract (-%) percentage and percentage of (%) functions work using both the current result and calculation lines. The result line is used as the basis for the calculation and the percentage is taken from the calculation line.
  For example, if you are buying a $12 item and an $18 item and would like to calculate the total amount with 7% sales tax, you would enter: 12+18= (which will show the total of 30 on the result line) then enter 7 Fn +% and the final result will appear as 32.1
  If you see a $50 item that is 20% off and want to calculate the price after discount, enter 50= 20 Fn -% and the result 40 will be displayed.
  If you have a $40 dinner bill and would like to calculate a 15% tip, enter 40= 15 Fn % and the result of 6 will be displayed.
• “Random” generates a random whole number between 1 and the number you entered on the calculation line. If you enter zero or the calculation line is blank, a random number between 0 and 1 will be displayed.

Number base conversions

From the application menu, choose “Number Base” and then select among decimal, binary, or hexadecimal. When you change bases, the current calculation and result will be translated to the new base. Results are stored in the base in which they were created. However, when you recall a result from memory or the tape, it will convert to the base you are currently using. When in hex or binary mode a small "h" or "b" will appear on the lower left corner of the display. When in binary mode, the display font will also shrink to allow you to see more of the calculation and result. (Octal is not supported--Alterans don't need twoCalc to convert between number bases.)

Ads

If you are using twoCalcFree, ads will pop up after every few calculations or every couple of minutes. Your attention to our sponsors is appreciated. Tap on an ad to visit the sponsor's website. The ad may be closed by tapping on the area above the ad itself. Note that twoCalc is a great value at $2 (price may vary outside of United States) and does not contain any ads.

We believe releasing both free ad-supported and paid versions allows you the most flexibility in choosing your software. This also makes our software available to webOS users in countries that don't currently have a paid App Catalog. But we would appreciate it if you occasionally visit our sponsors as the ad revenue will help support and encourage this flexible model of software choice.

Questions / Problems / Feedback

At mikagika, ltd. we appreciate your business and welcome your feedback. If you have any questions, problems, or would simply like to offer a suggestion for future enhancements, email us at help@mikagika.com

Final notes

This software is copyright 2009, mikagika, ltd. Your use of this product constitutes acceptance of the end-user license agreement. TwoCalc was designed, coded, tested and brought to you wholly by mikagika, ltd.--no other firm participated in the production of this product. If you are aware of somebody suggesting differently, please contact us.