I just recently upgraded to El Capitan from Mavericks. The calculator in El Capitan is really and truly AWFUL as far as I'm concerned. I don't like the look, I don't like the arrangement of the keys, and it's functionality leaves A LOT to be desired (especially since it can't do simple math in programmer mode).
I really liked the calculator in Mavericks. How do I get it back??
MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9.3)
Something changed in either Yosemite or El Capitan. If I run the calculator from either of those versions of OS X from within El Capitan, I get this:
I then extracted the calculator from the Mavericks installer. It does run under El Capitan, but gives the same results, which likely means underlying framework files changed:
I don't have a Mavericks partition to boot from, but I did start up an older Mac running Snow Leopard just to test some sort of older calculator under its original OS. The calculator in Snow Leopard gives the result you expect for 0-5.
Did you ever have one of those days?
Nope. Not me. No-siree-bob! š
Had to test with the Mountain Lion version after seeing your note. Yup, you are quite correct. The ML version runs in El Capitan, and gives the desired result simply by pressing Enter.
Kind of a moot point since the El Capitan version also gives the desired answer, as long as you remember to click 2's, rather than = or the Enter key.
You're really not paying attention. I didn't say I don't understand. What I said was, the Calculator in OSX in programming mode only works with unsigned numbers. You may not like it, but that's how it is.
The one provided works exactly how it was designed to work. It's not Apple's fault you are broke and can't get the one you would like.
FWIW, this is a user to user forum. Apple is not here. You can let Apple know you want a different calculator hereā¦
You could try PCalc instead?
http://pcalc.com/english/about.html
The programmer mode should still exist in the view menu but I don't understand how it changed since 10.9.
If you are desperate you could try opening the calculator from a 10.9 backup. Sometimes those apps can work.
Open the calculator. Go into programmer mode. Pick a base (I tried base 10 and base 16). Type in the equation "0 - 5 =" and look at the results. Pure garbage. If this simple equation doesn't work how can I believe the results of any equation???
Former systems programmer here... I know how to use a calculator, even in "programmer" mode. Try the simple equation I pointed out above and see for yourself. Btw, I'm not the only one who has noticed this - I've seen reviews and comments on other sites pointing this out and complaining about it.
We certainly do have negative values in Base 10 - we use them all the time!! As for the rest, see:
http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/62087.html
for a "professional" discussion of negative numbers in other bases. Yes, they do exist and no, the Apple calculator does not do them.
Also see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBqhBqSl1eY&ab_channel=MatthewSpaccarelli
for yet of another example of the calculator giving wrong results.
And also see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kW63uHHxI4&ab_channel=SpiderElectron
First, you didn't answer my question.
Two, The very first link did not bother answering the question why the TI Calculator gave a "nonsense" result just as you see the OSX Calculator does. Which of course is because they only work in programming mode with unsigned numbers.
This is not rocket science.
You're right - it's not rocket science. It's math. And if you read that link to mathforum, which eloquently explains how negative numbers work, and you still can't figure out how to represent -5, then you don't understand math, or how programmers do negative numbers using 2's complement notation. I shouldn't have to explain it to you, especially since the person at that link does such an eloquent job of it. But, to humor you, the way you represent "-5" in base 16 is: "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFB". Btw, there is a decimal to hex conversion page at http://www.binaryhexconverter.com/decimal-to-hex-converter where you can try it for yourself.
Now you can say all you want that the calculators only work with unsigned numbers which is all well and good but signed numbers are a basic part of math and often necessary. If the calculator cannot handle them, the calculator is worthless, at least to me.
Furthermore, your comments do not help at all. This discussion on how numbers are represented, and signed vs unsigned, and all the rest is not relevant to the question. The calculator, IMO, is AWFUL. I do not like the look, I do not like the arrangement of the keyboard, and, as PROVEN by myself and others, it cannot do simple math in programmer mode correctly. The old Apple calculator from Mavericks worked correctly. My question is how to get that calculator back (or a reasonable free replacement).
As for those who recommend pcalc - well, it might be nice, and might work correctly, but it costs money. I'm broke. Besides, the least Apple can do if they are going to provide a calculator as part of the OS is to provide a *working* calculator. The one they provide doesn't work correctly.
Any comments from a representative from Apple?
I suggested PCalc please accept my apologies, it's tough being broke (me too).
This site may help find something that works for you.
http://alternativeto.net/software/pcalc/?platform=mac
There are a few free ones that may get your job done.
Do you have a 10.9 install around? Try copying the old app over to see if it runs. Otherwise you would need to dig into the 10.9 installer packages & extract the old app to try running it.
You'll need to find the 'essentials package', Pacifist should extract it (it has a demo mode iirc). http://www.charlessoft.com/
On 10.9ā¦
[~]$ pkgutil --file-info /Applications/Calculator.app/
volume: /
path: /Applications/Calculator.app/
pkgid: com.apple.pkg.Essentials
Yup, that's what I got. As long as you ignore the leading 0x, that is the result sauljaffe says is the correct output:
the way you represent "-5" in base 16 is: "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFB".
The calculator in El Capitan doesn't end the result with a B. Personally, I have no idea which is considered correct. Just that the older calculator produces the result sauljaffe is looking for.
sauljaffe wrote:
We certainly do have negative values in Base 10 - we use them all the time!! As for the rest, see:
http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/62087.html
for a "professional" discussion of negative numbers in other bases. Yes, they do exist and no, the Apple calculator does not do them.
I am a professional mathematician (university professor), so I know there are negative numbers in any base :-)
I am also a programmer, so I understand binary representations, complement to 1, complement to 2, left and righ shifts, etc.
The calculator in programmer mode is not made to calculate like it does in other modes.
In particular, it does not show you negative numbers; it shows you what the bits for the integer look like (on a 64-bit word).
The fact that it does not calculate 0-5 is perplexing, at least at first; it actually seems to give -1. I think this just means an "overflow" error, as the calculator does not explicitly handle negative numbers *as such*. It handles 64-bit words, which the programmer can interpret as (binary, octal, decimal, hexadecimal) numbers (signed or unsigned).
If you want to compute 0-5, press 5 and click the "2's" button. That gives the "2's complement" of 5, which is the way the negative number -5 is *internally* represented. (For those who don't know, here is what 2's complement means: invert all bits, ie., change all zeros to ones and vice-versa; then add 1 to the result).
Five (just sixteen bits here, for short):
0000000000000101
Complement to 1:
1111111111111010
Minus five (complement to 2):
1111111111111011
I said the OSX Calculator does not do math with signed numbers till I was blue in the face. š
However, in the Snow Leopard calculator, if you typed 0-5=, it does return the correct 2's compliment of 5. The current ones do not.
dialabrain wrote:
BTW, I'm not sure which "old calculator" the OP is referring to but I checked back as far as 10.6.8 and none of them do.
I must have pushed an incorrect button the first time I checked 10.6.8. š®
Ok, so it's apparent that the new calculator in the new version of the OS does not give the same results as the old calculator in the old version(s). So, as someone suggested, something underneath the hood changed.
The end result is still the same: I do not like the new calculator. At all. And I have not (yet) found a replacement that does all the things I need. So, that leaves me... well, I don't know where it leaves me, except without a useful calculator.
As for why I posted here looking for comments from Apple: when I went to the "Support" pages, I got directed here. The pages inbetween imply, if not state outright, that Apple reads these discussion forums and provides help on the forums. If no one from Apple is reading this particular forum... well, I can't address that. But the documentation implies that they do.
Speaking of documentation, the Apple documentation you get when you select "Help" from the Calculator menu says nothing about signed vs unsigned numbers and does not state anywhere that it cannot do signed number calculations in the programming mode. FWIW, the paper tape only works in "Basic" mode and doesn't work at all in the other two modes. I believe earlier versions did but I can't test or verify that.
Anyway, this discussion has not proven to be very helpful to me so I've unsubscribed from the topic. Natter away at your own pleasure. :-)
How do I get back the old calculator?
