Pushing the envelope

[ewx]

[Poll #1198616]

Comments

[simont]

(FSVO emacs, that is.)

[hsenag.livejournal.com]

My values of emacs are equal to ghci.

[simont]

Mm, yes, that's also a good point.

[X] at the Python interactive prompt
[X] at the Maxima interactive prompt

[stephdairy.livejournal.com]

I have used Mathematica as a calculator on occasion...

(S)

[simont]

Ooh, hark at him and his institutional site licence to use insanely expensive pieces of software :-P

[3c66b.livejournal.com]

I have a Maple text window open all the time so I can pop it up and type '2+2;' into it. I thought this was ridiculous when I saw someone else doing it, but I've come round to it.

But for algebra I use bits of scrap paper or envelopes -- and then check the results with Maple.

[fanf]

[X] at the Lua interactive prompt
[X] using perl -e
[X] using dc

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Yep, I chose that to represent "any temporary text storage".

I also use:

[x] log book
[x] google (great for unit conversions, etc)

[emperor]

[x] on the office whiteboard

[imc.livejournal.com]

I sometimes avoid discarding envelopes that I have already written on, but I don't think this is what's meant by that poll option.

[aardvark179.livejournal.com]

Obviously I don't carve the rough calculations on the moon, that's only for the final typeset output using dvi2lazcannon.

[aldabra]

[X] Windows' calculator.

[lnr]

This too. I have a silly keyboard at work with a row of extra buttons at the top, of which the only ones I use are the volume knob and the one that summons the calculator.

[aldabra]

Oh yes, I have one of those. It annoys me at home where I haven't, and reach for the button anyway.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

Probably not as much as the 'Switch F keys to alternate function mode' key annoys me on one of mine, because that's the point where half the functionality of the keyboard wanders off and hides round a corner until I notice what happened. Not to mention that the alternate keys often do strange things.

[pne.livejournal.com]

I used to have one of those on my old computer.

Now I do Win+R, "calc".

(Or, more likely, "c" + retrieve from drop-down of LRU programs.)

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

[X] in my shell with expr
[x] with bc

[crazyscot.livejournal.com]

[X] with dc

[kake]

[x] with bc

[atreic.livejournal.com]

In excel. I think I've been brainwashed

[hsenag.livejournal.com]

I actually do this too. But then I (also?) work with Excel nearly every day.

[lnr]

I also often use a post-it note, since they are a useful size for this and to hand, but really that's a bit wasteful.

[sparrowsion]

[X] at the Python interactive prompt (which I have several of lying around my workspaces for precisely this purpose).
[X] with Windows' shit-for-brains calculator on my phone.
[X] in my notebook.

[1ngi.livejournal.com]

You forgot:
[x] on the white board in the kitchen.

[the-local-echo.livejournal.com]

I have a peculiar habit of never opening the payslips delivered to my desk at work, because that risks reducing the amount of space available on the back of the envelope, and increases the chance of the envelope getting thrown away by the cleaners.

It's a sad time of the month when the payslip envelope is completely filled and I have to resort to the backs of timesheets, or, as a last resort, an interactive prompt. Maybe I need to sign myself up for more junk mail at work.

[naath.livejournal.com]

[x] with the aid of Google's calculator function (it knows many more useful numbers than most other handy calculating tools). Or sometimes on whatever paper happens to be around.

[pjc50.livejournal.com]

dc in arithmetic quick do i
p

(Thinking is easier on paper, especially as soon as you want a diagram)

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

I sometimes actually use a calculator to perform calculations, like taking the average of four numbers.

*is more ashamed than proud of this*

[damerell.livejournal.com]

My CU-approved (mid 90s) Casio still works; I would have ticked it.

[ceb.livejournal.com]

Ditto, but I prefer my 6th-form calculator, which was too whizzy for CU approval.

[sparrowsion]

I believe my mid-80s TI (bought for O levels) still works, and that would be my preferred calculator in absence of an interactive programming language. It got me through most of my exams (it lacked hyperbolics, which I needed for the MSc, but my back-up calculator provided those), bar the DipCompSci—the CU-approval regulations came in before that but after my Part II and it was too primitive (see above) to be allowed. Sadly, no calculations were required for that last set of papers, otherwise I would have been gleefully reaching for the log tables.

[damerell.livejournal.com]

I've still got that one, but the CU one is solar powered and therefore actually works.

[davefish.livejournal.com]

I do my scrap of paper calculations about moon carving lasers.

[pizza.maircrosoft.com (from livejournal.com)]

google. I would use a scrap of paper but I can never find a pen(cil).

[pm215]

I got fed up with the "can't find a working pen" syndrome and now buy lots of pens (of a specific roller-ball brand I like) and scatter them around liberally. Now if I have trouble finding a pen it's a sign I need to go out and buy another half dozen :-)

[pizza.maircrosoft.com (from livejournal.com)]

I collected a whole lot at a conference but I have a tendency to put them in my bag (rather than leaving them on whichever desk) and from there they seem to escape...

[sphyg.livejournal.com]

Also using Excel, Windows calculator or perl -e.

[gnimmel.livejournal.com]

...but more frequently using command-line perl.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

Me too, for stuff that's tractable to perl. Stuff that needs little pictures is on scrap paper.

[gerald_duck]

[x] On the next few lines of the A4 pad I keep on my desk for this and similar purpouses.

[saraphale.livejournal.com]

[x] in Octave

[david jones (from livejournal.com)]

[X] in my logbook
[X] in awk (and [X] Python, and [X] JavaScript interactive prompt, and [X] Lisp)
[X] in dc

I used awk sufficiently often that I wrote a very short wrapper around it to evaluate and print a single expression.

and very occasionally:
[X] in C
which is to say I'll actually write a complete program in C to do some throwaway calculation.

These days I seem to be inspecting the behaviour of floating point arithmetic a lot. For that, JavaScript is surprisingly useful because: a) 64-bit IEEE double guaranteed; and, b) parsimonious printing of floating point values so you get exactly the right number of decimal digits printed.