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.
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.
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.
[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.
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.
[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.
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.
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 :-)
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...
david jones (from livejournal.com)2008-06-06 08:23 am (UTC)(link)
[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.
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[X] at the Python interactive prompt
[X] at the Maxima interactive prompt
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(S)
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But for algebra I use bits of scrap paper or envelopes -- and then check the results with Maple.
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[X] using perl -e
[X] using dc
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I also use:
[x] log book
[x] google (great for unit conversions, etc)
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Now I do Win+R, "calc".
(Or, more likely, "c" + retrieve from drop-down of LRU programs.)
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[x] with bc
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[X] with Windows' shit-for-brains calculator on my phone.
[X] in my notebook.
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[x] on the white board in the kitchen.
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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.
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p
(Thinking is easier on paper, especially as soon as you want a diagram)
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*is more ashamed than proud of this*
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[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.