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OS/2 Help File | 1992-04-30 | 15.5 KB | 385 lines

ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. About Numerical Assistant ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Numerical Assistant is a Scientific Calculator designed to replace hand held calculators. It uses line based input by either keyboard or mouse to allow easy editing and visualization of equations. It may be effectively used by engineers, scientists, managers, students or anyone requiring a full function calculator. Numerical Assistant allows you to perform all functions using either the keyboard or mouse. All mouse functions have a direct keyboard equivalent and vice versa. Main editing functions including Cut, Copy, Paste, Oops (undo), Left, Right, and Help are accessed using descriptive icons. All calculator functions may be entered by pressing the appropriate button or entering the keyboard equivalent. All functions and their equivalents are listed in the keys help. Display editing follows all of the default PM actions including Cut, Copy, Paste and text selection as well as an added Oops feature. The calculation portions of Numerical Assistant include full equation editing, various result formatting, multi - angle input, unlimited grouping, full memory capabilities, and descriptive error trapping. Good Luck, and I hope you enjoy using Numerical Assistant For more information on using Numerical Assistant, refer to the help index. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. About Menu Item ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Select About on the System menu to display copyright information about Numerical Assistant. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. Cut ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Press the Cut Button , or Shift+Delete to delete Selected Text from the display and copy it to the Clipboard. You can insert the text you cut elsewhere in the display or in any application which uses the Clipboard using Paste. Note: If a cut operation was done accidently, use Oops to undo the operation. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4. Copy ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Press the Copy Button , or Ctrl+Insert to copy Selected Text to the Clipboard. You can insert the text you copied elsewhere in the display or in any application which uses the Clipboard using Paste. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5. Paste ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Press the Paste Button , or Shift+Insert to insert text stored in the Clipboard into the display at the current cursor position. If text is Selected, then text from the Clipboard will replace the selected text. Note: Use Cut or Copy to store text in the Clipboard. If a paste operation was done accidently, use Oops to undo the operation. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6. Oops ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Select the Oops Button , or press Alt+Backspace to sequently undo any changes made to the display. This includes editing changes, as well as changes made due to calculations. It should be noted that a function entered via a button may be removed by pressing Oops once, however if it was entered via the keyboard, each keystroke must be removed. Up to 100 steps may be undone unless memory is insufficient at which time the storage buffer will be cleared. Note: This function does not undo any changes made to the memory however. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Cancel Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Select the Cancel pushbutton to exit the dialog box without performing any action. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Help Button ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Select the Help pushbutton when you need help with the highlighted field in the dialog box. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7. Grouping Equations ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Sections of an equation may be grouped to override default actions and to better control the results of the calculation. The number of grouping levels are limited only by memory. Grouped sections are indicated by enclosing the information in parentheses. The following examples show how grouping works. 2 + 3 * 5 = 17 (2 + 3) * 5 = 25 In the above example the first equation calculates 3*5 first equating it to 15 then adds 2 to that result to get 17. Using parentheses, 2+3 is determined first getting 5 and then multiplied by 5 to get the result of 25. There are no limits to the amounts or levels of grouping, except that every open parenthesis must have a matching closing parenthesis. For example the following is also valid. (((2+3)*(3+6))/6)+12 = 19.5 Grouping may also be used in combination with any of the other scientific functions. There is a default priority for which order functions get calculated. For more information on this order see Calculation Hierarchy. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8. Calculation Hierarchy ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ When Numerical Assistant calculates an equation, it uses a set of defined priorities to determine which part of the equation will get calculated first. This is the default action, but specific calculation order may be defined using parentheses. For more information on parentheses, see Grouping Commands. The defined priorities are shown in the following table. Priority: Functions: 1 ( ), = 2 ΓêÜ, ln, abs, exp, log, and all trigonometric functions 3 !, ^, ┬ñ, and ΓêÜ 4 /, and * 5 +, and - Basically, what the above table means is that the parentheses, and equal have the highest priority and are calculated first. Most of the scientific functions have second priority, and so on. The plus and minus operations have the lowest priority and are determined last. The root sign appears twice in priority 2 and 3 because in priority 2 it is being used for xΓêÜy type calculations and in priority 3 it is being used for square root calculations. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9. Keys ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Select one of the following to get detailed help for a specific set of buttons: o Editing and Cursor Keys o Calculator Control Keys o Scientific Function Keys o Numeric Keypad o Memory Keys ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Editing and Cursor Keys ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ These keys are used for editing and cursor control. Key: Function: Shift+Del Cuts the current selection from the display and saves it in the clipboard. See Cut for more information. Ctrl+Ins Copies the current selection from the display and saves it in the clipboard. See Copy for more information. Shift+Ins Pastes the contents of the clipboard into the display at the current insertion point, replacing any selected text. See Paste for more information. Alt+Backspace Sequently undos any changes made to the display. See Oops for more information. Left Moves the cursor to the left in the display. If pressed while the results of a calculation are being shown, the display will switch back to editing the equation and then move left. Right Moves the cursor to the right in the display. If pressed while the results of a calculation are being shown, the display will switch back to editing the equation. Ins Toggles the insert status from overtype to insert. Del Deletes the current selection in the display, or the current character if nothing is selected. F1 Brings up the Help System positioned in the Keys Help Section. Home Moves the cursor to the beginning of the display. End Moves the cursor to the end of the display. F2 Edit. When pressed while the results of a calculation are being shown, the display will switch back to editing the equation. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Calculator Control Keys ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ These keys are used to control the format of the numeric output. Key: Function: deg/rad/grad or F3 Switchs the current angle type between degrees, radians and gradians. The current type is the one showing on the button. All trigonometric functions will base their calculations on these angle types. fixed/sci or F4 Switches between Fixed Point and Scientific notation. 'fixed' indicates normal notation, 'sci' indicates scientific notation. .xx or F5 Defines the number of decimal places used to display the output. The default '.' is the number of decimal places required, but may be set to any number between .0 and .16. Note, this key will repeat when held down. arc Selects the inverse of the trigonometric functions. Follow this key with any one of: asin, acos, or atan to get the inverse of that function. hyp Selects the hyperbolic of the trigonometric functions. Follow this key with any one of: sinh, cosh, or tanh to get the hyperbolic of that function. Clr or F6 Clears the display. If this key is chosen by mistake, press the oops key to restore the display. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Scientific Function Keys ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ These keys are used for defining the desired scientific functions. Key: Calculation: n! Factorial: 5! = 5*4*3*2*1 = 120. Note: decimal numbers will be calculated as follows 5.4! = 5.4*4.4*3.4*2.4*1.4 = 271.43424. abs Absolute Value: abs(-5) = 5. sin Sine: sin(60) = 0.866025403. The results of this calculation depend on the type of angle used. See Calculator Control Keys for more information. The example shown is for an angle type of degrees. cos Cosine: cos(60) = 0.5. The results of this calculation depend on the type of angle used. See Calculator Control Keys for more information. The example shown is for an angle type of degrees. tan Tangent: tan(60) = 1.732050808. The results of this calculation depend on the type of angle used. See Calculator Control Keys for more information. The example shown is for an angle type of degrees. 10^x Ten to the power of x: 10^5 = 100000. log Base 10 logarithm: log(100000) = 5. 3ΓêÜ or 3rt Cubic root: 3ΓêÜ5 = 1.709975947. Note: 3ΓêÜ3ΓêÜ8 would be calculated as (3ΓêÜ3)ΓêÜ8 which is the 3ΓêÜ3 rd root of eight and not the cubed root of the cubed root of eight. To get this effect enter as follows: 3ΓêÜ(3ΓêÜ8) xΓêÜy or xrty xth root of y: 5ΓêÜ5 = 1.379729661. Note: Similar rules to that for cubic roots above apply here. y^x y to the power of x: 3^5 = 243. exp e to the power of x: exp(1) = 2.7182818284590452, exp(5) = 148.4131591. ln Natural logarithm: ln(exp(1)) = 1, ln(5) = 1.609437912. 1/x Inverse of x: 1/5 = 0.2. ΓêÜ or rt Square root: ΓêÜ5 = 2.236067977. x┬ñ or ^2 Square: 5┬ñ = 25. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Numeric Keypad ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ These keys are used for entering in numbers. Key: Function: ╤â or pi PI: 3.141592653589793. 1 - 9 Numbers one through nine. These buttons do not repeat when held down. 0 Number zero. This button will repeat when held down. ( Opening parenthesis. Use this to start a group of commands. See Grouping Commands for more information. ) Closing parenthesis. Use this to end a group of commands. See Grouping Commands for more information. . Decimal. / Divide symbol: 2 / 5 = .4. * Multiply symbol: 2 * 5 = 10. - Minus symbol or plus/minus indicator: 2 - 5 = -3 or 2 + -5 = -3. + Plus symbol: 2 + 5 = 7. = Equals sign. Indicates that Numerical Assistant should calculate the results of the current display. Exp Exponential indicator: 2E5 = 200000. Adds an 'E' to the display to indicate that an exponential number is being entered. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ <hidden> Memory Keys ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ These keys are used for storing calculation results. Key: Function: xM or F7 Stores results of the calculation in memory, clearing any previous results. If the display is still being edited, pressing this button will simulate an equal sign being pressed before continuing. RM or F8 Retrieves the number stored in memory and inserts it at the current entry point in the display. M+ or F9 Adds the results of the calculation to the current value in memory. If the display is still being edited, pressing this button will simulate an equal sign being pressed before continuing. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10. Clipboard ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ The Clipboard holds the text that you Cut or Copy from an application. The Clipboard can only hold one block of text at a time. When you cut or copy text, any text that is already in the Clipboard is replaced with the new information. To use the text stored in the clipboard, you utilize the Paste functions. The text contained in the clipboard is accessible by any applications which use the clipboard functions and not just the current application. Paste is generally used for this purpose, however refer to the specific application for more information. This feature of the clipboard is very useful for calculating using Numerical Assistant and inserting the results into other applications such as spreadsheets and word processors. The reverse is also possible, you may have an equation in a word processor which you would like the results of. In this case you would cut or copy the equation from the word processor, and paste it into Numerical Assistant. ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11. Selecting text ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ Selecting text is used for various editing and clipboard operations. When text is selected it will become highlighted. Text may be selected using the mouse, keyboard or a combination of the two. CAUTION: If an area of text is selected, pressing any character key, the Backspace key, or the Delete key deletes the selected text from the display. You may undo this however, by using Oops. Mouse Alone Select Text: 1. Press and hold the first mouse button at the beginning of the text you want to select. 2. Move the mouse to highlight the text desired. 3. Release the mouse button. Mouse and Keyboard Together 1. Press the first mouse button at the beginning of the text you want to select. 2. Press and hold the Shift key down. 3. Press the first mouse button at the end of the text you want to select. Keyboard Alone 1. Press and hold the Shift key at the beginning of the text you want to select. 2. Highlight the text desired using the cursor keys. 3. Release the Shift key. Extending Selection 1. Hold the Shift key down. 2. Press the first mouse button at the end of the area you want to select.