ThufirCalc is a fully featured, algebraic calculator which is always just a hot key away. ThufirCalc uses a Utility Window so you can perform calculations without having to switch applications. ThufirCalc’s features include:
• 26 Registers
• Hot Key activation
• Utility Window
• Tips
• Live evaluation (result is always available)
• Can ‘type’ into other applications
• Arbitrary number base (binary, hex, decimal etc...)
• Algebraic evaluation
• Common functions (sin, cos, tan, asin, exp, log, etc...)
• Handy Shortcuts and Abbreviations (** (power), ! (factorial) )
Contents
•Why another calculator?
•Using ThufirCalc
•Examples
•Limitations
•Registering
•On-Line Registration
•Off-Line Registration
•Site Licensing
•Warranty
•Fine Print
•Acknowledgements
Why another calculator?
There are a lot of calculator programs for the Macintosh. (Try doing a Mac Search in Anarchie for ‘calc’- you will get over 50 hits.) Many of them are very good, with even more features than ThufirCalc. And if you want a really powerful calculator you should probably use a spreadsheet. But none of them combine the same mix of power and unobtrusive operation as ThufirCalc.
We don’t think you want to perform mathematical operations all that often. But we do think that when you do, you want to do it right then and there with minimal interruption. ThufirCalc is always there, a key press away, and because it uses a Utility Window (a floating window), you can operate ThufirCalc from within the current application. So when you want to work out what 12.5% of 49.20 is (6.15) or the rough distance from the Earth to the Sun (about 8 minutes away at the speed of light, so 3*10^8*8*60 = 1.44x+11 or 140 million kilometres, which is 89 million miles), ThufirCalc is there.
Using ThufirCalc
To install ThufirCalc, select the ThufirCalc application, create an alias using Make Alias from the file menu, and put the alias in the Startup Applications folder of your System Folder. Now, whenever you start up your computer, ThufirCalc will start up too.
To activate ThufirCalc you can go into the ThufirCalc application and select Show Calculator from the File menu, or you can use the ThufirCalc hotkey, which is Command-Control-C, even if you are not currently in the ThufirCalc application!
You can switch text entry between the ThufirCalc utility window and the current foreground application using Tab, or by clicking in the text entry area. Note that clicking in the current foreground window does not shift the focus back to the foreground window, although you can use it to change the insertion point where ThufirCalc will ‘type’ text (see below).
The ThufirCalc window has a text entry area along the top, and a display area along the bottom. Moving from left to right along the bottom are: the current result, the current value in the default Result register (R), the current Base (stored in register B), and the contents of two other registers (by default Y and X).
ThufirCalc will ‘type’ the current total, or any of the displayed Registers into the current foreground application’s window if you click on their values in the display area. You cannot copy from or paste into the text entry area.
Using the Registers
Registers function just like memory on a calculator. You can assign values to the registers using the equals sign. For instance:
x=1+2+3
f=sin(45°)
b=2
..puts the values 6, 0.7071067 and 2 in registers x, f and b (respectively).
Registers store numerical values, not equations. So if you enter the following:
d=45°
y=sin(d)
d=0
...the Y register will still hold the value sin(45°)=0.7071067. Note, alphabetic characters are case insensitive in ThufirCalc.
The B and R registers are special. B is the Base register and holds the current value for the base in which operations are being conducted. The R register is the default Result register. If no other assignment is present (eg f= or y=), the result of any operation will be placed in R when you type a return.
Command clicking on the Base register display (B) cycles through common values for the number base (2, 8, 10, 16). You can use an arbitrary base by assigning a value to B, eg you can use base 6 by entering b=6 in the text entry area and hitting return. Note that the text in the text entry area also changes base. To return to base 10 from base 8 you will need to enter b=12, or b=#10.
The E register comes predefined as E=exp(1). PI is defined by the constant pi or π.
Command clicking in the arbitrary register displays cycles forward through the different registers. Command-shift-click to cycle backwards through the registers.
Entering Numbers
The plus, minus, multiply and divide (+-*/) symbols work as expected. The equals symbol (=) completes (or commits) the evaluation, as do the return and enter keys.
You can enter exponents with an explicit base using the carat ^, or with an implicit base of the current base using x (in any base < 34). The following are all equivalent to 300:
300
3*10^2
3x+2 (in base 10)
3x2 (in base 10)
3e2 (in base 10)
3.00000x00002 (in base 10)
1.001011x+8 (in base 2)
Note, you can also use ** as the exponent operator. So the following are equivalent:
2^3
2**3
Angles are, by default, taken in radians. Append a degrees symbol (°), which is option-shift-8, to convert the number to degrees.
The % symbol appended to a number performs a divide by 100.
Algebraic Evaluation
ThufirCalc understands arbitrary bracketing and operator precedence, so:
(1+2)*(3+6)
1+1/2+1/4+1/(2^3)+1/(2^4)
1^2*3/4-5^6
...will be correctly evaluated as 27, 1.9375 and -15624.25.
Symbols and Functions
ThufirCalc understands the following symbols and functions:
& - bitwise and (works only for numbers that fit in 32 bits long)
| - bitwise or (as above)
Examples
1. Calculating a physics problem (from Physics for Scientist and Engineers by R Serway). The equation is:
ƒ = 1/2π * Sqrt(20 000/365)
...which is entered as:
1/(2*pi)*sqrt(2x4/365)
or
1/(2*pi)*(20000/365)^(1/2)
...which equals:
1.1781177
(This example is the resonant frequency of a spring with a load of 365 kilograms and a spring constant of 20 000 N/m, which gives a resonant frequency of 1.18 Hz.)
2. Calculating the transfer time over a 28.8K modem, of a screen snapshot off a 15” monitor.
The monitor’s resolution is 832x624, and it is in Thousands of colours (which is 2^16=65536, or 16 bits per pixel). So the file should take up about:
832*624*16/8/1024
...kilobytes of disk space. Which is about 1014K (just under 1Meg). (Luckily they take up a lot less because the pictures are encoded and compressed- about 165K.)
This value is entered in register R. We can save that value to register y by entering:
y=r
We can calculate the modem transfer speed in K/second as:
28.8x3/8/1024 (and hit enter)
...which is 3.515625 K/second. Roughly 3K/second. So we can expect the snapshot to take about :
y/r/60
..or 4.8 minutes. Note, that when we entered y/r, the evaluation was 288.42667 seconds. Since we know we want convenient round numbers, we can then enter the /60 to convert to minutes.
Limitations
ThufirCalc require System 7.1 or later.
There is a problem with clicks in ThufirCalc display area sometimes being ignored. This happens because the click is sometimes stolen before it gets to the jGNEFilter. You can fix this by installing Matt Slot's TSM Fix (included).
There is also a problem that key presses go into DA windows instead of ThufirCalc. I don’t really think this is a major problem, but perhaps others disagree.
Registering
This program is Shareware, which means if you use it, you must pay for it. A single user license costs US$10. Registration will remove the registration reminder screen when ThufirCalc is started up.
You can pay in one of two ways: on-line registration using a web browser, or off-line registration using the Register program. As soon as Kagi Shareware has processed your registration they will send you an 18 digit registration code. This registration code must be entered into ThufirCalc. Note that this code is keyed to your name, so make sure you enter the same name into ThufirCalc that you used to Register. (The name will be included in the Registration Acknowledgement from Kagi.)
To enter the Registration code, open ThufirCalc and select Enter Serial Number... from the File menu. This will open the Register window, where you can enter your name and the Registration number. Thanks for registering!
On-Line Registration
Our online registration can be found at:
<http://order.kagi.com/cgi-bin/register1.cgi?PL>
Once you have received your registration acknowledgement you will need to enter it into ThufirCalc as described above.
Off-Line Registration
Or, using the Register program, you need to:
1. Get hold of a copy of the Register program: Register comes with the RumorMill distribution. You can also get Register from the following sites:
<ftp://ftp.stairways.com/>
<ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/peterlewis/>
<ftp://ftp.amug.org/pub/peterlewis/>
..or there are download links on the following Web page:
<http://www.stairways.com/register/topay.html>
2. Run the Register program and fill out the form: You need to enter your name, email, postal address, and the shareware you wish to pay for. The form accepts many different payment methods such as: US Check, Money Order, Cash (in many different currencies), Visa, Mastercard, American Express, First Virtual, and Invoice (to be given to your accounts payable department).
3. Send it to Kagi Shareware: Then either email the data generated by the registration program or print it and send it via postal mail or fax. Credit card information is encoded by the Register program.
The address to send the completed form is output by Register when you Print or Copy the completed form. The addresses are:
Email: shareware@kagi.com
FAX: +1 510 652 6589
Snail-mail:
Kagi Shareware
1442-A Walnut Street #392-PL
Berkeley, California, 94709-1405
USA
4. Enter the Registration Code: When you receive a reply from Kagi Shareware, enter the Registration code into ThufirCalc. This process is described above.
You may distribute this program any way you wish as long as you don’t charge for it (reasonable download costs such as Compu$erve are ok (although who would call Compu$erve’s download costs reasonable?)). You must distribute the package in its entirety. We don’t guarantee any support, but we always answer our Email. If we don’t answer Email it is because your message didn’t get to us, or our reply bounced, so please try again and include a valid Internet address if you can.
You MAY NOT DISTRIBUTE this program on any disk or CD without our explicit permission.
Site Licensing
World-wide license: US$2000
Universities or companies site license: US$500
A site license covers usage of ThufirCalc on an unlimited number of machines within 100 miles of some arbitrary central point which are owned by the licensed organization. (A site license will not be useful unless you intend to run more than 50 copies of ThufirCalc.)
World Wide licenses remove the 100 mile radius restriction.
Warranty
This program should do what is described in this document. If it doesn’t, you can simply stop using it. If you paid for the product, and within a year find that it doesn’t do what has been described here, then you can notify Stairways Shareware and your money will be refunded and your license cancelled.
Fine Print
Peter Lewis hereby disclaims all warranties relating to this software, whether express or implied, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Peter Lewis will not be liable for any special, incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages due to loss of data or any other reason, even if Peter Lewis or an agent of his has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event shall Peter Lewis be liable for any damages, regardless of the form of the claim. The person using the software bears all risk as to the quality and performance of the software.
US Government
Government End Users: If you are acquiring the Software and fonts
on behalf of any unit or agency of the United States Government, the
following provisions apply. The Government agrees:
(i) if the Software and fonts are supplied to the Department of
Defence (DoD), the Software and fonts are classified as "Commercial
Computer Software" and the Government is acquiring only "restricted rights"
in the Software, its documentation and fonts as that term is defined in
Clause 252.227-7013(c)(1) of the DFARS; and
(ii) if the Software and fonts are supplied to any unit or agency
of the United States Government other than DoD, the Government's rights in
the Software, its documentation and fonts will be as defined in Clause
52.227-19(c)(2) of the FAR or, in the case of NASA, in Clause
18-52.227-86(d) of the NASA Supplement to the FAR.
