Windows Calculator is a

software calculator A software calculator is a calculator that has been implemented as a computer program, rather than as a physical hardware device. They are among the simpler interactive software tools, and, as such, they provide operations for the user to sele ...

developed by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

and included in

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

. In its

Windows 10 Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. The successor to Windows 8.1, it was Software release cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on July 2 ...

incarnation it has four modes: standard, scientific, programmer, and a graphing mode. The standard mode includes a number pad and buttons for performing arithmetic operations. The scientific mode takes this a step further and adds exponents and trigonometric function, and programmer mode allows the user to perform operations related to

computer programming Computer programming or coding is the composition of sequences of instructions, called computer program, programs, that computers can follow to perform tasks. It involves designing and implementing algorithms, step-by-step specifications of proc ...

. In 2020, a graphing mode was added to the Calculator, allowing users to graph equations on a coordinate plane. The Windows Calculator is one of a few applications that have been bundled in all versions of Windows, starting with Windows 1.0. Since then, the calculator has been upgraded with various capabilities. In addition, the calculator has also been included with

Windows Phone Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Microsoft Mobile for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design languag ...

and

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

. The Microsoft Store page proclaims HoloLens support as of February 2024, but the Calculator app is not installed on HoloLens by default.

History

A simple arithmetic calculator was first included with Windows 1.0. In Windows 3.0, a scientific mode was added, which included

exponent In mathematics, exponentiation, denoted , is an operation involving two numbers: the ''base'', , and the ''exponent'' or ''power'', . When is a positive integer, exponentiation corresponds to repeated multiplication of the base: that is, i ...

s and

root In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often bel ...

logarithm In mathematics, the logarithm of a number is the exponent by which another fixed value, the base, must be raised to produce that number. For example, the logarithm of to base is , because is to the rd power: . More generally, if , the ...

factorial In mathematics, the factorial of a non-negative denoted is the Product (mathematics), product of all positive integers less than or equal The factorial also equals the product of n with the next smaller factorial: \begin n! &= n \times ...

-based functions,

trigonometry Trigonometry () is a branch of mathematics concerned with relationships between angles and side lengths of triangles. In particular, the trigonometric functions relate the angles of a right triangle with ratios of its side lengths. The fiel ...

(supports

radian The radian, denoted by the symbol rad, is the unit of angle in the International System of Units (SI) and is the standard unit of angular measure used in many areas of mathematics. It is defined such that one radian is the angle subtended at ...

, degree and

gradian In trigonometry, the gradianalso known as the gon (), grad, or gradeis a unit of measurement of an angle, defined as one-hundredth of the right angle; in other words, 100 gradians is equal to 90 degrees. It is equivalent to of a turn, of a ...

s angles), base conversions (2, 8, 10, 16), logic operations,

statistical Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

functions such as single variable statistics and linear regression.

Windows 9x and Windows NT 4.0

Until

Windows 95 Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft and the first of its Windows 9x family of operating systems, released to manufacturing on July 14, 1995, and generally to retail on August 24, 1995. Windows 95 merged ...

, it uses an

IEEE 754-1985 IEEE 754-1985 is a historic industry standard for representing floating-point numbers in computers, officially adopted in 1985 and superseded in 2008 by IEEE 754-2008, and then again in 2019 by minor revision IEEE 754-2019. During its 23 years, ...

double-precision floating-point Double-precision floating-point format (sometimes called FP64 or float64) is a floating-point number format, usually occupying 64 bits in computer memory; it represents a wide range of numeric values by using a floating radix point. Double prec ...

, and the highest representable number by the calculator is 2¹⁰²⁴, which is slightly above 10³⁰⁸ (≈1.80 × 10³⁰⁸). In

Windows 98 Windows 98 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of Microsoft Windows operating systems. It was the second operating system in the 9x line, as the successor to Windows 95. It was Software ...

and later, it uses an

arbitrary-precision arithmetic In computer science, arbitrary-precision arithmetic, also called bignum arithmetic, multiple-precision arithmetic, or sometimes infinite-precision arithmetic, indicates that calculations are performed on numbers whose digits of precision are po ...

library, replacing the standard

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE ...

floating point In computing, floating-point arithmetic (FP) is arithmetic on subsets of real numbers formed by a ''significand'' (a signed sequence of a fixed number of digits in some base) multiplied by an integer power of that base. Numbers of this form ...

library. It offers

bignum In computer science, arbitrary-precision arithmetic, also called bignum arithmetic, multiple-precision arithmetic, or sometimes infinite-precision arithmetic, indicates that calculations are performed on numbers whose numerical digit, digits of p ...

precision for basic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) and 32 digits of precision for advanced operations (

square root In mathematics, a square root of a number is a number such that y^2 = x; in other words, a number whose ''square'' (the result of multiplying the number by itself, or y \cdot y) is . For example, 4 and −4 are square roots of 16 because 4 ...

transcendental function In mathematics, a transcendental function is an analytic function that does not satisfy a polynomial equation whose coefficients are functions of the independent variable that can be written using only the basic operations of addition, subtraction ...

s). The largest value that can be represented on the Windows Calculator is currently and the smallest is . (Also ! calculates the

gamma function In mathematics, the gamma function (represented by Γ, capital Greek alphabet, Greek letter gamma) is the most common extension of the factorial function to complex numbers. Derived by Daniel Bernoulli, the gamma function \Gamma(z) is defined ...

which is defined over all real numbers, only excluding the negative integers).

Windows 2000, XP and Vista

Windows 2000 Windows 2000 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft, targeting the server and business markets. It is the direct successor to Windows NT 4.0, and was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RT ...

digit grouping FIle:Decimal separators.svg, alt=Four types of separating decimals: a) 1,234.56. b) 1.234,56. c) 1'234,56. d) ١٬٢٣٤٫٥٦., Both a comma and a full stop (or period) are generally accepted decimal separators for international use. The apost ...

is added. Degree and base settings are added to menu bar. The calculators of

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct successor to Windows 2000 for high-end and business users a ...

and Vista were able to calculate using numbers beyond 10¹⁰⁰⁰⁰, but calculating with these numbers (e.g. 10^2^2^2^2^2^2^2...) does increasingly slow down the calculator and make it unresponsive until the calculation has been completed. Unlike later versions, calculating with binary/

decimal The decimal numeral system (also called the base-ten positional numeral system and denary or decanary) is the standard system for denoting integer and non-integer numbers. It is the extension to non-integer numbers (''decimal fractions'') of th ...

hexadecimal Hexadecimal (also known as base-16 or simply hex) is a Numeral system#Positional systems in detail, positional numeral system that represents numbers using a radix (base) of sixteen. Unlike the decimal system representing numbers using ten symbo ...

octal Octal (base 8) is a numeral system with eight as the base. In the decimal system, each place is a power of ten. For example: : \mathbf_ = \mathbf \times 10^1 + \mathbf \times 10^0 In the octal system, each place is a power of eight. For ex ...

numbers is included into scientific mode.

Windows 7

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, ...

, separate programmer, statistics, unit conversion, date calculation, and worksheets modes were added. Tooltips were removed. Furthermore, Calculator's interface was revamped for the first time since its introduction. The base conversion functions were moved to the programmer mode and statistics functions were moved to the statistics mode. Switching between modes does not preserve the current number, clearing it to 0. The highest number is now limited to 10¹⁰⁰⁰⁰ again. In every mode except programmer mode, one can see the history of calculations. The app was redesigned to accommodate

multi-touch In computing, multi-touch is technology that enables a surface (a touchpad or touchscreen) to recognize the presence of more than one somatosensory system, point of contact with the surface at the same time. The origins of multitouch began at CE ...

. Standard mode behaves as a simple checkbook calculator; entering the sequence 6 * 4 + 12 / 4 - 4 * 5 gives the answer 25. In scientific mode,

order of operations In mathematics and computer programming, the order of operations is a collection of rules that reflect conventions about which operations to perform first in order to evaluate a given mathematical expression. These rules are formalized with a ...

is followed while doing calculations (multiplication and division are done before addition and subtraction), which means 6 * 4 + 12 / 4 - 4 * 5 = 7. In programmer mode, inputting a number in decimal has a lower and upper limit, depending on the data type, and must always be an integer. Data type of number in decimal mode is signed n-bit integer when converting from number in hexadecimal, octal, or binary mode. On the right side of the main Calculator, one can add a panel with date calculation, unit conversion and worksheets. Worksheets allow one to calculate a result of a chosen field based on the values of other fields. Pre-defined templates include calculating a car's fuel economy (mpg and L/100 km), a vehicle lease, and a mortgage. In pre-beta versions of Windows 7, Calculator also provided a Wages template.

Windows 8.1

While the traditional Calculator is still included with Windows 8.1, a Metro-style Calculator is also present, featuring a full-screen interface as well as normal, scientific, and conversion modes.

Windows 10

The Calculator in non-LTSC editions of

is a

Universal Windows Platform app Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps (formerly named Windows Store apps, Metro-style apps and Modern apps) are applications that can be used across all compatible Microsoft Windows devices. They are primarily purchased and downloaded via the ...

. In contrast, Windows 10 LTSC (which does not include universal Windows apps) includes the traditional calculator, but which is now named . Both calculators provide the features of the traditional calculator included with Windows 7 and Windows 8.x, such as unit conversions for volume, length, weight, temperature, energy, area, speed, time, power, data, pressure and angle, and the history list which the user can clear. Both the universal Windows app and LTSC's register themselves with the system as handlers of a '' pseudo-protocol. This registration is similar to that performed by any other well-behaved application when it registers itself as a handler for a filetype (e.g. ) or protocol (e.g. ). All Windows 10 editions (both LTSC and non-LTSC) continue to have a , which however is just a stub that launches (via ShellExecute) the handler that is associated with the '' pseudo-protocol. As with any other protocol or filetype, when there are multiple handlers to choose from, users are free to choose which handler they prefer either via the classic control panel ('Default programs' settings) or the immersive UI settings ('Default Apps' settings) or from the command prompt via . In the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, a currency converter mode was added to Calculator. On 6 March 2019, Microsoft released the

source code In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer. Since a computer, at base, only ...

for Calculator on

GitHub GitHub () is a Proprietary software, proprietary developer platform that allows developers to create, store, manage, and share their code. It uses Git to provide distributed version control and GitHub itself provides access control, bug trackin ...

under the

MIT License The MIT License is a permissive software license originating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the late 1980s. As a permissive license, it puts very few restrictions on reuse and therefore has high license compatibility. Unl ...

Windows 11

In Windows 11, the Calculator app's user interface was modified to match the design of Windows 11 and a new settings page is present for users to toggle between the themes of the app without changing the operating system's theme. In 2021, Microsoft announced it would migrate the codebase of the Calculator app to C# in order to welcome more developers to contribute to the app.

Gallery

File:Microsoft Windows NT Calculator Version 3.1 261x269.png, Microsoft

Windows NT Windows NT is a Proprietary software, proprietary Graphical user interface, graphical operating system produced by Microsoft as part of its Windows product line, the first version of which, Windows NT 3.1, was released on July 27, 1993. Original ...

Calculator Version 3.1 File:WindowsXPCalculator.png,

Calculator File:Windows 7 Calculator.png,

Calculator with

Windows Aero Windows Aero (a backronym for ''Authentic, Energetic, Reflective, and Open'') is the design language introduced in the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system in 2006. The changes introduced by Windows Aero encompassed many elements of the Windo ...

File:Windows_8_Calculator.png,

Windows 8 Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012, made available for download via Microsoft ...

Calculator File:Windows 8.1 Calculator.png, Windows 8.1's additional Metro-style calculator in standard mode File:Windows 10 Calculator.png,

Modern UI Calculator

Features

By default, Calculator runs in standard mode, which resembles a four-function calculator. More advanced functions are available in scientific mode, including

s, numerical base conversions, some

logical operators In logic, a logical connective (also called a logical operator, sentential connective, or sentential operator) is a logical constant. Connectives can be used to connect logical formulas. For instance in the syntax of propositional logic, the ...

operator precedence In mathematics and computer programming, the order of operations is a collection of rules that reflect conventions about which operations to perform first in order to evaluate a given mathematical expression. These rules are formalized with a ...

, degree and

gradians In trigonometry, the gradianalso known as the gon (), grad, or gradeis a unit of measurement of an angle, defined as one-hundredth of the right angle; in other words, 100 gradians is equal to 90 degrees. It is equivalent to of a turn, of a ...

support as well as simple single-variable

functions. It does not provide support for user-defined functions,

complex number In mathematics, a complex number is an element of a number system that extends the real numbers with a specific element denoted , called the imaginary unit and satisfying the equation i^= -1; every complex number can be expressed in the for ...

s, storage variables for intermediate results (other than the classic accumulator memory of pocket calculators), automated polar-

Cartesian coordinates In geometry, a Cartesian coordinate system (, ) in a plane is a coordinate system that specifies each point uniquely by a pair of real numbers called ''coordinates'', which are the signed distances to the point from two fixed perpendicular o ...

conversion, or support for two-variables statistics. In addition, the programming mode allows conversions between bases 16, 10, 8, and 2, the most commonly used by programmers. In this mode, the on-screen

numeric keypad A numeric keypad, number pad, numpad, or ten key, is the calculator-style group of ten numeric keys accompanied by other keys, usually on the far right side of computer keyboard. This grouping allows quick number entry with right hand, ...

includes the hexadecimal digits A through F, which are active when "Hex" is selected. In hex mode, only integers are supported. Calculator supports

keyboard shortcut In computing, a keyboard shortcut (also hotkey/hot key or key binding) is a software-based assignment of an action to one or more keys on a computer keyboard. Most Operating system, operating systems and Application software, applications come ...

s; all Calculator features have an associated keyboard shortcut. Calculator in programmer mode cannot accept or display a number larger than a signed QWORD (16

digits/64 bits). The largest number it can handle is therefore 0x7FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF (decimal 9,223,372,036,854,775,807). Any calculations in programmer mode which exceed this limit will overflow, even if those calculations would succeed in other modes. In particular,

scientific notation Scientific notation is a way of expressing numbers that are too large or too small to be conveniently written in decimal form, since to do so would require writing out an inconveniently long string of digits. It may be referred to as scientif ...

is not available in this mode.

Issues

* In Windows 7, 8, and some versions of Windows 10,

operations, such as the

operator (sqrt(4) − 2 = −8.1648465955514287168521180122928e−39), would sometimes be calculated incorrectly due to catastrophic cancelation. In newer versions, this doesn't happen with integers, but it still happens when you enter decimal numbers. * Older versions of the universal Calculator in non-LTSC editions of

doesn't use any regional format (can be set in Region Control Panel) that are different from the app's display language for number formatting (the app's language is English (United States) but Windows's regional format is set to a different format).

Calculator Plus

Calculator Plus is a separate application for

and

Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2003, codenamed "Whistler Server", is the sixth major version of the Windows NT operating system produced by Microsoft and the first server version to be released under the Windows Server brand name. It is part of the Windows NT ...

users that adds a 'Conversion' mode over the Windows XP version of the Calculator. The 'Conversion' mode supports

unit conversion Conversion of units is the conversion of the unit of measurement in which a quantity is expressed, typically through a multiplicative conversion factor that changes the unit without changing the quantity. This is also often loosely taken to incl ...

and currency conversion. Currency exchange rates can be updated using the built-in update feature, which downloads exchange rates from the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International ...

References

External links

Windows Calculator
on

Microsoft Store The Microsoft Store (formerly known as the Windows Store) is a digital distribution platform operated by Microsoft. It was created as an app store for Windows 8 as the primary means of distributing Universal Windows Platform apps. With ...

Source code on GitHub

Microsoft Calculator Plus
{{Calculator navbox 1985 software Formerly proprietary software Free and open-source software Mathematical software Microsoft free software Software calculators Software using the MIT license Universal Windows Platform apps Windows components Xbox One software Windows Phone software