I'm currently crowdsourcing a trial from AMUG members. Not many answers in yet, but all were as expected; the one Catalina guy so far saw the numeric answer.
> On Jan 8, 2020, at 7:59 PM, Dinse, Gregg (NIH/NIEHS) [C] > <di...@niehs.nih.gov> wrote: > > I think you are onto something. I have now tried this on 3 macs that are > running Mojave and all give Not a number. I then tried this on 3 other macs > that are all running Sierra and all give the correct numeric answer. So it > certainly looks possible that some bug was introduced in High Sierra and > continued in Mojave. > > A friend just told me that it works on his Catalina mac, so perhaps they > fixed it in the latest OS. I do not have any Catalina machines, so I can't > check that. > > From: Macs R We <macs...@macsrwe.com <mailto:macs...@macsrwe.com>> > Date: Wednesday, January 8, 2020 at 9:29 PM > To: Gregg Dinse <di...@niehs.nih.gov <mailto:di...@niehs.nih.gov>> > Cc: X Talk <macosx-talk@omnigroup.com <mailto:macosx-talk@omnigroup.com>> > Subject: Re: problem with Calculator app > > This is fascinating. > > My mid-2015 MBP on High Sierra and my Mini 2018 on Mojave both give Not a > Number. > > My mid-2011 Mini and 2017 MBA, both on Sierra, give a numeric answer, as do > both our iPhones. > > So because I'm now fascinated by this bug, I rebooted my MBP onto Sierra and… > got a numeric answer. > > It's looking a lot like a bug introduced in High Sierra. I wonder what > release the guy in the Apple store was running… maybe they fixed it in > Catalina. > >> On Jan 8, 2020, at 6:29 PM, Dinse, Gregg (NIH/NIEHS) [C] >> <di...@niehs.nih.gov <mailto:di...@niehs.nih.gov>> wrote: >> >> I guess it's sounding more like a software problem than a hardware problem... >> >> From: Macs R We <macs...@macsrwe.com <mailto:macs...@macsrwe.com>> >> Date: Wednesday, January 8, 2020 at 8:26 PM >> To: Gregg Dinse <di...@niehs.nih.gov <mailto:di...@niehs.nih.gov>> >> Cc: "MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com <mailto:MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com>" >> <MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com <mailto:MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com>> >> Subject: Re: problem with Calculator app >> >> I get Not a Number using either your keystrokes or mine. This is weird. >> >>> On Jan 8, 2020, at 6:23 PM, Dinse, Gregg (NIH/NIEHS) [C] >>> <di...@niehs.nih.gov <mailto:di...@niehs.nih.gov>> wrote: >>> >>> My problem machine is at the office. I'm at home now and the Calculator >>> app works fine on that mac. >>> >>> I guess there are multiple ways to calculate exp(-1). What I have been >>> doing is the following. I open the Calculator app and set View/Scientific. >>> I click on 1, then the +/- key, and then the eˣ key. At home, the results >>> field shows 1, and then -1, and then 0.367879... as I click those 3 keys. >>> At the office, I got 1 and then -1 and then "Not a number". As you noted, >>> another way to calculate exp(-1) is to click the minus sign, then 1, then >>> the equals sign, and then the eˣ key. This gives the correct response at >>> home, but I did not try that at the office. In any event, both should >>> function properly and at least one does not give the correct answer on my >>> iMac at the office. >>> >>> Over the next day or two, I will boot my iMac at the office from an >>> external disk with a version of the OS for which the Calculator app works >>> fine when booting at home. Hopefully this will help me figure out if it's >>> a hardware or software problem. >>> >>> Gregg >>> >>> From: Macs R We <macs...@macsrwe.com <mailto:macs...@macsrwe.com>> >>> Date: Wednesday, January 8, 2020 at 7:48 PM >>> To: C D Tavares <macs...@macsrwe.com <mailto:macs...@macsrwe.com>> >>> Cc: Gregg Dinse <di...@niehs.nih.gov <mailto:di...@niehs.nih.gov>>, >>> "MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com <mailto:MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com>" >>> <MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com <mailto:MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com>> >>> Subject: Re: problem with Calculator app >>> >>> The ironic part is that I just tried the sequence myself: >>> >>> - 1 = eˣ >>> >>> and got "Not a Number." 😳 >>> >>> (High Sierra, MBP 2015) >>> >>> >>>> On Jan 8, 2020, at 1:53 PM, Macs R We <macs...@macsrwe.com >>>> <mailto:macs...@macsrwe.com>> wrote: >>>> >>>> On the other hand, if it's clearly your hardware, you may have a much >>>> easier time of wangling a free repair or replacement from Apple. >>>> >>>>> On Jan 8, 2020, at 1:45 PM, Dinse, Gregg (NIH/NIEHS) [C] >>>>> <di...@niehs.nih.gov <mailto:di...@niehs.nih.gov>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Thanks for the suggestion. I should be able to do this, but probably not >>>>> today. I never even thought about the hardware being the problem. That >>>>> is upsetting. >>>>> >>>>> Gregg >>>>> >>>>> From: Macs R We <macs...@macsrwe.com <mailto:macs...@macsrwe.com>> >>>>> Date: Wednesday, January 08, 2020 at 3:40 PM >>>>> To: "Dinse, Gregg (NIH/NIEHS) [C]" <di...@niehs.nih.gov >>>>> <mailto:di...@niehs.nih.gov>> >>>>> Cc: "MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com <mailto:MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com>" >>>>> <MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com <mailto:MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com>> >>>>> Subject: Re: problem with Calculator app >>>>> >>>>> What's scary about this is that the response "not a number" is often a >>>>> response directly from the hardware. >>>>> >>>>> If, like me, you are lucky enough to have on hand an external drive with >>>>> relatively virgin copies of various Apple operating systems, you could >>>>> boot one of them and see if you get the same result. It's possible that >>>>> you will get this result no matter which operating system you boot on >>>>> that hardware, whereas if you take the same drive and boot someone else's >>>>> Mac with it, you may get proper results. That would pretty definitively >>>>> show that the problem is your chip. >>>>> >>>>>> On Jan 8, 2020, at 12:49 PM, Dinse, Gregg (NIH/NIEHS) [C] >>>>>> <di...@niehs.nih.gov <mailto:di...@niehs.nih.gov>> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> Hi, >>>>>> >>>>>> I am running the latest version of Mojave (10.14.6) on a fairly new >>>>>> iMac. Using the Scientific view in the Calculator app, I tried to >>>>>> evaluate exp(-1) and it said "Not a number". I tried several other >>>>>> negative values and none worked, even though they certainly should. >>>>>> When I tried taking 10 to the -1 power, I got the correct result (0.1), >>>>>> but for some reason it has a problem raising "e" (the base for natural >>>>>> logarithms) to a negative power. >>>>>> >>>>>> I tried quitting the app, but that did not help. I tried rebooting my >>>>>> mac, but that did not help. I contacted our support group and they said >>>>>> the only thing they could do is to reinstall the operating system, which >>>>>> seems like a drastic step. And exp(-1) worked just fine on the support >>>>>> person's mac. >>>>>> >>>>>> Is there anything else that someone can suggest, short of reinstalling >>>>>> the OS? The support person said that we could not simply replace the >>>>>> Calculator app because it was part of the OS. Any thoughts? >>>>>> >>>>>> Thanks, >>>>>> >>>>>> Gregg >>> >>> -- >>> Macs R We -- Personal Macintosh Service and Support >>> in the Wickenburg and far Northwest Valley Areas. >>> http://macsrwe.com <http://macsrwe.com/> >> >> -- >> Macs R We -- Personal Macintosh Service and Support >> in the Wickenburg and far Northwest Valley Areas. >> http://macsrwe.com <http://macsrwe.com/> > > -- > Macs R We -- Personal Macintosh Service and Support > in the Wickenburg and far Northwest Valley Areas. > http://macsrwe.com <http://macsrwe.com/> -- Macs R We -- Personal Macintosh Service and Support in the Wickenburg and far Northwest Valley Areas. http://macsrwe.com
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