Thanks for your reply: The calculator under Ubuntu 9.04 gives for the the calculation (9-8.7-.3) used to give the answer "-0". It was using base 2 floating. Prior to 9.04 it gave an answer such as "7.21644966006e-16" (galculator).
If the new calculator under 9.10 is using base exponent of base 10 for it's float, that explains why it is now giving the correct answer of 0. I figured you guys had fudged it with the display. My other criticism was on the interface in that the calculator had a toggle between calculator and line entry mode, not that it doesn't do RPN, but that's one annoyance cleared up. Thanks. BTW. Microsoft's own Excel spreadsheet gives the incorrect answer to the "9 - 8.7 -.3" calculation. They fudge it to zero for normal display, but ask for scientific notation and you will see the true caclulation. Ahimsa "As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields." -Leo Tolstoy -Jess E. "I want a processor so powerful I can read the manual by the light of the heat sink."- R.I.P. MRX Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 4:39 PM, Robert Ancell <robert.anc...@canonical.com> wrote: > Non-arithmetic calculation mode is not supported. You can use another > calculator such as http://galculator.sourceforge.net/ to do this > The calculator uses base 10 floating point which is equivalent to BCD > The calculator does not have an infinite internal precision which is why the > value is zero. > > ** Changed in: gcalctool (Ubuntu) > Status: New => Invalid > > -- > Calculator long ago lost preferences which allowed true calculator type > behaviour as opposed to formula entry > https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/422737 > You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber > of the bug. > > Status in “gcalctool” package in Ubuntu: Invalid > > Bug description: > Binary package hint: gcalctool > > There used to be an option to allow normal calculator behaviour. > > One test I use on computer calculators is to test arithmetic behaviour is: > > "123456789 sqrt sqr - 123456789 =" > > (or in RPN "123456789 enter sqrt sqr -") > > Basically I take a number, take the square root of that, square it back, and > then subtract the original number to see what the precision is. > > [If it is ZERO the calculator is lying...] > > Please TRY to evaluate this in the calculator tool to see how broken the > formula entry mode is. > > The fact that the calculator should be using BCD is another rant.. > > ProblemType: Bug > Architecture: i386 > Date: Tue Sep 1 18:25:08 2009 > DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10 > ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/gcalctool > LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Alpha i386 (20090812.3) > Package: gcalctool 5.27.5-0ubuntu1 > ProcEnviron: > LANG=en_US.UTF-8 > SHELL=/bin/bash > ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-5.24-generic > SourcePackage: gcalctool > Uname: Linux 2.6.31-5-generic i686 > -- Calculator long ago lost preferences which allowed true calculator type behaviour as opposed to formula entry https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/422737 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
