t may seem a waste to buy something so expensive, sleek and technologically advanced as an iPhone and then use it for nothing more challenging than addition and multiplication, but the fact remains that the iPhone's calculator is among the best on any phone. It is clear and has large graphical buttons, really benefiting from the multi-touch display in a way that no conventional phone can ever hope to rival.
In its original incarnation, it was nothing more than a regular upright adding machine with the four key mathematical functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) supplemented by some simple memory functions. With the iPhone 3G and the arrival of the iPhone 2.0 software, which updates older phones and the iPod touch, it has now been massively expanded and is context aware. As such, using it in portrait orientation presents you with the same regular calculator as was found on the first phone. Rotate it through 90°, though, and it will sense the change of orientation and present you with a range of scientific functions that would rival even the most advanced dedicated calculator.
Of course, there is still no print-out function or virtual paper roll for mobile accountants, but if you want to work out the diameter of a circle, compile log tables or factor the cosine of a variable then you should find it docs everything you need. The iPhone is never likely to unseat dedicated
scientific calculators from the likes of I IP — particularly not in the world of academia — but this is a useful add-on that brings features formerly found only in full computer-based operating systems to every iPhone owner's pocket.
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