Super Accurate Calculators

The last post was a nostalgic look back at the then amazing HP calculator, and their value to the land surveyor. Although the look and feel are lacking, PC calculators available can outpreform even the best of the ?old? calculators.An example is an ultra-precise or is that ultra-accurate calculator that can calculate to thousands of decimal places. It is a four function calculator plus 1/x, x**2, x***3, pi, and e. but has no trig functions so can?t be used to calculate traverses. If you are patient, operands and results containing thousands of digits are possible.

It is available for free download from Karen?s Power Tools. Karen?s program is written in Microsoft Visual Basic and the source code is available for anyone interested in exploring the algorithm used.

How do you know it is accurate? I wondered the same thing, so searched for another program to verify the results. I found one written in C, claimed to have a precision to millions of decimal places. It is a more advanced calculator including ability to input/output in base 2 to base 36, trancendental functions, greatest common divisor function, random number generator, all trig functions, and many other features including the ability to calculate pi to 54.5 million decimal places. This excellent calculator is available for download from Harry J. Smith?s page.

I downloaded this program also, but have not compared it with Karen?s. Because of the greater functionality and speed, I would recommend Harry?s program. Try it, the value extends beyond entertaining. Note- Download the zip file. It contains help files not available in the exe version.