Re: galculator should be included in Gnome

[Anand Kumria <wildfire progsoc uts edu au>]

On Sun, Apr 27, 2003 at 06:08:31AM -0700, Rich Burridge wrote:
> 
> Hi Simon,
> 
> > Secondly, galculator pays respect to arithmetic precedence. Doing 1+2*3 you 
> get
> > 7 as the correct result in galculator (like gcalc), but gcalctool gives
> > you 9 (1+2=3, 3*3=9). In my opinion one can't demand the user to think about
> > arithmetic precedence and to resolve it with braces. Arithmetic precedence
> > handling is a first step towards "Typing something in as it's written on paper
> > should give the correct answer straight off".
> 
> Good luck with this when you take it to your HCI person. calctool and
> sdtcalctool (gcalctool predecessors) have had a *lot* of HCI input and
> usability testing, and this functionality did not go well with them.

Well, "textbook mode" / "formula entry" have been the norm for
calculators over here in .au for over 11 years. That is two full
high-school grads (6 years over here) of and approximatly 3 sets of
university graduates (average degree length is 4 years).

> Also you should consider comparing against the software calculator that
> probably most of the world is using - the one that comes with Windows.
> I just tried 1+2*3 there and it gives 9.

No, it doesn't. My version, Calculator 5.0 (Build 2195; Service Pack 3),
correctly outputs 7. 

Regards,
Anand

-- 
 `` We are shaped by our thoughts, we become what we think.
 When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never
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