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Reckon

 

   

V1.17 

 

Introduction 

Thank you for trying 

Reckon

. Reckon is a replacement 

calculator for real calculators and small devices. Reckon 

has been written to be as portable as possible by 

limiting dependencies on specific hardware and 

subsystem features. 
I have written Reckon to be 

my

 calculator. 

Each person wants something slightly 

different from a calculator and with any real 

calculator there are missing wanted functions and 

things which work in an awkward way. Reckon's purpose is to 

have all the features [i want] in one easy to use package. 

Nevertheless, feature requirements change. The plan is to add features as and when they are needed and 

also to move reckon onto different hardware as it becomes possible. I am also hoping the feature set will 

be useful for others who might want to use it as their alternative calculator. 
I am open to improvement suggestions and bug reports, rather than a huge wish list. I have my own long 

wish list too! It's likely that features from your wish list are also on mine. Some things are easy to add (like a 

new function and map it to a key), some are hard (e.g. add a CAS). Easy feature requests are likely to get 

done. 
One of the biggest challenges is getting the right manner of operation. I am trying to avoid modes where 

possible, deep menus and prefix key sequences. I am hoping to hear good ideas from people that make for 

ease of use through operation rather than boilerplate modes and menus. 
In Reckon, there is no complex mode, but there is an 

i

 key, so this trick is not necessary. Where possible, 

the functions automatically support complex operation, although currently you can only have real matrices. 
A big area missing from the current release is display formatting. for example, the number of digits, ENG, 

SCI, FIX etc. These are usually modal. I am chewing over ideas for display formatting with the view to 

expand the concept from number formatting to also include HEX, OCT, BIN display, DMS, DATE calendar 

display etc. 
There are many, many things to go in, several are half finished. Originally, i wanted to make a release only 

when a significant number of these were done. However, due to time constraints, i have decided to make 

an early first release because i think the features already implemented can be useful now (I'm already using 

reckon as my regular calculator) and other people have good ideas that might influence their 

implementation. 
So there are things missing, but i have endeavoured to round up and fix bugs and annoyances from my list 

rather than chuck in half-finished features. I'm hoping there won't be any embarrassing defects in this 

version (like getting its sums wrong), but there are likely to be small misfeatures. 
Enjoy, 

Summary of Contents for Reckon

Page 1: ...to avoid modes where possible deep menus and prefix key sequences I am hoping to hear good ideas from people that make for ease of use through operation rather than boilerplate modes and menus In Rec...

Page 2: ...well as on SHIFT X is mapped onto the X T key This works as a convenient way to enter the variable X without a shift key press Hexadecimal and binary integers can be entered by prefixing with 0X use t...

Page 3: ...N e g 2 3 EXE EXE Additionally single quote is accepted as a free form initiator This is the quote operator and acts to prevent evaluation It is useful for entering the name of a variable when that va...

Page 4: ...Plot must involve a single unbound variable All bound variables are replaced by their values Plot and Solve determine the relevant unbound variable as the intended term to plot against or solve for V...

Page 5: ...hat 1 0 is Inf NaNs are undefined results e g 0 0 is NaN These values as intermediate results do not halt evaluation Reckon supports some non numerical types including strings e g hello and array vect...

Page 6: ...m sunr Mean Sun radius m mph Miles per hour m s c Speed of light in vacuum m s yr Gregorian calendar year S oz Ounce Kg ozt Troy ounce Kg lb Pound Kg me Electron mass Kg mp Proton mass Kg mn Neutron m...

Page 7: ...a matrix Reckon tries to treat it arithmetically as far as possible If you add or multiply a vector or matrix by a scalar the effect will be to apply that operation on each element of the vector e g 1...

Page 8: ...ew may be examined before returning to the calculation engine The 4 way navigator may be used to adjust the view Left and right scroll the graph horizontally whilst up and down zoom in and out Zoom is...

Page 9: ...es It s possible to change this by adding the sample mesh density as an additional parameter However increasing the number does not always produce clearer results Indeed 16 is about maximum otherwise...

Page 10: ...n about models local Z axis Hit 1 to speed up left 3 for right 2 to stop spinning and Expand Contract X Y scale Increase detail Further examples Plot3D X 2 Y 2 2 2 Plot3D Sin x Cos y 0 5 Plot3D Sin X...

Page 11: ...Hyperbolic tangent of z ASinh z Hyperbolic arcsine of z ACosh z Hyperbolic arccosine of z ATanh z Hyperbolic arctangent of z Inv z Invert 1 x 1 z matrix inversion SHIFT Neg z z or negate vector terms...

Page 12: ...ay number for date yyyymmdd Date n Date as integer yyyymmdd from modified julian day number Price settlement maturity rate yield redemption frequency Bond price eg price 20080215 20171115 5 75 6 5 100...

Page 13: ...Built in help Various small but specific functions Programming language Version Updates The latest version of Reckon will be posted to http www voidware com reckon Please check for updates...

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