Talk:WiiCalc
Requested updates
Could you please add a negative button to make negative numbers instead of subtracting from zero and then adding or subtracting from it? Coolhawk0 21:25, 10 February 2010 (UTC)
It would likely be useful for several users to add some of the more mundane math/trig functions.
There is likely an upper limit to the amount of hardcore calculations needed from the Wii UI (in an age of cheap calculators and computers.) But, since you are started down that road, it may be worth getting it to the level where it could satisfy most people (which would require supporting trigonometry, and logarithms).
You might also want to think about the ability to store numbers/pairs, so you can do statistical analysis. This is something which is NOT done by most calculators, and typically requires figuring out how to do them using a spread sheet. Having those tests used in most undergraduate "intro to statistics" and perhaps some common non-parametric tests (Kendal, Mann-Witney, etc.) would help justify the need for a Wii as a graduation present.
More reasonable functions
Many need to square a number (x²) or square root. However, the general case of xʸ (where y = ½ for a square root ⅓ for a cube root, etc.) would be more useful.You would have to decide to return error or just show i when dealing w/ irrational numbers, e.g. square root of -4 (would be 2i or signal an error) Parenthesis are also critical for proper function -- although you could give an option for prefix (for us Scheme/Lisp types) or postfix/heap (HP's RPN fans) Basic trig (SIN, COS, TAN, SEC) and their 'arc'/inverse (ASIN, ACOS, ATAN, ASEC). This does require deciding if you wish to support degrees, radians, or both. Log/LN (and inverse, although these are just 'convenience' for 10ˣ and ℯˣ Constants for pi/π and ℯ Converters between binary, decimal and hex are popular w/ us computer geeks, but I suspect the target audience would not use them much. Absolute value is easy to code (square root of x² works pretty well)
Unit converters could also be useful
Until the US finally moves to the metric system like the rest of the world (perhaps excepting some other Anglophone countries) being able to convert between ounces and milliliters, ounces and pounds, miles and km, inches and feet, inches and cm, feet/yards and meters, etc. While I don't think the complete units program, there are plenty of other useful conversion (and source code!) Converting from various representations of lat/lon, e.g. deg.min.sec v. deg (where deg is decimal)
Sources (C/C++) of existing implementations
Check out the fantastic open source calculator SpeedCrunch (need url), or the KDE (KDE 4 is available for Windows) KCalc (http://utils.kde.org/projects/kcalc), Calculator (cleaver name, need url), Qualculate (need url) as well as Galculator or GCalcTool from the GNOME projects, or the GNU bc . The source code should help figure out any difficult implementations.
--WiiWiiWiiAllTheWayHome 20:52, 10 July 2010 (UTC)