Modern Street

While doing a work related assignment yesterday, I found myself in need of a calculator. But I didn’t carry one with me at the time. Does that sound familiar? For dealing with numbers and digits on a daily basis, a calculator is indispensable. I use calculators everyday in my job, and if I can just connect online, I know where to get my calculations done fast and quick. Some calculators are desktop downloads, and others need live online access.

Here is a list of calculator resources to get a calculator right at your fingertips. Getting a functional calculator is easier than you think, just a few keystrokes away…
Use Google

There is a ready calculator to use anytime as long as you have Internet access. It’s in Google. Actually, you use Google itself as a calculator. No need to go anywhere else, when you can just open up your browser, go to Google, (or it’s faster, if Google is your browser’s homepage) and type in your math question.

Example: If you type in “500/4=” into Google, you get the answer immediately, 125.

Google can do simple and complex math equations easily. Here’s how to use the Google calculator with the operators that work.

Get a widget calculator

Instead of using Google directly, you can employ a widget that queries Google for you. All you see is the interface in place of the Google browser. Here’s a Google calculator widget I found.

There are a number of widget calculator on the Web, but these mostly work on Web pages only. There’s a simple flash calculator here that looks quite cool.

Most widget calculators are only simple calculators. They don’t do heavier stuff. If you want something more advanced that works easily on your desktop offline, try this Java based scientific calculator widget from Yahoo Widgets.

For a full Mac only desktop widget, Apple has one here.

Download from Microsoft

This calculator has a lot more features than the standard calculator that comes with every Windows OS in the Accessories section. You can get it from the Microsoft site here.