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10.5: Use Spotlight's calculations with Quick Look
Authored by: abyone on Nov 27, '07 08:37:18AM
I would expect this one to to be correct considering that your calculation should be interpreted from left to write as in a ticket tape calculation.

You say:
Dashboard Calculator: 1 + 2 * 3 = 9 (doh!)

Correct interpretation:
(1 + 2) * 3 = 9

I would never expect:
1 + (2 * 3) = 9

The numbers are simply not laid out in that order.

Well, I'm afraid to to tell you, you'd be wrong. The rules of mathematics is quite clear in this regard, in absence of parenthesis, you ALWAYS do multiplication before addition. This is ironclad, no ambiguity. You would get an 'F' in any math class if you did this. It's called order of operations.

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10.5: Use Spotlight's calculations with Quick Look
Authored by: frgough on Nov 27, '07 09:41:44AM

Um, unless you are running a tape adding machine, in which case operations are performed as entered. Each press of the function key is the equivalent of pressing the equals key, with the equals key in this case indicating ALL calculations are finished.

So in a tape adding machine, you get this:

1+2 (interpreted as 1 plus 2 equals; waiting for next operation.

*3 =, which is interpreted as previous value times three, no more entries.



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10.5: Use Spotlight's calculations with Quick Look
Authored by: jecwobble on Nov 27, '07 11:26:43AM

I don't have an adding machine in front of me to tell for sure, but that's not the way I recall it working. On an adding machine, addition and subtraction are not calculated until you hit the total (T) key. Multiplication and division are calculated when you hit the equals (=) key.

If you hit "1 + 2 * 3 =" you'd get 6 because didn't hit "+" or "T" after the equals

If you hit "1 + 2 * 3 = + T" you'd get 7.

To get 9, you would do "1 + 2 + T * 3 ="



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10.5: Use Spotlight's calculations with Quick Look
Authored by: lssmit02 on Nov 27, '07 11:55:05AM

If you scroll down on the wikipedia page you link to, you'll find a section called "Calculators," which explains that calculators can follow a different orders of operations. Apparently it's not even consistent among calculators manufactured by the same company (Texas Instruments in the example).



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