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10.5: Use Spotlight's calculations with Quick Look
Authored by: robogobo on Nov 27, '07 04:43:13PM

wow, I'm genuinely surprised at this discussion. I learned PEMDAS, didn't everyone else? I don't think I've heard such a complex argument over such basic math principles. And are some of you really not familiar with how different calculators work? simple calculators are exactly that- SIMPLE. They can do one calculation at a time. However, look at that machine in front of you. Does it look like a simple calculator to you? (exception- Dashboard emulates a simple calculator for fun). When you type an entire operation into a single line (not possible in Calc Widget), and then hit enter, it respects the order of operations because it's calculating the entire line in a single stroke. Math is not simple left to right- go back to your pre-algebra books.

OK, btw, nice hint.



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10.5: Use Spotlight's calculations with Quick Look
Authored by: Mac Berry on Nov 28, '07 03:21:29AM

Thanks!

Actually, spotlight is even cleverer than you suggest (only calculating on enter). It gives you a running total, so if you type 1+2 you see 1+2=3 in the results, but if you continue typing and add *, the results disappear as it thinks "hmm, nope, he wasn't ready for that total", followed by 3 which then shows "1+2*3=7.

It has to work like that, because people are not necessarily used to hitting enter before getting results in spotlight. It's a very clever, and totally correct, way of handling it.



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