Quick Start
To get help on any component of the Calculator, place the cursor within it, by mouse-clicking it, and then press the F1 key on your keyboard.
To search the help system, click on the ‘Help’ menu and then select the ‘Contents’ option.
The chart component has a scrolling ‘help’ text box that is activated whenever the mouse cursor is placed in the chart. This feature can be turned off by selecting the ‘Help Hints’ option in the ‘Settings’ menu.
Once you are familiar with the Calculator, you can turn-off the help hints that pop-up as you move the mouse cursor over components, by selecting the ‘Help Hints’ option in the ‘Settings’ menu.
Numerical values can be entered as decimals or in scientific form:
eg. 42.05 or 4.205e1 0.0056 or 5.6e-3
Positive and negative numbers in the range 10 -300 to 10 300 are supported.
Many of the Calculator’s components have pop-up menus which are accessed by right-clicking the mouse on them.
Components that have these menus will indicate this in the help hints that pop-up as you move the mouse cursor over them.
Chart data are entered in the field shown below as x,y pairs separated by a comma.
Example: 20,30
Error-bar data, are optional, and are entered in brackets
as shown below:
Example: 20,30[3][4]
NB. The first figure is the plus error, the second the minus error.
Functions are entered in the field shown below in the following format:
Example: y=function of x eg. y=x*3+4
Plotting more than one set of data
Charts that contain plots of multiple data sets are produced by firstly plotting each data set in a separate instance of the Calculator. To do this, use the ‘Open New Calculator’ option in the ‘File’ menu to open as many ‘Secondary Copies’ of the Calculator as you need (ie. one for each data set) and then prepare a chart of each data set in a separate copy of the Calculator.
You can then transfer plotted data from any secondary copy of the Calculator to the main copy (ie. the first instance of the Calculator that you opened) by firstly clicking the ‘Save Data’ button in the secondary copy and then clicking the ‘Load Data’ button in the main copy.
Charts that contain data imported in this way are called composite charts and can be saved to named files in the same way as standard charts. See the
Saving and Loading menu for more information.
NB. When the ‘Save Data’ button is clicked, data are written to a temporary file that can then be accessed by the main copy of the Calculator. Therefore, if you want to transfer data from several secondary copies of the Calculator to the main copy, you must save and load each data set in turn.
Charts can be printed either as a snap-shot of the Calculator’s main form or by using the Calculator’s print engine. Use the ‘File’ menu for the former, selecting the ‘Print Form’ option, or click the ‘Print’ button at the top-right of the Calculator’s main form to use the print engine.
Calculations can also be printed by clicking the blue ‘Print Result’ button at the bottom-right of the Calculator’s main form.
Transferring Charts to Other Applications
Charts can be copied to the Windows clipboard by clicking the ‘Clipboard’ button at the top-right of the Calculator’s main form. You can then use the ‘File’ ‘Paste’ menu in another application, such as Microsoft Word, to paste a copy of the chart into your document.
Saving and Loading Calculations and Charts
Completed charts can be saved to a named file or loaded from a previously saved file. These options are available in the ‘Graph Options’ menu.
Calculations can be saved to a named file or loaded from a previously saved file. These options are available in the ‘Calculator Options’ menu.