software calculator
Illustration — GNOME Calculator, a software calculator A software calculator is a calculator that has been implemented as a computer program, rather than as a physical hardware device. They are among the simpler interactive software tools, and, as such, they provide operations for the user to select one at a time. They can be used to perform any process that consists of a sequence of steps each of which applies one of these operations, and have no purpose other than these processes, because the operations are the sole, or at least the primary, features of the calculator, rather than being secondary features that support other functionality that is not normally known simply as calculation.
software calculator
- Field
- calculator · mathematical software
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Illustration — GNOME Calculator, a software calculator A software calculator is a calculator that has been implemented as a computer program, rather than as a physical hardware device. They are among the simpler interactive software tools, and, as such, they provide operations for the user to select one at a time. They can be used to perform any process that consists of a sequence of steps each of which applies one of these operations, and have no purpose other than these processes, because the operations are the sole, or at least the primary, features of the calculator, rather than being secondary features that support other functionality that is not normally known simply as calculation.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
No house-authored Note is published until its assertions and sources pass the VALÉORINE evidence contract. The documentary article remains available in full while that enrichment is being consolidated.
Documentary enrichment in progress · no unsupported statement published
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for software calculator. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
wikipedia incomplete · checked 25 September 2026
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
wikidata · Q7554269 · wikipedia · Software calculator
In this article
Platforms
Platforms
• Illustration — A Casio Databank calculator watch Software calculators are available for many different platforms, and they can be: • A program for, or included with an operating system. • A program implemented as server or client-side scripting (such as JavaScript) within a web page. • Embedded in a calculator watch. • Also, complex software may have calculator-like dialogs, sometimes with the full calculator functionality, to enter data into the system.
Early years
Early years
Modern computers first emerged in the 1940s and 1950s. The software that they ran was naturally used to perform calculations, but it was specially designed for a substantial application that was not limited to simple calculations. For example, the LEO computer was designed to run business application software such as payroll. Software specifically to perform calculations as its main purpose was first written in the 1960s, and the first software package for general calculations to obtain widespread use was released in 1978. This was VisiCalc and it was called an interactive visible calculator, but it was actually a spreadsheet, and these are now not normally known simply as calculators. The Unix version released in January 1979, V7 Unix, contained a command-line accessible calculator.
Simulation of hardware calculators
Simulation of hardware calculators
Calculators have been used since ancient times and until the advent of software they were physical, hardware machines. The most recent hardware calculators are electronic hand-held devices with buttons for digits and operations, and a small display for inputs and results. The first software calculators imitated these hardware calculators by implementing the same functionality with mouse-operated, rather than finger-operated, buttons. Such software calculators first emerged in the 1980s as part of the original Macintosh operating system (System 1) and the Windows operating system (Windows 1.0). Some software calculators directly simulate one of the hardware calculators, by presenting an image that looks like the calculator, and by providing the same functionality.
Software calculators on the Internet
Software calculators on the Internet
As web browsers became more powerful, developers focused more on creating online calculators rather than relying on local hardware. In May 2009, Wolfram Research announced the first public release of WolframAlpha. Rather than acting like a typical search engine, the tool was described as a "computational knowledge engine" designed to compute answers from curated mathematical research data rather than listing web pages. In 2011, Desmos was launched as a free browser-based graphic calculator at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference held in New York City. Founder Eli Luberoff developed the software as an alternative to hardware graphic calculators, noting that they were too expensive for most students.
Numerical calculators
Numerical calculators
List of arbitrary-precision arithmetic software Every type of hardware calculator has been implemented in software, including conversion, financial, graphing, programmable and scientific calculators. Other numerical calculators that do not imitate traditional hardware calculators include: • Formula calculators • Window-based calculators: Window-based calculators present a dialog box that allows users to enter data, rather than data and operations, and they have a built-in formula that is automatically applied to this data. There are many examples of such calculators in finance, mathematics, science and other disciplines. • Specialised calculators: There are software calculators that contain operations relevant to a specific application area and profession, including automotive, construction and electrical engineering.
Non-numerical calculators
Non-numerical calculators
Not all software-based calculators take numerical data or algebraic expressions as their input. Calculators can also take in arbitrary information ranging from lifestyle information to scientific notation. Some examples of these types of software calculators include: • Love calculator: The input is two names, and there is a button to work out the compatibility, as a percentage, of two people with these names. • Formula weight calculator: The input is a chemical molecular formula, using the periodic-table symbols and notation, and there is a button to work out the percentages of its constituents. • Astronomical calculator: The input is a date and one or multiple celestial bodies (usually the sun, moon, planets, planetoids or comets). The program calculates the position of these bodies to the given date and gives a numerical output of the position (usually in right ascension and declination, whereby the used equinox may be settable), sometimes also from brightness, angle diameter and phase. Some programs can generate a list of astronomical events of certain types during a period of time, e.g. a year. Astronomical calculators can be also a part of a simulation software, displaying the sky at a certain time.
Games
Games
There are also types of software used to help solve games that are sometimes referred to as calculators, including: • Sudoku calculators: The input is a Sudoku puzzle, the operations support solving the puzzle, such as selecting a digit as the solution for a cell, and the result is a solution of the entire puzzle. • Poker calculators: A common feature of these is to calculate the odds of winning with a given Poker hand.
Open-source
Open-source
• Calcpad • GeoGebra • GNOME Calculator • GraphCalc • KCalc • Maxima • Qalculate! • SpeedCrunch • WRPN Calculator • xcalc
Proprietary
Proprietary
• Apple Calculator • Desmos • Grapher • HP Prime Virtual Calculator • Mathcad • Nintendo Switch calculator • PTC Mathcad • Texas Instruments TI-SmartView • Windows Calculator • WolframAlpha
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Software calculator”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q7554269: software calculator
Unverified · Wikidata
Related software packages
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolvedauthority record
Unverified
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Scientific instruments
736 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Small Astronomy Satellite 2Terminology
- Small Astronomy Satellite 3Terminology
- Small telescopeTerminology
- Snow Solar TelescopeTerminology
- Solar gravitational lens telescopeTerminology
- Solar Radiation and Climate ExperimentTerminology
- solar stillTerminology
- Solar Submillimeter TelescopeTerminology
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own an object connected with software calculator?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.