I guess I don't understand all the buzz about using google as a calculator. Maybe it's because I've have a boomark for javascript: in Firebird/Mozilla with the custom keyword "calc" and so typing "calc 3+3" and hitting enter already gives me an answer without the delay of hitting the google server. This has been available in Mozilla since about forever so the news that google will now do math isn't terribly exciting to me.
Well the impressive thing is not the ability to add simple numbers, but what is impressive is the way you can substitute text into equations.
Like sixteen plus nine, (G * mass of earth) / (radius of earth ^ 2), and conversions.
All the js calculator can do is simple arithmatic.
Posted by: Nick on August 16, 2003 01:58 AMIt's all about the unit conversions. In the past, I've had to do a Web search for a conversion calculator every time I wanted to do a simple conversion; now, it's right on my home page.
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski on August 16, 2003 05:46 AMMost of the buzz is about unit conversions, not the simple arithmetics. However for us Firebird users it seems like good news that we dont have to use a bookmarklet, but instead can just press CTRL+K to go to the Google searchbox.
Posted by: Jakob S on August 16, 2003 05:59 AMSo what's the most obscure constant Google knows?
It seems to get all the easy ones like pi, e, G, h, c etc.
Posted by: Alex Bishop on August 16, 2003 08:12 AMhttp://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/8/14/21307/5189
Nice walkthrough for the Googleator.
Posted by: Ariel on August 16, 2003 09:22 AMfurthermore, perhaps getting the result from google is even faster than you typing "calc " as prefix....
Posted by: CoffeeBreaks on August 16, 2003 12:27 PMOK, I suppose all the not-arithmetic, conversion stuff is nice. I don't think I can recall needing that in the recent past but if you do then it's a great little service.
CoffeeBreaks, as far as, making a network connection to google, waiting for google servers to process the request and return those to the browser and render them, I think I can type calc (actually recently changed to just "js") faster.
--Asa
Posted by: Asa Dotzler on August 16, 2003 01:46 PMPlus, search google for "the answer to life, the universe, and everything".
Posted by: GBrown on August 16, 2003 02:12 PMWell, it doesn't know how to calculate molarity (although it knows about moles).
Posted by: on August 16, 2003 08:13 PMAlex:
It has Euler's constant. How about that?
I can't get the "moles" thing to work, though.
Posted by: Joe Grossberg on August 18, 2003 08:44 AMCan javascript do this: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=answer+to+life+the+universe+and+everything
I think Google continues to kick ass :)
Posted by: Tom Sommer on August 18, 2003 09:40 AMOne of my favorites is a throwback to my high school physics teacher (who loved ridiculous conversions). Here's to you, Mr. Pool: http://www.google.com/search?q=88+mph+in+furlongs+per+fortnight&btnG=Google+Search
Posted by: Greg Campbell on August 18, 2003 09:02 PMHere is an even better one: instead of using an URL of 'javascript:%s', use 'javascript:with(Math){%s}'. This allows you to use all the goodies in the Javascript Math namespace, including log, pow, PI, and sqrt.