📐 Advanced Scientific Calculator
Trigonometry in degrees or radians, logarithms, powers, roots, factorials and memory keys. Type with your keyboard or click, and your last twelve results stay on the page.
Calculation history
Click any line to bring its result back into the display. History and memory are kept in this browser and never sent anywhere. You can also type straight into the page: digits, + - * / ( ), ^, !, Enter to evaluate and Backspace to delete.
How to use a scientific calculator properly
A scientific calculator differs from a basic one in two ways that matter. It knows the order of operations, so it reads a whole expression before it answers, and it carries the functions that turn arithmetic into mathematics: trigonometry, logarithms, powers, roots and factorials. The calculator above does both, accepts typed input as well as clicks, and keeps your last twelve results so you can reuse them.
It evaluates expressions with a parser rather than handing the text to the browser's eval, which is the shortcut most web calculators take. That matters for correctness as much as for safety: a parser can enforce precedence, reject a malformed expression with a useful message, and handle degrees and radians consistently, where string substitution tends to produce a plausible-looking wrong answer.
Order of operations
Expressions are evaluated in the standard order, strongest binding first:
| Level | Operators | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parentheses, functions | sin(30), (2+3) |
| 2 | Factorial, percent | Postfix: 5!, 20% |
| 3 | Exponent ^ | Right associative: 2^3^2 = 512 |
| 4 | Unary minus | -3^2 = -9, not 9 |
| 5 | Multiply, divide | Left to right |
| 6 | Add, subtract | Left to right |
Two of those rows catch people out regularly. 2^3^2 is 29 = 512, not 82 = 64, because exponents group from the right. And -3^2 is −9, because the exponent binds tighter than the minus sign; if you want 9 you have to write (-3)^2.
Implicit multiplication is supported, so 2π, 3(4+1) and 2sin(30) all work as written. It is treated as ordinary multiplication, which means 1/2π is read as (1/2) × π. If you mean 1/(2π), type the brackets.
Degrees and radians
The Deg / Rad toggle changes how the trigonometric functions read their input and report their output, and it is the single most common source of wrong answers in trigonometry. In degree mode sin(30) returns 0.5. In radian mode the same keystrokes return −0.988, because 30 radians is about four and three quarter full turns. Neither is a bug; they are different questions.
As a rule: geometry problems, surveying and anything quoting angles in degrees want degree mode. Calculus, physics and anything involving π in the angle want radians. The derivative of sin(x) is only cos(x) when x is in radians, which is why the whole of analysis is written that way.
Logarithms: log versus ln
log is base 10 and ln is base e (about 2.71828). They answer the same kind of question — what power do I raise the base to in order to get this number — with different bases. log(1000) is 3; ln(1000) is 6.908. To take a logarithm in any other base, use the change of base rule: logb(x) = ln(x) / ln(b). For base 2, log2(64) = ln(64) / ln(2) = 6.
Logarithms are only defined for positive numbers. Asking for log(0) returns negative infinity and log(−5) returns an error, which is correct rather than a limitation.
Memory keys and Ans
M+ adds the current value to memory, M− subtracts it, and MR pastes memory into the expression. The running total is shown next to the display so you always know what is in there. Memory survives a page reload, which makes it useful for totalling a column of figures across several calculations.
Ans inserts the previous result. Chaining with Ans is usually faster and always more accurate than copying a rounded number off the screen, because Ans carries the full internal precision rather than the twelve significant figures that get displayed.
Worked examples
The hypotenuse of a right triangle with legs 7 and 24. Type sqrt(7^2+24^2) and you get 25. The triangle calculator does the same job with the sides labelled if you would rather not build the expression.
Compound growth. $5,000 at 6% for 12 years: 5000*1.06^12 gives $10,060.98. For contributions as well, use the compound interest calculator.
A lottery combination. The number of ways to choose 6 from 49 is 49! / (6! × 43!). Type 49!/(6!*43!) and you get 13,983,816.
A bearing. The angle whose tangent is 0.75, in degrees: set Deg, then atan(0.75) returns 36.87.
Floating point, and why 0.1 + 0.2 is not 0.3
Every calculator that runs on a computer stores numbers in binary floating point, and a third of a cent has no exact binary representation any more than a third has an exact decimal one. That is why 0.1 + 0.2 is really 0.30000000000000004 internally. This calculator rounds the display to twelve significant figures, which hides the artefact without hiding genuine precision. If you need exact decimal arithmetic for money, do the arithmetic in cents and divide at the end.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can I type with my keyboard instead of clicking?
Yes. Digits, the decimal point, + - * /, brackets, ^, ! and % all work directly. Enter evaluates, Backspace deletes the last character, and Escape or Delete clears. Keyboard input is ignored while you are typing in a form field elsewhere on the page.
Why does sin(30) give a different answer than my phone?
Almost always the degree and radian setting. Check the Deg / Rad toggle above the keypad. In degrees sin(30) = 0.5; in radians it is −0.988. Phone calculators often default to radians in landscape mode and degrees in portrait, which is why the answer appears to change for no reason.
How do I calculate a root other than a square root?
Raise to a fractional power. The fifth root of 32 is 32^(1/5) = 2. The cube root has its own key, and sqrt covers the square root. Note that odd roots of negative numbers work with the cube root key but not with fractional exponents, which is a limitation of how real powers are defined rather than of this calculator.
Is anything I type sent to a server?
No. The parser runs entirely in your browser, and the history and memory are stored in this browser's local storage. Nothing is transmitted, and clearing the history removes it from the device. The page also works with no network connection once it has loaded.
What does EXP do?
It inserts ×10^, for entering numbers in scientific notation. Avogadro's number is 6.022EXP23, which becomes 6.022 × 1023. It is not the same as the ex key, which raises Euler's number to a power.
Why does 5! work but 5.5! give an error?
Factorials are only defined for non-negative whole numbers in ordinary arithmetic. The gamma function extends the idea to fractions, but it is a different operation and this calculator does not implement it, so it reports the error rather than guessing what you meant.
Does it handle very large or very small numbers?
Up to roughly 1.8 × 10308, the limit of double-precision floating point. Beyond that the result is reported as infinity. Results above 1015 or below 10-9 are shown in exponential notation so the magnitude stays readable. Factorials above 170! exceed the limit and return infinity.