How to Use the Crackulator

The Crackulator uses a stack-based calculation approach, similar to RPN-style engineering calculators. Numbers are placed on the stack, and then calculations are performed on the numbers on the bottom of the stack. When you do a calculation, the original numbers are removed, and the result is placed on the bottom of the stack for further calculations.

Entering Numbers

To place numbers on the stack, you use the "Input" section, on the left. You can enter numbers in four ways.

• If this is a precise number, with no variation, enter it in the box marked "exact", then press .
• If this number has a specific minimum and maximum values, enter them in the "min" and "max" fields, and then press .
• If this is a number with a precise value, but within a tolerance, enter the nominal value in the "nom" field, the tolerance in the field marked "+/-", and select the units of the tolerance. Then press .
• The "e" and "pi" buttons place these "special numbers" directly on the stack. There is no range of values (since they are always precise).

You can use SI suffixes to specify large or small numbers, such as "100G" to represent "100 Giga-whatevers". Supported suffixes are f, p, n, u, m, k, M, G, and T.

You can also use "e" notation, such as "3e10" or "3e+10" to represent 3x10^3, or "3e-3" to represent 0.003.

When you enter a number, you should see it displayed on the "Stack" (on the right side of the Crackulator), and if there were any numbers already on the stack, they will be pushed upward.

Performing Calculations and Manipulating the Stack

Each number on the stack is assigned a letter. "a" is the item on the bottom of the stack, "b" the next item, and so forth. Only the bottom of the stack is shown, but internally it goes forever.

To perform a calculation, put the appropriate numbers on the stack, and then press one of the function buttons in the "Basic Math" or "Electronics" sections.

Each calculation uses the numbers on the bottom of the stack, consumes them, and replaces them with the result. If you wanted to keep the original numbers, press . This will put the original numbers back on the stack, above the result.

Pressing will clear the entire stack.

Pressing will swap the bottom two numbers on the stack.

For each number on the stack, there are these buttons: .

• stands for "pick". This will take a copy of that item, and place it on the bottom of the stack to use for a calculation.
• will delete that item from the stack, when you don't need it any more.

Display Formats

At the top of the "Stack" window, there are several options for how the numbers on your stack are displayed.

You can choose the number of significant digits to display using the "digits" dropdown.

The "fmt" dropdown allows you to select between:

• "min/max" will display both the minimum and maximum values for each number.
• "%" will display the nominal value of the number, with a percentage tolerance (eg 4.312±10%).
• "ppm" will display the nominal value of the number, with a ppm tolerance (parts per million).

The last dropdown lets you select how exponents are displayed.

• "eX" will display in scientific notation, like "3.14e-12".
• "SI" will display using SI suffixes, like "3.14f".

Using the Keyboard

The Crackulator is designed to be used from the keyboard (instead of the mouse) for lightning-fast calculations. See here for more details.

Any Questions?

The Crackulator is an active project, and suggestions are welcome. You can email the webmaster/author here: Mail the Webmaster