Adding numbers on computers

Many thinks of graphical user interfaces as being easy. However there is one task that is still very difficult to achieve: adding numbers—actually math in general. Users have to make at least three mouse clicks to get the correct interface—or the calculator application—before starting to calculate. This goes for most graphical user interfaces. But does it have to be this difficult?

The normal process on Windows—and indeed Gnome and KDE too!—is to click the menu button, select the application group, then click on the calculator application, before typing or pressing 1+1, and pressing return or clicking on the equal sign.

Often it is much easier to pick up a calculator from the table than to do it on a computer. But there are some smart solutions that makes mathematics more approachable on computers. See some of them below:

Widgets

Process: Press the keyboard shortcut, click on the calculator widget, click 1+1, and click the equal sign.

Widgets have become a part of the user experience in Microsoft Vista, Mac OS X, and KDE 4. These tiny micro‐applications are available at the touch of a key (and some fiddling). They can do very basic math calculations. Widgets do need to stay in the computer memory once loaded. Something which is not always desirable.

Search engines

Process: Press the keyboard shortcut or type the URI scheme, type 1+1, and press return.

Web search engines are starting to become a reliable option for basic calculations. It is especially handy when in a web browser with a URI shortcut scheme or indeed a keyboard shortcut to the search field.

Most even handles basic currency conversion too!

CLGUIs

Process: Press the keybaord shortcut, type 1+1, and press return.

Command line based graphical user interfaces (CLGUI) such as the Enso launcher comes with support for very basic calculations. However they are often limited to only one or two operators. Prohibiting them from being a reliable option.

Conventional table calculator

Process: Press the on button, type 1+1, and press the equal button.

I just had to trow in the good, old fashion table calculator at the end for comparison.

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3 comments

In the old windows 3.1 then many functions seemed to be on the "desktop" making them accessible graphically with 1-click (at least on my friends PC). It seems like that many people prefer that these functions are moved away to make the desktop area cleaner and tidier.

Comment by Matt Bourne at 2007-09-17 @937.

You forgot kicker in KDE, i managed to add 1 +1 in five keystrokes:
alt+space: opens kicker
type: 1+1 gives the answer immidiately, no need to press enter. That is as good as a calculator, and beats using a search engine in the worst case: (alt+tab, ctrl+t, g 1+1 enter = 10)

Comment by Atle at 2008-05-23 @297.

Enso Launcher is making it’s debut on the GNU/Linux platform as an open source project soon. I am unsure about the details, and whether it will work well with KDE. Anyhow, it will beat anything else.

Comment by Daniel Aleksandersen at 2008-05-23 @818.

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