iPad Calculator User Guide for Beginners

Orientation

The Calculator app on the iPad has five main parts for doing different things in the app. You can switch through four of them using the calculator icon (bottom left corner of the screen). From the top to the bottom, you have the following parts: Basic and Scientific calculators. You also have Maths Notes, where you can handwrite your calculations. This user guide covers each of these calculators in depth. The fourth part of the calculator only works with the Basic or Scientific calculator; it only appears when you’re using one of those modes. That is the part responsible for your conversions. To turn it on while in Basic or Scientific mode, go to the calculator icon and turn on Convert.

The last part of the app is the left sidebar, which you can toggle (tap the sidebar icon in the top left corner). This keeps track of your calculations in case you want to go back to something you’ve calculated in the past. Those are all the parts in the Calculator app for the iPad: basic calculator, scientific calculator, conversion, the sidebar, and Maths Notes.

Basic and scientific calculator

When you open the Calculator app for the first time, you land on the basic calculator. It is your simple calculator for basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. To switch to the scientific calculator, go to the calculator icon (bottom left corner) and then Scientific. You can see your calculation history by going to the sidebar icon (upper left corner). It toggles the sidebar to either show or hide it.

Long-pressing a calculation gives you options to Copy Expression or Copy Result to paste in other apps. You also have the option to delete the equation. Swiping to the left has similar options for copying and deleting the calculation. You can Edit (top right corner) to select multiple past calculations for deletion (go to Delete at the bottom right of the sidebar). Tap Done to exit the editing mode. Delete All deletes all the history.

Unit conversion

Both the basic and scientific calculators can convert units for different items. To get started, go to the calculator icon and turn on Convert. You can then choose the unit you want to convert. Tap on the unit that is either at the top or bottom of the line, separating the two units. The Calculator can convert 15 different categories of units that you can scroll through to find what you want to convert. It is all listed in alphabetic order.

The calculator lists the units you can convert for each category when you select one. For example, you can pick the Area category to convert square metres to square feet. Of the two numbers, one is white (the active number), and the other is grey (the inactive number). Entering a number changes the white one, and the grey one automatically responds. But in this case you know the square meters, not the square feet. If you know square feet, tap on the number to activate it, and it turns white. You can switch the two (tap switch icon, on the far left side of the line) units to change how they appear on the screen. This doesn’t affect the number that is active, though. When looking for units to convert, you search for them in the search bar above your categories. It helps you to work faster when you already know the units available in the app.

Maths Notes

Maths Notes is the last part of the Calculator app that we will focus on. In the calculator app, you can access it by going to the calculator icon (on the bottom left corner) and then Maths Notes. It always opens with the sidebar open, which you can toggle (sidebar icon) to hide. Maths Notes is also available in Apple Notes as a default smart folder under your Quick Notes folder. Everything that is in the Calculator app is also available in this folder, so you can choose to use Maths Notes as a standalone app in the calculator or in Apple Notes as a notebook.

Mathematical expressions

Handwrite a mathematical expression followed by an equal sign to solve your maths with handwriting. When you write the problem vertically, draw a line on the last number to solve it. You can mix handwritten notes and maths problems, and the app only detects and solves the problem. Maths Notes lets you use any writing tool for your calculations: pen, pencil, or highlighter.

You can interact with the maths like you do with your handwriting in Apple Notes. To change its colour, select it with your lasso tool to bring up a popup menu, then tap the colour icon. You can also duplicate or delete the selection. The three-dots icon has all the options you get in Apple Notes that let you Cut, Copy, Paste, Duplicate, Copy as Text, Insert Space Above, Translate, Straighten, or Delete. You can also resize it using the orange dots around your selection’s edges. The resize option automatically appears when you write a math expression that expands the width of the page, leaving no room to see the answer.

Tapping the answer gives you options to Copy (go to the forward arrow) the expression (Copy Expression) or result (Copy Result). You can paste it anywhere you like. You also get the option to Remove Answer. You can also type in your maths with body text, and Maths Notes solves it without you needing to put an equal sign. It also works with text boxes; you have to put an equal sign, though.

Errors

You can adjust the numbers when you make an error in your math. Tap on the number you want to change to bring up the popup menu, and then adjust to the correct number you want. You can also use scribble-to-erase. Scribble on the error to erase it and write the correct number. A red-dotted box appears when the app doesn’t recognise a character or symbol you write. Tapping on it shows you the characters the app detected in your writing. You can also Dismiss Error. A blue-dotted box appears when the app has some suggestions, tap on it to choose the number or symbol you want.

Graphs

When you write an equation in Maths Notes, a popup menu appears showing your equation and to Insert Graph. The yellow-dots icon around the graph lets you resize, stretch or shrink it. When you tap on the graph, a popup menu appears, and the graph icon lists all the graphs in the notebook. Tap the equation to show the graph you want, and tap it again to remove the graph. You can also add as many graphs as you want, which helps when you want to compare them. Tap on the circle icon to change the colour of your graph. You can also duplicate or delete the graph. The three-dots icon also lets you Cut, Copy, Paste, Duplicate, or Delete the graph. Tapping on the graph lets you delete it or change its colour. You can see the coordinates of every point on your graph. Tap and hold on to the graph, and move to see its coordinates.

The sidebar

Tap the sidebar icon to toggle the sidebar. It contains your calculation history in the app; these are notebooks that also appear in Apple Notes. Tap the three-dots icon on the top right of the sidebar to Select Notes. You can then select them to Move (bottom left corner) to a folder in Apple Notes. Tags let you select a tag to tag them. You can also Delete them. Sort By lets you group your notebooks by Default (Date Edited), which can be Newest First or Oldest First. The Date Created can also be Newest First or Oldest First. Title, which can be Ascending or Descending. Group By Date lets you turn it On or Off. You can also see your Recently Deleted notebooks. On the top of the sidebar, you can search the notebook on the search bar.

Settings

You also have settings for your math results; go to the three-dots icon (top right corner), and under Maths Results, you have options to Insert Results for the app to solve the math and insert the answer automatically after your equal sign. Suggest Results gives you a popup menu for your math, and you have to tap Solve to insert your answer. Off disables the calculations. By default, Maths Notes have a black background. You can change it to a light one by clicking the three-dots icon and selecting Use Light Background. Maths Notes works in Apple Notes, and the notes you write in Maths Notes appear in Apple Notes. You can also use it in Freeform, but it looks limited.