Scientific Calculator

What is a Scientific Calculator?

A scientific calculator does far more than add and subtract. It evaluates whole expressions with the correct order of operations and supports the functions used throughout school and university maths and science: trigonometry (sine, cosine, tangent and their inverses), base-10 logarithms and natural logarithms, square roots and arbitrary powers, factorials, reciprocals and the constants π and e. This calculator works on the full expression you type — so 2 + 3 × 4 correctly gives 14, not 20 — and lets you nest parentheses to control grouping. A degrees/radians switch changes how angles are interpreted, which matters because sin(30°) = 0.5 but sin(30 radians) is something quite different. Every result is evaluated safely in your browser, with clear errors for impossible operations such as dividing by zero or taking the logarithm of a negative number.

How to use this calculator

1. Tap the digit, operator and function keys to build an expression — for example 2 ^ 10 or sin( 30 ). 2. Choose Deg or Rad first if you are using trigonometry, so angles are read correctly. 3. Use the parentheses keys to group terms; the calculator respects the standard order of operations. 4. Press = to evaluate, ⌫ to delete the last character, or C to clear everything. A live preview of the answer appears as you type, and you can also use your physical keyboard: digits, + − * / ^ ( ) ! %, Enter to evaluate and Backspace to delete.

Functions and order of operations

The calculator follows the standard order of operations (PEMDAS/BODMAS): expressions in parentheses are evaluated first, then powers, then multiplication and division, and finally addition and subtraction. So 2 + 3 × 4 = 14 because the multiplication happens before the addition, while (2 + 3) × 4 = 20. Trigonometric functions depend on the angle mode: in degrees, sin(30) = 0.5 and cos(60) = 0.5; in radians the same numbers mean angles measured in radians. The inverse functions asin, acos and atan return an angle in the current mode. The logarithm key log is base 10, so log(100) = 2, while ln is the natural logarithm to base e, so ln(e) = 1. Powers use x^y (for example 2^10 = 1024), x² squares a value, and √ takes the square root. The factorial x! multiplies all whole numbers up to n, so 5! = 120. The constants are π ≈ 3.14159 and e ≈ 2.71828.

Reading your result

The large number is the value of the whole expression; a live preview shows it as you type and pressing = locks it in so you can keep calculating from the answer. Results are rounded to remove tiny floating-point artefacts — for example 0.1 + 0.2 is shown as 0.3 — and very large or very small magnitudes switch to scientific notation (such as 1e+20). If you see an error, check the angle mode and the input: "math error" means an operation has no real result (dividing by zero, log or √ of a negative number, asin of a value outside −1 to 1, or tan of 90°), while a syntax error means the expression is incomplete, such as a missing parenthesis or a trailing operator.

Frequently Asked Questions