tApCalc Desk

User Manual

Getting Started

User Interface

About User Interface

tApCalc Desk provides a very simple and easy to use user interface suitable for a device with touch stylus interface. All keys and commands that tApCalc Desk understands are made available through the user interface and there is no external dependency on Pocket PC Keyboard or character recognizer. The user interface has the following elements.

· Keys that you tap for entering data to tApCalc

· Results are displayed on the calculator display area (right above the keys) and the tape area, which is above the area that calculator keys are displayed on.

· There is a “New” menu that allows switching between one versions of tApCalc to other tApCalc programs such as tApCalc Finance and tApCalc Scientific if installed.

· Tools menu provides all tape and IR related functions.

Setting calculator preferences

There are 3 preferences you can set for tApCalc Desk:

TAX percentage that you will be using to calculate values with TAX component added or subtracted using TAX+ and TAX-
Number of decimal places preference will set the number of digits after decimal place that the calculator needs to display. The value can be set from 0 to 4
Save format can be set to “Tab delimited” or “CSV Format”. Most text files are usually tab delimited. However, if you want the tape to be used by other programs that understand CSV format, including Microsoft Excel, you should select CSV format.

Calculator keys

About Calculator keys

tApCalc Desk has different types of keys, Number keys, Unary keys, Binary keys, and flag keys. It is not a RPN calculator. Therefore, you must use the keys as you would use a normal calculator that does not follow RPN.

When you are in tApCalc screen, you must use the number and operator keys displayed on the tApCalc screen. tApCalc will not recognize any key entered using the on screen keyboard of Pocket PC.
Number input must always follow an operator input, which marks the end of number input for tApCalc. If you are ending a calculation and do not have any more operators to input, a “=” must be entered to mark the end of calculation.
If after pressing “=” key you need to continue with the operation, you do not need to enter the result displayed on the calculator again. Just go ahead and enter the operator you desire.

Binary Function Keys

Binary keys are the keys that require 2 inputs to work on. Example of binary keys are +, - , /, X etc.

When a Binary key is pressed, a second operand number must be entered followed by another operator to indicate end of operand input for the binary operator. For example, to add 10+20+50 you will need to enter “10”, “+”, 20,”+”,”50”. Here, the first + indicates end of input for number 10, and the second + for 20. Therefore, after second + is entered, tApCalc will evaluate 10+20 and display 30 on the display.
Now the natural question is what to do after entering “50”? If you calculation ends here, you must enter the operator “=” to indicate end input for 50. Otherwise, you should enter the corresponding calculator key for the function you want to apply to the above result.

Unary Function Keys

Unary keys are the keys that require only a single input and are evaluated as soon as the operand is pressed.

Example of unary keys is 1/x, Sqrt, M+ etc. When a unary key is pressed, it is applied on the last result displayed on calculator display, and the calculator immediately displays the new result after applying the operator.
All memory keys are unary keys.

Desk Function Keys

Desk function keys are the keys used to carry out the operations available in most Desk calculators. Following Desk keys are available in tApCalc.

TAX Related

TAX+ and TAX- keys are provided to display the price of item(s) with TAX component added or subtracted. The amount of TAX as a percentage is preset in the program. Using the “Preferences” menu option you can change the TAX percentage.

TAX+ will display the value in next line with the TAX added to last displayed number.
TAX- will display the value in next line with the TAX subtracted from the last displayed number.

Mark Up and Mark Down keys

MU key is provided in tApCalc to calculate Mark Up and Mark down given as a percentage of the selling price. This key is also used to calculate the Mark Up or Mark Down percentage if a Selling price and Buying price is provided.

A number representing as buying price, followed by MU, followed by a number and followed by % sign will display the selling price marked up with the percentage entered. If the percentage is “Positive” then item is Marked Up, and a “Negative” percentage will Mark the item down.
A number representing the Selling price, followed by “-“ sign, followed by a number representing the Buying price, followed by MU key will display the percentage Marked Up or Down. If selling price is less than buying price a “Negative” number will be displayed indicating Mark Down otherwise, “Positive” value will be displayed representing Mark Up percentage.

Total calculation Keys

tApCalc Desk provides functions to calculate Sub-total, Total and Grand total

The “=” key is used to calculate a running Sub-total. Running sub-total is different from sub-total. Running sub-total is the sub-total of all calculations done after the last time Total key was pressed. Therefore, if “=” is pressed again after a previous “=” key was pressed and Total key was not pressed, then the sub-total will include the value displayed in the previous sub-total displayed when the “=” was pressed before.
Total key displays Total, which is the Total of all calculations since the last Total was pressed. To make it obvious, Total key will always display 2 lines, one for running Sub-total followed by the Total line.
Grand Total key will display Grand total of all totals displayed after the last Grand total key was pressed.

Tape Functions

About Paper tape simulation

tApCalc Desk provides a simulated paper tape that comes in handy many ways. Most hardware financial desk calculators come with a paper tape or printer attached to it that records all calculation for future reference. Paper tape simulation in tApCalc does exactly that and more. In case of tApCalc tape, a tape saved to the disk can be reloaded, edited for mistakes and rerun without reentering all data again, thus saving valuable time for the user. Lets say you have to do some calculations and you do not have all data handy, you can start the calculation using tApCalc, enter the known data and save the calculation to a tape file. In a future time, when you have the remaining data you can load the tape and extend the calculation with new data.

tApCalc provide the following functionality with the tape:

Save tape
Load tape
Edit tape
Run tape
Clear tape
Send tape to IR
Receive tape from IR

Save tape

Save tape will save the entire content of the currently displayed tape on to My documents\Calc\tApCalcDesk directory on your Pocket PC Device

Select “Save tape” menu item from “Tools” menu to access this function.

If no tape is currently open and the program has Untitled displayed in the Title bar, it will directly go to the “Save” dialog box screen. This screen will display Untitled as the tape name and blank in the Comments line.
Enter the name of the file you want to save your tape to, enter a comment line if you want to and click on Ok. The comments line is saved at the beginning of the tape for you to recognize later what the tape is about. Providing a comment line and saving the tape does not affect load tape function.
If you have opened a tape and added additional calculation to it and then selected the Save tape menu item, tApCalc will display a dialog box asking if you would like the save the new calculations to the same tape that you had opened. If you want the currently opened tape overwritten, click on Yes, otherwise click on No and tApCalc will enter the “Save” dialog box for you to specify a new file name for the tape and a comment.

Note: The name of the currently loaded tape is always displayed at the title line of tApCalc e.g. tApCalcDesk(mybudget.txt). If no tape is currently open, the heading will display tApCalcDesk(Untitled).

Load tape

Use load tape option to load a previously stored calculation from the directory My documents\Calc\tApCalcDesk directory on your Pocket PC Device.

Select “Load tape” menu item from “Tools” menu to load tape

In the load dialog box, you can only select a previously saved tape in the My documents\Calc\tApCalcDesk directory. Tap on the tape you want to load.
Tap in what way you want to load the tape. The tape can be loaded as a program to the calculator or as an output file. Tap on the appropriate button and then on Load button to load the tape.
Tapping on delete button will delete the tape.
If you do not wish to load any tape, tap on cancel

Note: If you selected Output instead of User Program, the tape will not be loaded to the calculator as a calculation. Rather, it will open a text window and display the data stored in the tape. This is the Output screen from where you can print the tape.

Edit Tape

Edit tape function can only operate on tapes displayed on the calculator screen. Therefore, it will be active when the tape is on and you have entered some calculations, or you have loaded a previously stored tape.

Select “Edit tape” menu item from “Tools” menu to edit tape. It will be enabled if there is any content on the tape.

You can make changes to any operator or operand. To change an operator or operand, tap on that line. Then, if you enter an operand, the operand will be changed and if you enter an operator, the operator will be changed.
To enter comment on the line, tap on left side of the line. You will see a box where you can enter text.
Please note the line with (NE) at the end of them. This means Not Editable. These are the results of previous operations that are displayed on the tape and recalculated after you make changes to the operators and operands on the tape. These cannot be changed.
If you made a mistake on changing a line, use <Undo> to discard changed to the line.
If you made mistakes and want to discard all changes, click on <Cancel>
<Done> will enter “Edit” mode and keep the changes you did intact. In most cases, the tape will be reevaluated and the lines that had (NE) with them will have new numbers.

Run Tape

Run tape function to rerun the calculations from the beginning as if the user enters all the data from the beginning. This is equivalent to programming. Run is primarily useful when you want to load a tape to extend the calculation or edit a tape for mistakes.

Select “Run tape” menu item from “Tools” menu to run tape. It will be enabled only when there is any content in the tape.

When the tape is run, you will see the calculation being reevaluated in the calculator display. At the end of the run, the calculator will display the final result and you can continue adding new calculations to the tape normally.

Clear Tape

Clear tape clears the tape content.

Select “Clear tape” menu item from “Tools” menu to clear tape. It will be enabled only when there is any content in the tape.

Beam Tape in

This function comes in handy when you want to send a calculation done by you to another PDA without going through the lengthy process of emailing it.

Select “Send to Infrared” menu item from “Tools” menu to beam the content of the tape.

It will only work when there is tape content displayed to be beamed. If you need to beam a preciously saved tape, load the tape using “Load Tape” option and them use this feature.
When beaming the tape, it will be received at the other PDA you are being to as a text file.

Beam Tape out

This function comes in handy when you want to receive a tApCalc calculation, or a txt file in tApCalc text format from another PDA.

Select “Receive from Infrared” menu item from “Tools” menu to beam the content of the tape.

This option will open the Pocket PC Beam utility and wait to received a tape in the form of a text file.
If a text file is not received, or the file is not in the tApCalc tape format, an error message to that effect is displayed.

Desk Functions

Tax Calculation

Tax+

To use TAX+ function, follow the following steps:

Do your calculation as you would do normally to arrive at a result on which you would like to apply the TAX+ function
While the result is displayed on the calculator, tap on TAX+ key
The calculator will display the result with TAX added to the last number

Example:

Suppose you want to calculate total of an item with tax and with $10 shipping where the item price is 100, and tax rate is 6%, you will do the following:

Make sure TAX rate is set to 6 by going to the “Preferences” menu option. If you have it already set to 6 before there is not need to follow this step. Once you set a TAX rate in preferences, it is saved till you change it again.

Enter 100 TAX+ + 10 =. The tape display will be like the following:

TAX+ 100

+ 10

---------------

Running ST: = 116

Alternately, you could also apply TAX+ to a result as in the example below. The sequences will be 87 + 13 = TAX+ =

+ 13

---------------

= 100

TAX+ 100

---------------

Running ST: = 106

Tax-

To use TAX- function, follow the following steps:

Do your calculation as you would do normally to arrive at a result on which you would like to apply the TAX+ function
While the result is displayed on the calculator, tap on TAX- key
The calculator will display the result with TAX subtracted from the last number

Example:

Suppose you want to calculate price of an item subtracting the TAX component and add $10 for shipping and the tax rate is 6%.

Enter 100 TAX- + 10 = . The display on tape looks like the following:

TAX- 100

+ 10

---------------

Running ST: = 104.3396

Alternately you can also apply TAX- to a calculation like the one shown below the sequence will be 87 + 13 = TAX- =

+ 13

---------------

= 100

TAX- 100

---------------

Running ST: = 94.3396

Mark Up and Mark Down

Mark Up and Mark Down calculations are done using the MU key. There are 2 ways to calculate Mark Up and Down.

To calculate Selling price from buying price using a Mark Up or Mark Down percentage.
To calculate the percentage an item is marked up if the selling price and buying price are known.

Example: Calculating Selling price using Mark Up or Down

Suppose you want to find out selling price of an items that costs $106 and marked up 12.5%, you will enter 106 MU 12.5 %

On the tape, it appears as:

Cost Price CP 106

% 12.5

---------------

Sell Price SP= 121.1429

Example: Finding out how much an item is Marked Up or Down

If the selling price is $120 and Buying prices is $100, you will enter 120 -100 MU

On the tape, it appears as:

Sell Price SP 120

Cost Price CP 100

---------------

Profit% MU= 16.6667

Total Calculation

Sub-total Calculation

Sub-total is calculated when the “=” key is pressed. Please note that the sub-total in tApCalc Desk is not a true sub-total but a running sub-total. That means, when you select “=” key, the sub-total does not show the total of the calculations you did since last sub-total, it rather shows you sub-total since last total.

Example

Lets say you enter 10 + 20 = - 5 + 30 = the tape display

+ 20

Running ST: = 30

- 5

+ 30

Running ST: = 55

Where you will notice that the second Sub-total is 55. Ordinarily a calculation done on a paper spreadsheet will have a sub-total of 25. Because the sub-total here is a running sub-total (which most calculators are) we call it a running Sub-total.

Total Calculation

Total key will total the last running sub-total and clear up the sub-total buffer. Total is essentially the total of the entire section of calculation since last total was pressed.

Example:

Now, lets extend above calculation to 10 + 20 = - 5 + 30 = TOT 20 – 5 + 7 TOT. The tape display will show

+ 20

Running ST: = 30

- 5

+ 30

Running ST: = 55

Total = 55

- 5

+ 7

Running ST: = 22

Total = 22

You will notice that there are clearly 2 sections of calculations with their Totals. You will also notice that selecting TOT without an explicit “=” or sub-total will automatically display the sub-total for readability reasons.

Grand Total Calculation

Grand total GTOT key adds all totals to display the grand total of the calculation since last grand total was pressed.

Example:

Now, lets extend above calculation to 10 + 20 = - 5 + 30 = TOT 20 – 5 + 7 TOT GTOT. The tape display will show

+ 20

Running ST: = 30

- 5

+ 30

Running ST: = 55

Total = 55

- 5

+ 7

Running ST: = 22

Total = 22

Grand total = 77

You will notice that the grand total displayed above is essentially a total of all Totals.

tApCalc Desk

User Manual

Contents

Getting Started

Calculator Key Convention

Tape Functions

Desk Functions

Getting Started

User Interface

About User Interface

Setting calculator preferences

Calculator keys

About Calculator keys

Binary Function Keys

Unary Function Keys

Desk Function Keys

TAX Related

Mark Up and Mark Down keys

Total calculation Keys

Tape Functions

About Paper tape simulation

Save tape

Load tape

Edit Tape

Run Tape

Clear Tape

Beam Tape in

Beam Tape out

Desk Functions

Tax Calculation

Tax+

Tax-

Mark Up and Mark Down

Total Calculation

Sub-total Calculation

Total Calculation

Grand Total Calculation