How Many Cool Calculators Does A Mac User Need?

Mac OS X comes with a calculator, both as a utility application and as a Dashboard Widget. Everyone has use for a calculator which might explain why there are so many different kinds of calculators available for Mac users.

PCalc is my favorite calculator. It’s also available for the iPhone, which also has a calculator. I prefer a calculator with at least 12 digits. Math being what it is requires even more mathematical functions in a calculator. There’s a solar eclipse calculator. A mortgage calculator. Even a fertility calculator. But that’s not all. Calculators come in every size, shape, and function.

How Many Ways Can You Calculate?

The surprising fact is that Mac users need so many different kinds of calculators.

iOvulate is an ovulation calculator. What’s it good for? If you have to ask you probably need it. Use iOvulate to determine which days a woman is more fertile and more likely to achieve pregnancy.

There’s even an option to help you select the gender of your baby. Put in your menstrual cycle information (guys, you can skip this part), click the Calculate button, and you get a calendar which gives you the optimum days of the month.

Optimum? Sure. Either those are the days to get all hot and heavy or they’re the days to take a cold shower.

The Science of Scientific Calculators

Boringly complex are all the scientific calculators for the Mac. The RPN Scientific Calculator is similar to the HP15c calculator.

It adds unit conversions, math and physical constants, a handy slide out drawer, plus 20 memory registers, but is not programmable. GeekCalc is a Mac software developer’s calculator. GEDitCOM II has a Date Calculator, handy for genealogists to calculate dates.

FolioCalc is more of an investment portfolio manager and performance tracker than anything similar to a typical Mac calculator. Currency calculations are a big deal, so Easy Currencies is popular among the investment geeks as it brings a quick currency converter and exchange rates to your Mac.

From Russia with love comes ScaleCalc, a one trick pony calculator for scale model enthusiasts.

Calculate The HP Way

HP seems to have cornered the hearts and minds of calculator buffs, and Mac versions run amok. There’s a Mac version of the HP10C Scientific Calculator, complete with tools, memory registers, and up to 1,000 program lines.

The same folks will help your calculator collection with a Mac version of the HP11c v3.1 Calculator Simulator, and the HP 15c. If you collect calculators of every shape and size, check the list Watkins List.

Our friends in media love Bitrate Pro, a media calculator which works on data rate, file size, or duration. There’s a Hollywood Calculator for film editors. Binary Calculator works like an RPN calculator but is even more geeky and with the strangest interface.

In case you’re worried about the next solar eclipse being the last one, the Solar Calculator can ease your pain and help you improve your French at the same time. There’s a Geometry Calculator, and an Economic Calculator, both from the same publisher.

Calculators come in all shapes and sizes and with differing abilities. Guess what the Talking Calculator does different? Yes, it speaks the results. Loan Calculator software is available to tell you that you can’t afford your mortgage.

Most of the calculators for Mac users are free, donationware, or available at a nominal price. Most have been updated to run on Mac OS X Snow Leopard. If you’re a calculating person, there’s no shortage of calculating utilities for your Mac.