Q: What is InstaCalc?
InstaCalc is a new, refreshingly different calculator. The homepage describes it as Fast, Easy and Shareable. Here’s what others had to say:
Cool. Useful. Real-time. Web 2.0. Powerful. Embeddable. Neat. Clever. Astonishing. Wow!
Take the tour to learn more.
Q: Are you trying to replace Calc/Excel/an abacus?
Each tool has its place. InstaCalc is great for pulling together a fast, shareable calculation or a quick chart. There’s no need to log in or email files - InstaCalc gets out of your way.
If you need to dig through hundreds of rows in a budget, then use Excel. Please. I sympathize with the task you are undertaking and wish you the best. I won’t hand you a spoon when you need a shovel.
But you know what? Shovels aren’t that great for eating cereal or stirring your tea. If you just need a quick, back-of-the-envelope answer for a blog or email, I’d use InstaCalc. I find the instant feedback, readable formulas, and quick linking easier than the alternatives.
Q: Can you see my calculations?
Calculations are computed on your computer, not mine. If you come up with a cool formula then close the page, it’s gone (sorry!) and unfortunately I can’t bring it back.
If you like, you can save any page as a link. This is a regular link that you can bookmark, email, or add to a webpage. At this point, the link is as public as you make it - anyone you give it to can see the calculations inside.
As a webmaster, I look at standard website usage information to understand what parts of the site are popular. As a result, I can see the most popular calculations that users have decided to save and share.
Q: Who are you?
My name is Kalid; you can learn more about me here. I’m a recent entrepreneur and am greatly enjoying the chance to make tools and services that people will find useful.
Q: I have an idea for a new feature! What should I do?
Awesome! Take a look at the feedback page.
Q: How does InstaCalc work? How was it designed?
I plan on writing a series of articles explaining how InstaCalc evolved, which may be useful to other programmers. Stay tuned.
Q: Can you plot equations? Can you solve systems of equations?
Not yet. Here’s a site that can plot equations. I plan on adding this to a future version of InstaCalc.
Systems of equations are even more complicated - here’s a site that solves multiple equations using Web Mathematica. This feature may be outside the current scope of InstaCalc. We’ll have to see.
Q: My question isn’t here. What should I do?
Just drop me a comment in the form below.
Subscribe (RSS)
November 1st, 2006 at 9:22 pm
Consider having a save as PDF option - please
November 1st, 2006 at 10:20 pm
[…] http://instacalc.com/blog/faq/ […]
November 3rd, 2006 at 9:14 am
The fact that I can’t use a caret (^) to do exponentiation is pretty much a deal-breaker for me. But I look forward to seeing how things develop.
November 4th, 2006 at 3:44 pm
Thanks for the feedback!
@SEW: I’m currently looking into the best options to convert the file for offline access.
@PG: I’ve gotten feedback on this and am looking into making ^ be exponentiation. Unfortunately it’s not as simple as I’d like because ^ as power isn’t supported by Javascript, but I will be building my own tools to make it happen
.
Stay tuned on both these topics — I’ll issue an announcement once they are in place.
November 7th, 2006 at 9:48 am
If I save or create a link, where is it stored? It’s a link to what? This must be on your website (I think) because how else would the recipient (say I included the link in an email) be able to access the actual calculations.
Bob
November 15th, 2006 at 11:38 am
Some other common notations in other languages for 2^4 are 2**4 or pow(2,4)
November 18th, 2006 at 5:51 am
I’ve got a set of data I’d like to either upload or cut & paste into rows, rather than having to retype it - is there anyway to achieve this currently?
November 20th, 2006 at 3:14 pm
@Bob: The link is dynamically generated, but is a link to instacalc.com.
@Rico: Thanks Rico, I’m likely going with the 2^4 notation since it’s the most common.
@John: Currently there is no easy way to import/export chunks of text, but it is on the list of to-do items
Thanks for the feedback all.
December 11th, 2006 at 12:10 am
Quick update - I’ve released a new version with several fixes, including easy exponents (2^4):
http://instacalc.com/blog/new-features-part-1
The next major work item will be easier imports / exports of data.
January 16th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Is it possible for me to access your Beta version? I only find the “old reliable” at the web site, yet your blog talks like it’s easy to get to the Beta and help with feedback.
January 16th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Hi Robert, you can get to the beta version at http://instacalc.com/beta/
There’s more information on the new features here:
http://instacalc.com/blog/currency-conversions-and-flexible-units
Thanks for helping out!
February 23rd, 2007 at 10:15 am
Are there any plans to offer a download so that we can set up our own internal instacalc site? Web 2.0 is great, but sometimes you want the security and control that can only come from running the service yourself. As a stand-alone instacalc might not merit this, but it should bundle well with a package of other Web 2.0 services, such as our internal blog.
February 24th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
Hi Steve, thanks for the comment! I’m looking into download and licensing options for corporate use, perhaps as a premium feature. I’d like to think a bit more about what this would require, but it is on my mind
April 2nd, 2007 at 8:00 pm
How do we do square roots on the calculator?
Can you send me an email each time the calculator has a new version?
Thanks,
Jame
April 2nd, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Hi Jame, you can do square roots like this: sqrt(9)
http://instacalc.com/?d=&c=c3FydCg5KXx8fHx8fA&s=sssssss&v=0.9
If you’d like to know when new versions are released, you can sign up for email updates here:
http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/emailverifySubmit?feedId=555759
Hope this helps,
-Kalid
May 18th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Kalid …this calculator is just too good, liked it very much and is a bookmark on my browser toolbar.
The only disadvantage is I have to be online to start using this. Is it possible to use this offline ?
May 20th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Hi Kiran, right now there’s a Vista Gadget — I plan on making more available soon!
August 2nd, 2007 at 11:09 am
I’d like to embed your wonderful calculator on the sidebar of my blog. Unfortunately, it has limited width - and your embedded code does’t automatically wrap. Would you consider that feature, or do you have another suggestion? Thanks in advance.
John
August 23rd, 2007 at 7:06 am
Like it and have it on vista gadgets. However having issue with doing %.
If I add 100+100*20% it does not give me the right answer. ??
Alun
December 23rd, 2007 at 4:53 pm
Kalid,
I’d like to have my high school students use this calculator for their on-line homework. Can you assure me that the ads that are posted are not inappropriate for my students.
January 15th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Hi Peter, the ads come from Google Adsense, and should be appropriate (I can’t guarantee it, but have very high confidence). They are related to “calculations”, and tend to be for things like Excel and various converters.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:40 pm
[…] Más información Instacalc Web Oficial de Instacalc Manuales de Instacalc (I) […]
March 8th, 2008 at 11:01 am
hello
Is there any way to use instacalc on my weblog or site?
thanks
March 8th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Hi, you sure can — just click the “embed” button to get code for youtube-like embed.
There’s also an embed example in the tour: http://instacalc.com/blog/tour
April 22nd, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Hi
Is it possible to do cubed roots and other higher order roots using instacalc?
thx
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:31 am
Hi Jordan, you can do cube and other roots by raising to the 1/3 power. For example:
Cube root of 8:
8^(1/3)
4th roots are 8^(1/4), etc. Hope this helps.
May 20th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
[…] Los resultados se acompañan también de gráficas de todo tipo. El uso en un principio es algo difícil, aunque una vez se vean los ejemplos existentes, ya podemos usarlo con total facilidad.Podemos, además de los cálculos usuales de matemáticas básicas y avanzadas, hacer conversiones de unidades, compartir el enlace de cualquier resultado, crear gráficos, e incluso hasta añadir una calculadora en nuestro sitio blog o sitio web. Más información Instacalc Web Oficial de Instacalc Manuales de Instacalc (I) Educación […]
June 26th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Hi Jordan,
have thought about adding energy units like W, calories, Joule, hp? Would be a nice and simple addition.
Andy
June 26th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Thanks Andy (name is Kalid btw
) — you can do power conversions using
15 calories in j
1 hp in w
I need to add the units to http://instacalc.com/blog/reference
Thanks for writing!
October 29th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Awesome tool, I used it on my Vista sidebar, but I wish it was available as a Google gadget for their desktop/sidebar tool!