Available In: App Store | Price: $1.99 |
As a math and science teacher, I do a fair share of tutoring to make some additional income. I often carry my trusty TI-83 Plus (special edition blue, baby!) with me, but there have been several times when all I had was my iPhone. I will admit that the included iPhone calculator makes for a pretty decent substitute, and I get my scientific calculator functions when I rotate to landscape mode. However, there remained some functionality that was to be desired, and having a one-line display seems to remind me of the difference between a TI-30 and its bigger cousin, TI-83.
When sitting side to side with my TI-83 Plus, Numerus clearly has fewer buttons and no graphing capabilities. However, the app does pack in a decent number of buttons and their corresponding math functions. Numerus offers a multi-line display so you can see previous calculations right above your current calculation. All of the regular calculator functions along with those normally found on a standard scientific calculator are displayed on the iPhone screen in portrait mode. Different modes (degrees, radians, grad), along with a catalog of math functions exist. A “2nd” button allows you to choose other functions that don’t have a dedicated button, similar to what you would see on any commercial scientific calculator.
As mentioned above, Numerus contains most if not all of the functions that I would use while tutoring. It is equivalent to a $15 scientific calculator, but so is the built-in iPhone scientific calculator. What separates Numerus is that it works in portrait mode and has a multi-line display. The multi-line display is a big plus when compared to the built-in calculator. I love being able to see prior calculations, and the scroll function is a nice feature. Once loaded (there is a 3-4 second delay when starting the program, Numerus is very fast, and I like that it saved the last viewable calculations that you made should you leave the program. An interesting feature is the option to email your calculation history, which I did with ease, so this was kind of nice. Unfortunately, not all was squeaky-clean, as the application did not respond well when I pressed a button multiple times, and during one trial, the app would not start up again until I reinstalled it entirely. Not even a hard reset seemed to fix the problem.
Numerus can best be described as a promising application that has the potential to displace the native scientific calculator. With graphing capabilities (I picked up the nicely designed Graphing Calculator for free awhile ago…), Numerus could have been a contender for the calculator app of choice. Unfortunately, it seems that some stability issues and a lack of frequent updates could ultimately doom this app. Should the developer release an update and add more functions, a brighter design, and graphing options, this app might be worth its $1.99 price tag. Until then, I would recommend other free or $0.99 options that seem to be more complete at this time.
Does it have a RPN option?
Sorry, I didn’t see one available on Numerus.
oh yeah you have TI Plus, well I have Casio Classpad 300 latest OS 3.03 baby…lol
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