Datasheet

35
Chapter 1: Utilities and Security
Neelam Scientific Calculator
$$ US
Somewhere out there, a BlackBerry owner is asking, “How come I
can’t do Reverse Polish Notation using the built-in calculator on this
so-called smartphone?” And for that matter, why can’t we work with
sine, cosine, and tangent functions, plus polar input, Cartesian-polar-
conversion, and all of the other easy stuff that my desktop scientific
calculator can do? Well, that someone out there isn’t me. The sort of
math I need in my daily life is handled quite well by standard calcula-
tors (which use, by the way, infix or Polish Notation for the entry of
numbers and formulas). You know, things like 4 + 2 = 6.
But if you’re a mathematician, a programmer, an engineer, or just think
differently, then the Neelam app just might be the killer app for the
BlackBerry. It appears to have this particular slice of the market all to
itself.
You can tell this is an app aimed at the inside crowd. There’s not even
an attempt at an instruction manual or a help screen. It’s just assumed
that users who need this product will recognize the extra keys on the
calculator and know how to use them.
The calculator works with the BlackBerry trackpad or trackball and
also with a set of keyboard shortcuts. There are two screens of func-
tions; just press the Shift key and you’ll go from advanced math to
advanced scientific calculations. Is that cool, or is it not? I have no
idea, but I can recognize something that is different, and this qualifies.
How to get it
Available from third-party sites such as Crackberry. Neelam. Price: $5.99.
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