Google, the search engine that revolutionized our online experience, has not stopped its highly ambitious forward march as yet; it still rages on with the offer of various innovative features.
The very efficient search engine, which managed to keep its rivals, metaphorically speaking, light years behind, at present, offers the users the Google Map, Street view in certain countries, weather reports on city basis and many more.
Little known among these services is a mathematically measurable extension of its search box – Google calculator.
Most Google users don’t use the calculator for a very simple reason; it is nowhere to be seen. Nor does intense ‘googling’ find one for you. The adoringly simple search box is the calculator itself.
For instance, if you type in, say, 2(3+6), does Google not only assume that there is a multiplication sign between 2 and the brackets, but also calculates the value for you – in this case, it gives 18. Google would have preferred the entry in the form of 2*(3+6), though.
The search box, unlike the limited display of a calculator, lets us type in as many digits as possible along with appropriate mathematical operations - +, -, ^ for raising power, * for multiplication, / for division and of course brackets where appropriate - and calculates the final value at a click of a button. If the user does not violate the order of operations – brackets, index, division, multiplication, addition, subtraction –popularly known as BIDMAS, he gets things right in a very convenient way.
However, we must stay alert all the time when relying on calculators; Google is no exception. For instance, if you type in -2^2, in the hope of squaring a negative number, the calculator emulates its Casio counterpart by making a blindingly obvious mistake while returning -4.
Of course, a genius or someone from the Google Team may argue that -2 should have been in brackets in the first place; it is not a reasonable argument. There are calculators which perform the very calculation accurately while swallowing it in, in the usual form. Geniuses don’t need these little machines for mundane tasks anyway and they are for ordinary folks. So, the embarrassing glitch should have been fixed.
Moreover, there are areas with very little information about fairly straight forward calculations. For instance, if someone wants to find the square root of 25, in the absence of a button to perform the specific task, there is a possibility of a user doing a reflex - scratching his head or biting his finger nails or in the worst case scenario, punching in the screen to vent out frustration while swearing at the founders of Google in his or her mother tongue.
According to Google, we have to type in sqrt 25 to perform the task. ‘sqrt’ stems from modern computer programming languages to find the square root of a number. It is highly unlikely that ordinary users are aware of this function. Of course, users can get round it by keying in 25^0.5 to get the same result; however, whether the majority of users are gifted with that little enlightment is just anybody’s guess.
There is another danger; by looking at the four-letter abbreviation for the function of square root – sqrt – a user may be tempted to assume abbreviations for hundreds of other functions too while extending his lateral thinking beyond the tolerance range by selecting some letters at will to make the mockery of whole calculator-concept. For instance, a laid-back folk may be tempted to abbreviate a term like, best root, to btrt - for nearly rhyming with beetroot.
The other area of conflict arises with the angles. Computers don’t recognize the conventional unit – degree – in the calculations, unless they are instructed to do otherwise; they need it in a unit called ‘radians’. A calculator usually gives the choice to a user, but Google doesn’t. So, if someone performs a basic trigonometric calculation while assuming Google is very old-fashioned, it could result in a very serious mistake.
Despite these set backs, Google calculator offers us a few exciting features, to their credit. For instance, if you type in ‘c’ we can get the speed of light straightaway, as this particular letter represents the well-known constant in Einstein’s famous equation, E = mc2. Moreover, the percentage calculations have been impressive too; type in 20% of 1000 and it shows 200.
In addition, the conversion of units – from miles to km or vice versa and currency conversion – from dollar to sterling or vice versa or between any two other currencies – can be performed in a very simple way: 80 km in miles would give 50 and 1US$ would give 12,626,262,016.00 ZW$ - Zimbabwe Dollars!
All in all, Google has rendered a yeoman service by introducing this unique feature on behalf of millions of its fiercely-loyal users all over the world. However, it is important to remember that it is no substitute for commonsense, especially when, those who get their maths wrong on regular basis, use it.
For instance, the academically-oriented economists, not the pragmatic ones, must take special care when dealing with jumbo numbers using Google calculator; we know central banks have been forced to print money in billions to compensate for the losses suffered due to recession by following ludicrously unrealistic forecasts.
So, if an economist calculates, say, 500000000000002 – 500000000000001, Google calculator gives 0 - eclipsing the obvious!
Cynics may argue that even calculators poke fun at them during difficult times – especially, when the disasters are of their own making.
So, it is high time we invigorated the politically-incorrect, old master-slave relationship while dealing with calculators. A calculator must be treated as our slave, not the other way round, even if it comes free of charge from Google.
- Asian Tribune -
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