[X4U] Is the topic of how calculators do percentages worth 87 posts to this list?

[Eddie Hargreaves]

Aaron,

Thanks for the tip regarding using Panther's calculator. After you posted
that, I copied over the calculator from my Panther machine to my Tiger
machine and it works fine (and, more importantly, the way I prefer). I
originally did the same with Key Caps from Jaguar to Panther. Now if only I
could copy Panther's Find File functionality to Tiger ...

It's obvious that this issue is about as contentious as canned cranberry
sauce vs. fresh cranberry sauce. Neither is necessarily "correct," but those
who prefer one will disparage the other. Personally, I fail to see the point
in having a % button if all it does is move the decimal point two places.
That doesn't provide any use at all, in my opinion, and saves no keystrokes.
In fact, just today I had an advertising contact call me up and said I could
take 15% off a certain rate. Normally, I would type the number, subtract
15%, which is the way I've been doing it for years. With the new Tiger
calculator, I would have to change my thought to creating a proper
mathematical written equation of the number * .85
If folks want to use a calculator like that, they certainly can. I don't see
why having the percent key work as it previously did would hinder them in
any way, especially since they don't even need to enter scientific mode.

I guess you're telling the truth about recently joining this list, if you
think this thread is off-topic or overblown. There have been far less
relevant discussions that lasted longer ('>'s or ':'s in e-mail replies,
anyone?) If you want moderated, strictly, OS X-only discussion, I recommend
MacRogues <http://www.osxlist.com/>

Eddie Hargreaves

On 11/28/05 7:14 PM, Aaron <macuser at aarons.fastmail.fm> wrote:

> Re: [X4U] Tiger's Calculator.app no longer does percentages?
> 
> I joined this list recently after moving up to OS X (10.3.9). I joined to get
> (and perhaps offer) info relevant to the use of that OS.
> 
> Approxiamately 56 hours ago, Eddie Hargreaves <meged at earthlink.net> posted a
> useful bit of info about a significant difference between how the versions of
> calculator.app under Panther and Tiger handle percentages. Since then, there
> have been 87 (yes, eighty-seven!) responses to that post, most of which --
> judging, I admit, by a sample -- argue about the "right" or "usual" way for
> calculators to handle percentages, but contribute nothing to an understanding
> of how to get OS X (Panther, Tiger or whatever) to do what one wants it to do!
> (I don't mean to get nasty, but I DO mean to be critical!)
> 
> Very early on in the thread, I posted the following:
> 
>> Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 16:24:52 -0800
>> To: <x4u at listserver.themacintoshguy.com>
>> From: Aaron <macuser at aarons.fastmail.fm>
>> 
>> Is there any reason why Panther's Calculator.app can't be used in Tiger?
>> 
>> Since I'm new to OS X (though not to either Mac OS or UNIX) there may be some
>> reason why it can't that hasn't occured to me. Since I don't have Tiger yet,
>> I can't try it for myself.
> 
> I'm curious to know (without reading another 60 or so messages) to know if
> anyone has answered my question, which, IM(not-so)HO, does relate to the
> purpose of this list.
> 
>  - Aaron
> 
> P.S. Can anyone tell me how to set the preferences on my
> listserver.themacintoshguy.com account(s) so that I receive ALL messages from
> the listserver, including those I post and those Cc'd to me by the poster?
> The obvious settings haven't worked.