Windows Tools, Help & Guides

Windows 7’s Calculator comes with a host of features that are really handy under the right circumstances. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the features and show you how to access them.

Windows 7 Calculator Features

When you first open the calculator, you’ll see a very simple interface, which provides basic calculation functions. ClickingView will give you access to Scientific, Programmer, and Statistics versions of the calculator. You can also tack on unit conversion and date calculation functions.

Windows 7 Calculator Unit Conversion

To convert units with Windows 7 Calculator:

1. Click View > Unit Conversion or press CTRL+U.

2. Select the units to be converted from and to and type the number of units. The calculator will convert the units in real time and show you the converted value.

Fuel Economy Calculator

While it may be easier to just take the number of miles, divide it by the number of gallons and work out MPG, it’s always nice to have a tool to lay out the steps for you. I’m a little disappointed that you can’t work out KMPL, KMPG or MPL, but that’s okay because we now know how to use the unit converter :)

To calculate fuel economy:

1. Click View > Worksheets > Fuel economy (mpg)

2. Enter the number of gallons used, enter the number of gallons, and find out how far the car will go by clicking Calculate.

Car Lease Payment Calculator

Want to lease a car? Figure out how much you need to pay per month by putting in the lease value (value of the new car), the number of years, payments per year, and residual value of the car (use the blue book value of the car after X years — if available.) Put in the interest rate on the lease (available from the dealer) and get the true payment, per period, for the lease.

Mortgage Payment Calculator

While this is a basic calculator (sans PMI, FHA, Property tax escrow etc.), this will give you the monthly payment for your mortgage. Just enter the purchase price, down payment, term in years, and your mortgage interest rate to find out how much you’ll be paying monthly (without taxes, insurance etc.) for your home.

Calculate the Difference Between Dates

By giving Windows calculator the start and end dates, it will figure out how many days are in between. On January 23, 2010, I was 9156 days old. Whew.

What do you use Windows 7 calculator for? Are these features useful?

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