Great !

[awehring]

Hi,

I discovered Pocket CAS recently and I can only say: Congratulations! Great Stuff!

I installed Release 1.3.0 at my HTC TyTN at the storage card without any problem.

What I really like:

• very rich functionality - in fact, it knows more math than me 
• very smart use of the limited screen-space
• the well formatted result (TeX)
• switches automatically from portrait to landscape, when I slide out the physical qwertz keyboard
• virtual AND physical keyboard can be used interchangebly without any hassle

After playing around a little bit with it, I developed a wish list, of course  .
Maybe it is, because I have not discovered all the features.

However, here it is:

• a GO! button at the physical keyboard. So I don't have to switch between the physical keyboard and the stylus for the touchscreen as often. It could be a long press at the return key, or the @ key, etc.
• that the keyboard does not hide after every calculation, but only when the space for the result is needed.
• a help file or tutorial, that explains the functions
• if it can optionally show the intermediate results of the calculations. Would be great for education. (See below)
• an easy way to plot the result of a calculation (without retyping it). (In fact, I do not understand how the "calculation"and the "plot"-input fields are connected.)
• there is a small bug in the plot entry window: If you increment the upper boundary fiield of the xrange, the lower boundary is incremented too.
• of course some wishes for the plot function, but this is your first shot of it

Anyway, it's really great how it is; and it is much easier to write down a wish list, than to program it.

BTW, I'm using it, because I will start studying at the university and have to freshen up my math. It's a long time, that I finished school, more than 30 years.


Thanks again,

awehring

[MrMage]

• a GO! button at the physical keyboard. So I don't have to switch between the physical keyboard and the stylus for the touchscreen as often. It could be a long press at the return key, or the @ key, etc.
  
  Good idea. I wish I had a device with a physical keyboard. I might do this later. Would you be happy with assigning an application key, too?
• that the keyboard does not hide after every calculation, but only when the space for the result is needed.
  
  Possible.
• a help file or tutorial, that explains the functions
  
  I wish I had time to do that. You find some reference at http://www-fourier.ujf-grenoble.fr/~parisse/giac.html, and you can also try findhelp(commandname) (or ? on the 2nd screen), it should at least provide you with syntax information about functions.
• if it can optionally show the intermediate results of the calculations. Would be great for education. (See below)
  
  Unfortunately impossible, unless Mr. Parisse adds such functionality. Would be a lot of effort, though.
• an easy way to plot the result of a calculation (without retyping it). (In fact, I do not understand how the "calculation"and the "plot"-input fields are connected.)
  
  They are not connected at the moment. Plot just takes whatever you entered into the TextBox in the main program. I will add this later.
• there is a small bug in the plot entry window: If you increment the upper boundary fiield of the xrange, the lower boundary is incremented too.
  
  Got to check about that again. Thanks for reporting.
• of course some wishes for the plot function, but this is your first shot of it
  
  Tell me those wishes, and I will see what I can do.

Where are you from, by the way?

[awehring]

Thanks for considering my suggestions!

a GO! button at the physical keyboard. So I don't have to switch between the physical keyboard and the stylus for the touchscreen as often. It could be a long press at the return key, or the @ key, etc.

Good idea. I wish I had a device with a physical keyboard. I might do this later. Would you be happy with assigning an application key, too?

I'm not shure what you mean with "application key".
Let me explain it more detailed: My HTC TyTN has a touch screen and a slide out QWERTZ keyboard, which I use for typing the formulas. Currently, I have to grab the stylus to press the GO! button at the touch screen, after I have entered a formula. It would be convenient to "GO!" with a button at the physical keyboard.This could be pressing ENTER longer, or a key like @, which is not used in formulas (at least, as far as I know).

of course some wishes for the plot function, but this is your first shot of it

Tell me those wishes, and I will see what I can do.

Some initial ideas:

• A convenient way to plot the input formula and the result formula in one diagram
• Some mechanism to adjust the x,y, (and z) range while viewing the diagram. Might be tricky to do this without using too much space of the diagram area.
  Idea: small increment / decrement buttons at the end of the axis. Evey click increases / decreases the scale by about 25% percent, rounded to a customary number. Example: If your axis shows 0 ... 100: one click increases it to 125, the next to 150, the next to 200, ...
• Some smart mechanism that zooms to "important" areas of the curve (where the curve crosses one of the axis (German: Nullstelle), maxima / minima of the curve, turning point of the curve (Wendepunkt), etc.) This could be done by a submenu, where you select which interesting area you want to view.

But as always: It is much easier to write down a wish list.


BTW, I'm Austrian, but live in Switzerland since a few years.

Greetings

awehring

[MrMage]

Well, doesnt your TyTN also have some buttons to immediately launch applications? I could remap those to initiate a calculcation. That would be a lot easier than e.g. checking for the enter key to be presses for more than a second or something like that.

[MrMage]

How about Ctrl+Enter to calculate (go!) and Ctrl+P to plot? Do you need other shortcuts, too?

[awehring]

Thank you for the enhancements in Version 1.4., which I just installed !

I'm using your great calculator a lot now, as I'm learning advanced mathematics in my studies. Therefore I sent you a donation.

BTW a friend of mine, who holds a Dr. in physics and is a scientist in the field of atomic structures, was quite impressed what my mobile phone can do  :-)

Just as a reminder, the small bug at the plot entry screen is still there:  If you increment the upper boundary field of the xrange, the lower boundary is incremented too.

Cheers

awehring

[MrMage]

Hello,

Thank you very much for the donation! I've just received it. I am very happy when people show me their thanks :-)

Could you give me more details on the bug? I just tried to reproduce it, but I failed to do so. The range fields should behave like this: The value of the xmax field will be used as maximum for the xmin field and vice versa.

Chhers

Daniel

[awehring]

You can replicate the bug like:

Enter a formula

• select "menu" --> "Plot"
• xrange shows: min: -2, max 2
• yrange shows: min -2, max 2

Now:

• click the down-arrow of xrange min, it shows -3
• click the up-arrow of xrange max, it shows +3 AND xrange min changes to +3

yrange works ok.

Cheers

awehring