Why reach for a calculator, or go to Programs/Accessories/Calculator in Windows when you’ve got the even more versatile Google Calculator right in your browser? Where is it you ask? Right in your search field!

Google lets you key into the search field and solve nearly any common mathematical expression. Not only that, it will do various conversions as well, such as metric to decimal, speed of light calculations, and even help you with your recipes formulas. Try that on your Windows calculator.

Let’s try taking it for a ride. Open up a browser to the Google home page and key (2+14)/4. After pressing enter, a page comes up with the expression repeated followed by the answer: (2+14)/4=4.

Okay, you can do that in your head. Let’s try something else. I know you can do this in your head: sin(5th root of 49). Answer: sin(5th root of 49) = 0.821300124. Pretty snazzy. All sorts of trigonometric and logarithmic calulations are supported.

But, if you’re like me you don’t do much trigonometry. I’m more likey to get asked, “Honey, how many cups are in a liter?” Those kind of questions leave me stumped. Google to the rescue again. Getting the answre is as easy as keying in the natural language expression “one liter in cups”. Answer: one liter = 4.22675282 US cups. The required operator here is the word “in”.

Wonder if you can run a 10K? How many miles is that? Just ask “10 kilometers in miles” or “10 km in mi”. Oh good, only 6.2 miles, less than it sounds. Still to much for me though.

Have to help your child with their Roman Numerals homework? How would you do this? You guessed it: “1015 in roman numerals”. Answer: MXV.

Plus, hexadecimal, binary, octal, and more. Who knows how much more. The Calculator help page says that there are many operators and units that they did not document. Play around with it and I’m sure you’ll find plenty more!