Mathlete

Having to deal with complex math operations can be quite the struggle, but having a powerful calculator by your side can greatly help you out. There are various types of calculators, and even Windows provides quite a good one. If you’re looking for advanced methods of calculus though, third-party programs like Mathlete might just be what you need.

On the one hand, the application relies on Java Runtime Environment to function, so you need to make sure it’s on your computer first. On the other hand, Mathlete doesn’t take you through a setup process, so you can just as well carry it on a thumb drive in case you need to use it on other computers besides your own.

As far as the visual design goes, you’re put up against several tabs which take you through a calculator, converter, and table creator. Note, however, that input is mostly done through the keyboard, even for the calculator, because there’s no built-in keypad or list of available operators.

The calculator is fitted with a tape recorder which saves all processed expressions. In fact, the input field only needs to be filled in with the expression, and result is shown inside the tape. Values can be modified even after processing an expression, which makes it easy to have values sent to clipboard, including the result.

You don’t find a great variety of conversion parameters though. As such, you can only use dimensions for temperature, weight, and height, while units are narrowed down to Celsius, Fahrenheit, Kelvin, kilogram, pounds, centimeter, feet, and inches.

Last but not least, the table creator might take some time. Functions first need to be defined, but there are different fields to easily provide values for x start value, end value, as well as interval. The table is created at the press of a button, but there’s no possibility to have it saved to file.

All things considered, Mathlete offers a decent variety of methods to process math operations, but it feels a little rough around the edges overall. There’s no list of supported operators, so you might get to invest some time exploring possibilities, while the lack of export options can prolongue the entire project.