Command: rcal

  RCAL is an interactive calculator that loosely mimics the behavior of
  "roller printing" calculators. It supports huge numbers, floating point
  and has extremely low hardware requirements.

Syntax:

  rcal [/log=file.log] [/?]

Options:

  /log=file.log  Writes the log file ("paper of roller printing")
  /?             Shows the help

Comments:

  rcal is a 16-bit (real mode) DOS application. It needs DOS 3+, an 8086
  CPU and around 100 KiB of available conventional RAM.
  USAGE:
  Using rcal is as simple as launching the rcal executable and providing
  the operands and operators that need to be computed. Following operators
  are supported:
   '+' and '-' (add/subtract)
   '*' and '/' (multiply/divide)
   ^ - power
   % - percent
  Inputing a negative operand requires to press the 'S' key (S = change
  sign).

  Operator notes:
  1. The percent operator acts in a perhaps peculiar way, since it
     actually does slightly more than just scaling a value down by 100.
     When it is preceded by an addition or subtraction, the percent
     operator will add or subtract the product of the previous operand.
     Example:
       Operation: "300 + 5%" will actually perform "300 + (300 * 5%)"
  2. The power operator (^) supports only integer exponents.
  3. Divisions are performed using a precision limited to 20 decimal
     places.

  Limitations:
  Values that can be input to rcal can have up to 10 integer digits and
  6 fractional digits. The computation engine itself is able to handle
  much bigger numbers though: the entire result can be up to 56 digits
  long (longer intermediate results are possible, but won't be displayed).

Examples:

  Enter an operand, followed by an operator, followed by an operand.
  Press ESC to quit.
  rcal                        (Enter rcal first, followed by ENTER)
      2.795      =  2.795     (Enter the value followed by +)
  +   3,87629    =  6.67129   (Enter the value followed by -)
  -   5.123456   =  1.547834  (Enter the value followed by /)
  /   2          =  0.773917  (Enter the value followed by *)
  *   4          =  3.095668  (ESC to quit).
                 =  Goodbye

  rcal                        (Enter rcal first, followed by ENTER)
      55         =  55        (Enter the value, followed by ^)
  ^    4         =  9150625   (Enter the value, followed by ESC)
                 =  Goodbye   (55^4 = 55*55*55*55)

  rcal                        (Enter rcal first, followed by ENTER)
      555        =  555       (Enter the value, followed by +)
  +    10%       =  610,5     (Enter the value AND "%", followed by -)
  -    20%       =  488,4     (Enter the value AND "%", followed by *)
  *     3%       =  14,652    (Enter the value AND "5", followed by ESC).
                 = Goodbye

See also:

  fdrc
  foxcalc

  Copyright © 2018 Mateusz Viste, help version 2023 W. Spiegl.

  This file is derived from the FreeDOS Spec Command HOWTO.
  See the file H2Cpying for copying conditions.