This chapter explains how to use Calc and its many features, in a step-by-step, tutorial way. You are encouraged to run Calc and work along with the examples as you read (see Starting Calc). If you are already familiar with advanced calculators, you may wish to skip on to the rest of this manual.
This tutorial describes the standard user interface of Calc only. The Quick mode and Keypad mode interfaces are fairly self-explanatory. See Embedded Mode, for a description of the Embedded mode interface.
The easiest way to read this tutorial on-line is to have two windows on your Emacs screen, one with Calc and one with the Info system. Press C-x * t to set this up; the on-line tutorial will be opened in the current window and Calc will be started in another window. From the Info window, the command C-x * c can be used to switch to the Calc window and C-x * o can be used to switch back to the Info window. (If you have a printed copy of the manual you can use that instead; in that case you only need to press C-x * c to start Calc.)
This tutorial is designed to be done in sequence. But the rest of this manual does not assume you have gone through the tutorial. The tutorial does not cover everything in the Calculator, but it touches on most general areas.
You may wish to print out a copy of the Calc Summary and keep notes on it as you learn Calc. See About This Manual, to see how to make a printed summary. See Calc Summary.