New google calculator feature

Google Calculator feature ^ | August 13, 2003 | me

[John Jorsett]

I just learned that google has implemented a calculator as part of their feature set. "Big deal," you might say, but one capability that I found very useful is its ability to convert units. Try entering "100 pints in gallons" (don't put quotes around it when entering it), or "5000 kilometers in furlongs". Very cool, at least to me. I can't tell you how often I have to do those pesky "angstroms <--> parsecs" conversions (ok, I jest, but it will do "100 degrees fahrenheit to celsius," which definitely IS useful). It can also do ordinary math, of course, for those occasions when you just want to dash off a quick calculation.

[ChemistCat]

OH, great. Now I can seek the answer to 1392 divided by 7.2, and get gay porn back.

[billhilly]

Monica goes to the cleaners with a dress and tells the clerk, who is slightly hard of hearing, "I would like to have this stain removed." cupping a hand to his ear, he said, "come again?" " Horse radish" , said Monica.

[kevkrom]

"3 iced teas in Al gore""

That equals several conveniently "missed" meetings

[Amore]

Thanks for the conversion links, I definitely need and will use them.

[pgkdan]

BUMP

[BushCountry]

How do you get the thing to convert a base 2 number to decimal?

example: 111111 base2 to base10

[aruanan]

It's great. Thanks for pointing it out.

[discostu]

You've got to use computer style shorthand, so prefix your binary number in 0b (that's zero be), then ask for it in decimal.

[cc2k]

Wow, Check out c in furlongs per fortnight

and my diesel VW Jetta's top speed in parsecs per decade.

It also knows a whole lot of constants. I haven't stumped it yet.

[Eva]

I see that google also has a pop up blocker with their tool bar, but I wish they had a dictionary browser button.

[SoothingDave]

Here is how to convert celsius to fahrenheit in your head. Take 25 degrees c as an example. First double the number to 50. Now take off 10% to 45. Add 32 and you have 77 degrees f.

Too complicated. Just double it and add 30.

Another rule of thumb - a picoparsec is just about a quarter mile.

SD

[Poincare]

Will it solve topology problems?

I'm a frayed knot.

[supercat]

Another rule of thumb - a picoparsec is just about a quarter mile.

Tom Duff came up with "Pi seconds is a nanocentury" awhile ago. Pretty close

Another useful engineering one is "Light travels about a foot per nanosecond". Also pretty close.

[supercat]

http://www.google.com/search?q=how+much+wood+could+a+woodchuck+chuck+if+a+woodchuck+could+chuck+wood&btnG=Google+Search

Hmm... reminds me of the time I asked the Oracle "How many woodchucks would a wood chipper chip if a wood chipper would chip woodchucks." I think the answer as about a herd/hour.

[Drago]

How do you do Cubic Liters(or cc's) to Cubic Inches???
I tried "5.2 cubic liters equals cubic inches" & "5200 cc equals cubic inches" "5200 cc = inches^3" No luck!!!

[Fzob]

Very cool, Thanks

[Keith in Iowa]

>> Too complicated. Just double it and add 30.

That makes a 6-pack 42 metric beers :)

[supercat]

I tried "5.2 cubic liters equals cubic inches" & "5200 cc equals cubic inches" "5200 cc = inches^3" No luck!!!

The magic word is "in".

5200 cc in cubic inches

[Drago]

5.2 liter = 318 cid PING!

[Drago]

Never mind...I figured it out:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=5.2+liters+in+cubic+inches
"In" is the key word...