This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.

How Did You Make It This Far In Life Without Knowing What These Calculator Buttons Are For?

Hello calculator, my old friend.
Calculator and pen doing what they do best.
Harvey Tsoi
Calculator and pen doing what they do best.

For people like me who cannot add numbers that have more than three digits, calculators have been a lifeline. No, please do not ask how I passed my math exams. That is something I do not wish to recall.

A calculator was my best friend growing up but then I realized that I still didn't know just what all those buttons were for. Yes, yes, shame on me.

Besides the square-root button, which is the single-most helpful button in the world, the rest was Greek to me. So, for fellow clueless souls, here it is. You can thank me later.

This is a standard calculator.

Calculator
Riou
Calculator

This is what the buttons do:

AC: All clear. It will remove all the previous equations and take you to 0.

CE: Clear Entry. It is the backspace of a calculator. Pressing this button will remove the last digit.

+/-: This button will change the number on screen to positive or negative.

MS: Memory Store. It puts the number on screen to save. Press this button if you need to use a number over and over.

MRC: Memory Recall. It uses the number that has been saved in memory.

M+/M-: Memory Add/ Memory Subtract. It takes the displayed number and adds or subtracts it from the memory and saves the result back in memory.

I hope this redeems me.

Close
This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.