CalcuLaTeX
Dev tools
calculator language
SHOW HN2021
230points
45comments
#181of 2,533 in 2021
Top 8%of 2021 by points
How HN took it
CuriousMostly questions and neutral comments
3 positive, 14 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 2 critical, out of 20 comments about the project. Thread score +0.07.
Execution: 0 for, 2 againstDesign: 2 for, 0 againstIdea: 1 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Useful merge of calculator and LaTeX typesetting
From 3 comments
I'm so glad you made this! I'm also very upset that this didn't exist 10 years ago when I really needed it. Well done!
hamaluik on HNYou might like Frink! https://frinklang.org
hardmath123 on HNThis is really fun. Nicely done! I love the output of LaTeX but never liked writing it.
breck on HN
Nice LaTeX output and visual feedback
From 2 comments
Very cool! The output looks nice, will definitely give this a whirl for some blog posts.
prezjordan on HNThis is really fun. Nicely done! I love the output of LaTeX but never liked writing it.
breck on HN
Objections
Does not support fractional units like km^3/2
From 1 comment
It supports every SI unit and many derived units. It doesn't yet support fractional units, e.g. km^3/2 though. AFAIK there aren't any fractional units that have physical meaning…
fish45 on HN
Unit auto-conversion bugs, such as 100m/s giving 0km/s and 11.000 kg
From 2 comments
Very cool, auto-conversion is really awesome, I think I found a bug though: 5 kg + 5 kg = 10 kg but 5 kg + 6 kg = 11.000 kg
frankenst1 on HN100m/s = 0km/s (an integer division issue? km/h does not appear to work)
statstutor on HN
Error handling fails the whole script instead of showing errors inline
From 1 comment
This is cool! I think it can be really useful. My main suggestion is better error handling: make it so that when a calculation is invalid, it shows the error where the result…
Jakobeha on HN
Requests
Copy LaTeX source of the completed calculation
From 2 comments
This is awesome! Is there a way to get the LaTeX source with the completed calculation (so that you can copy/paste the whole thing in your local LaTeX installation and, well,…
FabHK on HNThe main export of the Rust/WASM library is just a function which outputs LaTeX; it should be pretty doable to add a button to the website which does what you're asking. I think…
fish45 on HN
Support fractional units
From 1 comment
Imagine you are G.I.Taylor and its the start of The Cold War. Life magazine has just published an amazing high speed photographic sequence of the detonation of an atom bomb. The…
tobmlt on HN
Data table to graph support
From 1 comment
This is very cool. It looks much easier to use than the collection of Makefiles and build scripts I cobbled together in college. One thing that’d make this even more awesome is…
irgeek on HN
Algebra solving for variables
From 1 comment
Very cool! What made you choose LaTeX for the tool? It seems like it wouldn't be too hard (maybe?) to get a proper algebra engine to assign variables. Currently you can do `x =…
SamBam on HN
Questions
Why LaTeX was chosen as the output format
From 1 comment
Very cool! What made you choose LaTeX for the tool? It seems like it wouldn't be too hard (maybe?) to get a proper algebra engine to assign variables. Currently you can do `x =…
SamBam on HN
Alternatives named
PTC MathCAD
From 1 comment
Hey HN, I created CalcuLaTeX because I was frustrated with my workflow for chemistry and physics homework. Generally, I'd use the Python REPL as a calculator and type each…
fish45 on HN
GNU units and Rink
From 2 comments
FYI you might find the GNU units(1) tool useful, which has a huge catalog of units and understands about the same set of math operations as a scientific calculators. From the…
formerly_proven on HNCheck out Rink: https://github.com/tiffany352/rink-rs
alexalemi on HN
Mathematica
From 1 comment
That's wonderful! When I used to do my math and physics homework, I used Mathematica as a calculator. It has built-in LaTeX formatting available (right click, Copy As > LaTeX).…
kccqzy on HN
Calca
From 1 comment
This is awesome. It reminds me of the iOS app Calca[1], which is similar. [1] http://calca.io/
croddin on HN
WordMat
From 1 comment
Wordmat is a free, open source extension to MS Word which gives you access to a full CAS from Word. http://www.eduap.com/wordmat/ https://github.com/Eduap-com/WordMat
a0-prw on HN
Blockpad
From 1 comment
Hey, definitely check out Blockpad (https://blockpad.net). It does calculations with units, integrated with documents, spreadsheets, and drawing. Speaking from the Blockpad team…
celebrimbor7 on HN