JIPS 1.0 - GOOGLE CALCULATOR

What is a JIPS you ask? John's Internet Public Service! It could also be a portmanteau word: John's tips - Jips! In an effort to expand the scope and usefulness of DailyWhitt, I'll be adding JIPS from time to time.

Today we learn about an amazing feature of the Google search engine. Trying to figure those bill payments? Wondering about that percentage of change? Looking for a way to waste hours with meaningless calculations? You can do all the above from right in your Google browser! It's like a super-internet-based calculator!

Directions
1. Go to www.google.com
2. Type in a mathematical problem, or expression
3. Click the search button
4. Be amazed at the power of the web!

Examples
In the search field (that little box you type words into when you're looking for stuff on Google), you can type in the mathematical, or the English version of a problem:

2+2, or two plus two

twenty four divided by four, or 24/4

(As Seen on http://www.google.com/help/calculator.html)

Operator	Function	Example
+	addition	3+44
-	subtraction	13-5
*	multiplication	7*8
/	division	12/3
^	exponentiation (raise to a power of)	8^2
%	modulo (finds the remainder after division)	8%7
choose	X choose Y determines the number of ways of choosing a set of Y elements from a set of X elements	18 choose 4
th root of	calculates the nth root of a number	5th root of 32
% of	X % of Y computes X percent of Y	20% of 150

So, give it a shot and see what fun you can have geeking out!

More JIPS to come!