microsoft / microsoft/calculator

Include formula for all conversions

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#283 5 comments 7 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Enhancement help wanted needs spec Pri: 2
Dominant language
C#
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Description

Problem Statement

The problem statement is that I'm performing conversion between 2 units, for example 8 ml to ounces. I open up the volume converter, select the desired units and enter 8. I get the output in ounces but now I look at the two numbers and find myself wondering what is the formula to get oz from ml. So I need to edit my input to 1 and try and figure out a relation between these two. May check inputs and outputs for 1, 10, 100 and notice that they are related by a certain factor.

While most conversions might have a relationship based on multiplying or dividing a certain factor, this may not be true for all conversions. For example Celsius to Fahrenhiet or similar. Thus making it hard for a user to figure out the conversion & relationship.

The idea is to allow users to use converters even as a lookup in-case they don't how 2 units are inter-related.

Evidence or User Insights

On searching the web, we can find thousands of results, website with tables, conversions, formulas, discussions on converting various units from one to another. The idea is to make it more informational to use conversions.

Proposal

The proposal is to include the formula for every conversion, similar to how it is done for currency conversions so that the user is aware of the conversion being performed and doesn't need to look it up or try and deduce it.

Goals

Users should be able to look at conversions without the need for opening up the web and searching for the conversion formula for any two units, similar to how users can directly check currency conversion rates live within the Calculator app.

Low-Fidelity Concept

Google
image

Bing
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Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reviewing the Calculator conversion experience, using the volume and currency examples in the issue as reference points. Determine how formulas should be represented for factor-based and non-linear conversions, then verify that each conversion presents an understandable formula in the UI.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
csharp
Domain
desktop, frontend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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