microsoft / microsoft/calculator

Add support for default decimal places for users commonly performing math related to currency such as those in accounting roles

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#485 10 comments 2 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Enhancement needs more info Pri: 2
Dominant language
C#
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Description

Problem Statement
Accounting users that utilize traditional desktop calculators often want to default to having 2 digits after a decimal because they are constantly entering currency values.

Evidence or User Insights
Having to enter a period to denote cents adds a great deal of additional data entry throughout the course of a day and is one of the primary barriers to switching from a printer with a paper spool to a computerized calculator.

Proposal
Add a setting to configure the starting position when inputting data. The default would be as it currently works, but setting it to -2 would place it in the hundredths, -3 would be thousandths and 3 would be thousands, etc.

Alternate solution: Add an accounting mode option just as there is a scientific mode option. This option would be designed for users working with currency values regularly.

Goals
Increase user adoption of the calculator by meeting needs of accountants and office workers that deal with currencies regularly.

Low-Fidelity Concept
If the user enters "1" it would display as "0.01"
If the user enters "1" followed by "2" it would display as "0.12"
If the user entered "1 followed by "2" followed by "3" it would display as "1.23"

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

Review the calculator's existing scientific-mode option and the input and settings entry points to determine how a configurable starting position would fit. Confirm the chosen behavior against the examples: entering 1, 12, and 123 should display 0.01, 0.12, and 1.23 when the setting is -2, while preserving current behavior by default.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
csharp
Domain
desktop
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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