A four-function calculator with a real button pad that chains operations the way a physical desktop calculator does.

How to Use the Basic Calculator

Tap digits and the decimal point to build a number, then an operator, then the next number — press = for the result, C to clear everything, CE to clear just the current entry, or +/- to flip the sign of whatever's on screen.

This calculator chains operations left to right as you press them, the same way an actual desktop four-function calculator works — not the way a scientific calculator or graphing app respects standard order of operations. That distinction causes more confusion than almost anything else about basic calculators.

5 + 3 × 2 =

Chained (this calculator):  (5 + 3) × 2 = 16
Order of operations:         5 + (3 × 2) = 11

Press 5, then +, then 3, then ×: at that × keypress, the calculator doesn't wait to see what comes next — pressing an operator always applies whatever operation is still pending before it starts a new one. So 5 and 3 get added immediately, to 8, and by the time you type 2 and press =, you're really computing 8 × 2, landing on 16, not 11. A calculator built around operator precedence instead — like this site's Scientific Calculator — would hold the 3 × 2 aside, evaluate it first, and add 5 afterward, arriving at 11.

Neither behavior is wrong; they're two different, both legitimate conventions, and the confusion only shows up when someone expects one and gets the other. Basic calculators — the kind that lived in kitchen drawers and school pencil cases for decades — have always worked the chained way, applying each operation the instant the next one is requested rather than waiting to see the whole expression first.

CE clears only the number currently being typed, leaving any pending operation and running total untouched — useful for fixing a typo mid-calculation without losing your place. C resets everything, including whatever operation was queued up.