Learn how to use Spotlight as a calculator

If you ever need to perform a quick calculation or two while working on your Macthen you can do it using Apple’s Spotlight search. We can also do complex operations and not just additions and subtractions.

Spotlight calculations support much more, and if used correctly, can be even more valuable than Apple’s built-in calculator. Therefore, learn how to use Spotlight as a calculator in this article. Go for it!

What is Spotlight?

Spotlight is basically Google for your Apple Mac. Whatever you’re looking for, information you want to find inside or outside your team, you can search via the Spotlight search shortcut.

Spotlight creates an index of all the items and files on your system, so you can search for documents, photos, music files, applications, and even system preferences. It goes even further, allowing you to search for specific words in documents or web pages contained in your web browser history.

In the case of the calculator, All functions can be performed directly in the Spotlight search box, instead of having to open the Calculator program. Once invoked, you can type an equation, such as “1+4”, which will show you the result of 5, which will be displayed on a calculator icon.

At this point, you can press Enter to directly open the calculator (although it will be at 0 and the result of this calculation will not be transmitted), or you can press Command-C on the highlighted result, to copy it in the clipboard. If you need.

Remember you can also use it for anything, from trigonometric functions (sin, cos, tan, etc.), to calculating roots, rounding in various ways, among other useful features. To help you out, here is the list of supported features you can use in Spotlight:

Basic Operations

Basic operations in Spotlight Calculator are performed with the classic +, -, *, / symbols for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, but you also have the following symbols for more complex math:

• ! – The factorial, to multiply each integer between 1 and the specified number
• % – The modulus symbol, used in the same way as division, but will show the remainder in division, rather than the full proportion.
• ^ – The exponent, used between two numbers, will raise one to the power of the other.
• () – Parentheses, used to contain values ​​and isolate operation orders.

Built-in constants

Spotlight has defined a few standard numeric constants, namely pi and e:

• pi – the classic 3.1415…, or the total distance of half the unit circle
• e – Euler number, used for logarithms and natural exponents

Trigonometric functions

Trigonometric functions, as well as their arc and hyperbolic equivalents, are also available:

• sin() — Standard sin
• cos() – Standard cosine
• tan() – Standard tangent

• asin() — Standard arcsine
• acos() — Standard arccosine
• atan() — Standard arctangent

• sinh() — hyperbolic sine
• cosh() — Hyperbolic cosine
• tanh() — hyperbolic tangent

• asinh() — hyperbolic arcsine
• acosh() — Hyperbolic cosine
• atanh() – Hyperbolic tangent

Note that trigonometric functions are performed in classic radian mode, so you must first convert degree measurements to radians (i.e. multiply by pi/180).

Exponents and logarithms

You can always use the exponent operator “^” to get exponents; however, you can also use set options:

• exp() – This is the natural exponent, or the equivalent of going up to the power “e” (e^num)
• E – This allows you to type “*10^number”, like this (10E4 for 10*10^4)
• log() – This takes the base 10 logarithm of the given number
• ln() – This takes the natural logarithm of the number

For logarithms with bases other than e and y 10, you can use the basic math conversion of dividing the base10 logarithm by the log base10 of the new base, for example, to get the log2 of a number “x”, you can do the following in Spotlight: log(x)/log(2)

You can enter long and sometimes complex equations directly into Spotlight to get your results. Here we basically calculate e^-0.5.

Domain

Square and cube roots are available as built-in functions; However, you can also use fractional exponents:

• sqrt() – The standard square root of the given number
• cbrt() – The cube root of the given number

For roots other than square and cube roots, you can use exponents in the form etc.

Round

Finally, you can use the following functions to round, truncate, and get the absolute value of numbers:

• ceil() – Gives you the nearest integer round
• floor() – Gives you the nearest integer rounded down
• rint() – Gives you the closest integer by standard rounding
• fabs() – Gives you the absolute value of a number.

M+, M-, MR options in Spotlight

Although the calculator has M+, M- and MR options to store values, You can do the same thing with Spotlight by pressing Command-C to copy the results of a calculation in the clipboard. From there, you can create new equations by pasting the results back into the equations you create in Spotlight, then copying the results to the clipboard to save them.

How to access Spotlight on a Mac?

There are several ways to use Spotlight, each proving useful in different scenarios. Here is a summary of how to access the search tool from Mac.

Using the Spotlight search shortcut:

• Press the Command key and press the spacebar. The Spotlight search bar appears ready for action.
• Type a search term in the Spotlight search box. Search results appear as you type.
• Tap any of the search results to preview it. When you find what you’re looking for, double-click to open it.

Using Spotlight search via its icon:

• Click the Spotlight magnifying glass icon in the upper right corner of the menu bar to display the Spotlight search bar.
• Enter your search item.
• Double-click any of the search results to open it.

Use Spotlight via Siri

Spotlight doesn’t work the same way through Siri as it does through keyboard shortcuts or icons, but it’s still a quick way to find things on your Mac. You can ask it to search for specific files or emails in a natural way. To use Spotlight through Siri, Siri must be set up on your Mac.