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Entering Text
To perform an operation, type an expression into the lower panel and press the 'Enter' key. An internal representation of the text will be built and acted upon. This usually means applying the automatic simplifier to the expression. You can enter several expressions together, by separating them with semicolons. The result will be the same as if each expression had been entered separately. However, if a syntax error occurs, no processing of any remaining text will be done.
Alternatively, you can use a comma between expressions instead of a semicolon. In this case, no result will be shown for the expressions that have commas after them. This can reduce the amount of visual clutter.
Parsing of the text is case-sensitive. All predefined functions and most symbols are in lower case.
To indicate raising to a power, use ^ or **. Thus x^2 and x**2 are both equivalent to x*x.
The key combination Ctrl+Delete will clear all text from the input area.
A right-click in the input area will bring up a pop-up menu. As well as the usual items for input boxes, there are three extra items:
(1) Scroll the entries. Normally, after hitting 'Enter' and having the text acted upon, the text remains unchanged, allowing you to edit it and use it again. If you choose to have the entries scrolled, the input area will continue to show the entered text until you start typing, at which point the old text will be cleared away, provided that there was no syntax error. You can then immediately type in new text. You can go back to previously entered texts by scrolling through them by holdng down a Shift key and press an Up or Down arrow. When scrolling is enabled, the text for this menu item shows "Don't scroll entries".
(2) Memory to clipboard . This item remains greyed out if scrolling has not been used and there are no remembered items. Clicking on this opmenu item causes all input text to be copied to the clipboard, one item per line, as originally entered. Do not confuse this with the Copy button, which copies the contents of the upper panel to the clipboard.
(3) Empty scroll memory. This causes all remembered texts to be forgotten.
Adjusting the window
Drag the edges of the window to change its size. The relative heights of the input and output boxes can be changed by dragging the horizontal region that separates them.