Apples to Oranges Manual
- Basic Conversion
- Valid input characters
- Copy Value/Expression/History
- Custom Units
- Preferences
- Sorting
- More Info
- Haiku
Basic Conversion
Type in an input value, select your input & output units, and your answer will appear in the output area. Any changes to the input value are immediately reflected in the output value; no need to press return or "enter".
Valid Input Characters
The input field can contain a negative sign (i.e. for temperatures), a decimal point, and/or an exponent. Exponents can be added at the end of a number with an 'e' or 'E'.
Some examples of valid input values:
4 4.01 -4.01 4.01e-5 (i.e. 0.0000401) -4.01e5 (i.e. -401000)
Note that when converting from Hex (Base 16), hex characters such as a (A) through f (F) become valid. Similarly, when converting from Binary (Base 2), only '1' and '0' are valid.
Copy Value/Expression/History
The main menu enables you to copy the value, expression, or history currently shown. To clarify:
- "Value" means the number output
- "Expression" means the expression on both sides of the equals sign, with units
- "History" means the history of previous equations shown below the unit popups
Custom Units
To create a custom unit, select the "New Custom..." menu item available with most unit types. This brings up a dialog where you can enter your custom unit data.
Example: let's say you're talking with your piratey grandfather, and you'd like to add "fathoms" (1 fathom = 6 feet) as a custom unit. In the various fields, you'd enter:
1. Unit name: "fathom" (used in the popup menu)
2. Unit abbreviation: "fath" (abbreviation used to the right of the value)
3. Base unit: "feet" (the unit which your custom unit is based on)
4. Multiply/divide: "multiply"
5. Multiply/divide factor: "6"
The Sample equation in the dialog should read "1 fath = 6 ft". Click "Done" and your custom unit is ready to use. Custom units appear below built-in units in menus. You can edit your custom unit at any time by selecting "Edit Custom".
Note that for custom temperatures, you can also specify an amount to add to the result; the amount added can be negative, effectively subtracting.
Preferences
Rounding: choose how many digits to show to the right of the decimal. Note that trailing zeros to the right of the decimal are removed, so 4.100 would be displayed as 4.1.
History update: choose how long a value needs to remain unchanged before it should be written to the history. If you don't want any values to show up in the history, choose "(never)". To include every value calculated, choose "0".
Sorting
Units can be sorted alphabetically, reverse alphabetically, from big to small, or from small to big. Units can also be sorted by category first, which means, for instance, that metric units are grouped separate from non-metric units. Custom units are sorted separately from built-in units.
More Info
For more information about Apples to Oranges, check out the Apples to Oranges FAQs.
For more information about units, including their histories, check out the excellent Units of Measurement site from the Director of the Center for Mathematics and Science Education at UNC Chapel Hill.
For Apples to Oranges support, head over to the Apples to Oranges Support Form.
Haiku
What is ten knots in
kilometers/second?
Never would have guessed.
Converting minutes to days?
Unbelievable!
Is it time to fly?
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