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Instacalc
This is probably unlike any other calculator you will have seen before! You will see as soon as you arrive on the site that the main – indeed the only – focus here is on calculations and working them out as quickly and easily as possible.
Instacalc is a very different kind of currency converter. It is in fact several different types of conversion tool and calculator rolled into one. Instacalc is a trade mark and the word was created from putting together instant and calculator.
Take me to the site! How do I get there?
Okay, here is the address you need to visit the home page - http://instacalc.com/. You will notice that you don’t need the usual ‘www’ when you are visiting this home page.
What does the site offer?
Calculations by the hundreds, really! It is worth having a look at the other tab on the top of the home page – the one that says ‘shared calcs’. This takes you to a list of categories that will make your early uses of this site much easier to manage.
And as you hover over any particular type of calculation, you will see the formula appear on the right hand side of the page. It’s as simple as that – although some of them might be a bit too advanced for your needs.
What is their currency converter like?
The calculator will perform pretty much any kind of calculation (barring outright scientific ones) and the calculations can be written almost in plain English rather than just in symbols (+ / - * etc.)
On top of that, the rows that make up the input area of the calculator can be used like a program to store variables; perform calculations and then return results. Basically the creators say that coming to their website to perform such operations is faster and easier than opening Excel or another spreadsheet. The results appear as you type too, so it really is instant. If you need more rows you can add those as well.
So how does it work as a currency converter? The answer to that question would be ‘very well’. You can input simple statements for simple conversions, like this - $100 USD in EUR or 100 USD in Euro. The results appear to the right of the row (or the box, if you prefer to think of it like that) in which you have typed your data.
For currency conversions it is easiest to use the 3 letter country code. Typing a full English sentence like this - 100 US Dollars in Euro - does not work. This is quite simply because there are so many different currencies which are known as dollars, and on a local basis the country name is rarely used. An Australian, a Canadian and a Barbadian would all just call their local currency dollars. Using the 3 letter country code therefore removes any ambiguity.
As mentioned previously the calculator can also perform a more complicated currency transaction. So for example, let’s say you wanted to use £10,000 GBP to buy Swiss bonds, and then take the Swiss bonds and use them for collateral to borrow 5 times as much in Japanese Yen. You can see how that would work out by doing the following.
It doesn't matter where you multiply by 5 before or after converting to CHF (as multiplication of numbers greater than 1 is cumulative) so you can simply put this in row one - 50000 GBP in CHF. Let’s assume the answer to that is 115,000 CHF. In the next row you type in 115,000 CHF in JPY – the answer will be the result in Japanese Yen.
It is true to say that this type of example can be performed using most currency calculators, but this one presents two related advantages. First of all the result from the first calculation stays on the page where you can see it (in case you make a mistake when retyping). And secondly the page does not reload to perform a calculation. Instead it appears instantly. Sometimes when a page reloads you have to reorient yourself and it can be a bit tricky to keep numbers in your head whilst doing that.
Instacalc allows you to see it all in one go, without any page reloads. It just stays in front of you exactly where it was the last time you looked. As you can imagine, this is a very useful tool for both currency and other calculations.
Supposing I need some help and advice – can they help me with that?
You need to be on the home page to access most of the help features they provide. Start off by visiting the FAQ section at the bottom when you first arrive; these give you answers to some of the basic questions that might be on your mind when you first start using the site.
You can also take a tour of the site which is helpful, but the best place to go is to the blog, as this is where most of the useful information will be.
In conclusion
Instacalc really is one of a kind when it comes to websites. They say the simplest ideas are the best, and while some of the calculators here might be beyond you the idea behind the site is a great one.
You will also find plenty of calculators you can use, and when it comes to working out currency conversions you can easily get to grips with it quite quickly. It is different from any other type of calculator you might have used in the past, but once you get the hang of it you might not want to go anywhere else!
Rating (out of five stars)
The website hasn’t been around for that long, but it has developed greatly in its short life so far. We give it four stars, particularly for the enormous potential it has to become better and better as it develops even more in the future.
- 4 Stars
Link: http://instacalc.com
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