CalcAnyway · Usage guide · updated 2026-09-27

Input types — number field, ± buttons and slider

An input card holds a number you intend to change yourself. How it is changed is up to you: a number field, ± buttons or a slider. This page covers switching between the three, range and step, units and decimal places, and recording values. On Board 1 below, three items at $40 each with a 10% discount come to $108.

Board 1

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You can change the numbers here too, but changes made in this frame are not saved. To keep them, open it in CalcAnyway and edit there.

The three cards on the left are input cards. From the top, Unit price is shown as a number field, Quantity as ± buttons and Discount as a slider. Total on the right is calculated from the three, so changing any of them changes the total.

Pressing + on Quantity once makes it 4 items, and the total becomes $144. With Quantity back at 3, moving the Discount slider to 20% gives a total of $96.

Placing an input card

The "Add a card" button at the top left of the screen (a square with + in it) opens the list of cards. Pressing "A number to play with" (Input) in that list places an input card.

A new input card is shown as a number field and holds 0. Switched to a slider, its range is 0 to 100 and its step is 1. A name typed in the name field at the top of the card, such as "Unit price", is also what appears in other cards' formulas.

Switching the display

The top of an input card has a "● Record" button and a menu for the display style. The menu offers "Number field", "± buttons" and "Slider". Switching keeps the card's value; only the way it is changed and the way it looks are different.

  • Number field — a large field to type the number into. Decimals and negative numbers work too.
  • ± buttons — each press of − or + changes the value by one step. The field between them can also be typed into.
  • Slider — the knob is dragged left or right. The small fields on either side are the minimum (left) and the maximum (right).

With Discount back at 10% and the Unit price card switched to "± buttons", each press of + adds $10. One press makes it $50, and the total becomes $135.

Minimum, maximum and step

The minimum and maximum set how far the slider's knob can move. Discount on Board 1 runs from 0 to 50% in steps of 5, so the knob stops at 0, 5, 10 and so on up to 50. The ± buttons use the same step: on Board 1 that is 1 for Quantity and 10 for Unit price.

The fields on either side of a slider change its minimum and maximum. A minimum larger than the maximum moves the maximum to the minimum plus 100. An input card has no field for changing the step.

Values outside the range

The minimum and maximum only limit the knob. A value typed into the number field, or reached with the ± buttons, is used as it is, even outside the range.

With Unit price back at $40, switching Discount to "Number field" and typing 60 makes the discount 60%. The total becomes $48.

Switched back to "Slider", the card still shows 60% and the knob sits at the right end. Moving the knob brings the value back into the 0 to 50% range. Lowering the maximum below the current value leaves the value as it is, too. The ± buttons do not stop at the range either: pressing − at 0 gives −1.

For a value beyond the slider's range, you can switch to the number field and type it, or widen the maximum in the right-hand field.

The boards in the triangle area article use a separate "Slider" card instead of an input card. It is an older card that the "Add a card" list no longer offers. That card has a "Step" field, so its step can be changed, and lowering its maximum below the current value brings the value down to the maximum.

Units and decimal places

An input card shows its unit ($, items, % and so on) next to the value. The unit is only a label and plays no part in the calculation: Discount on Board 1 is the number 10, and the formula divides it by 100.

The unit and decimal places of a calculation card are chosen in the calculator at the bottom of the screen.

  1. When the calculator is folded away, "Expand keyboard" (the upward arrow) opens it.
  2. Selecting a calculation card puts its name and formula into the calculator's display.
  3. The "Result settings" button at the lower left of the display shows the "Unit" and "Decimal places" choices.
  4. Pressing "Done" after choosing applies them to the card.

Units include "None", "$", "%" and "kg"; "Other" lets you write your own, such as "$/month". Decimal places are "Auto" or 0 to 4. These settings apply to calculation cards; an input card's unit does not change here.

Board 2

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You can change the numbers here too, but changes made in this frame are not saved. To keep them, open it in CalcAnyway and edit there.

Board 2 splits $100 between 3 people. The two cards in the middle have the same formula, Total ÷ People; the upper one has decimal places set to "Auto", the lower one to 0. The upper card shows $33.333333 and the lower one $33.

"Back to the total" on the right multiplies the lower card by the number of people. The result is $100, not $99, because decimal places change only what is shown: the next card receives the value before rounding. To round partway through a calculation, a rounding function goes in the formula (Formulas and functions). With 4 people, both cards show $25.

Decimal places can also be set for the whole board and for the whole app: "Decimal places (this board)" and "Default decimal places (app)" in the ☰ menu. A card's own setting comes first, then the board's, then the app's.

Recording values

Pressing "● Record" on an input card turns recording on and records the current value. While it is on, each new value is recorded; the same value twice in a row is recorded once. Once there are two or more records, a small line appears at the bottom of the card.

Selecting a card with records and pressing "Visualize" offers "Recorded trend". Choosing it places a card that draws the recorded values as a line, with their dates.

Pressing "● Record" again turns recording off; the records so far stay. Records are saved with the board, up to the latest 1,000. Values recorded on a board embedded in an article are not saved (Save, share and embed).

Which one to use

  • Number field — a known figure to enter exactly, such as an amount from a quote or a statement.
  • ± buttons — a count that changes one at a time: people, items, times. With a step of 100 it changes by 100.
  • Slider — a rate or a length to move through a range while watching the result. For a value outside the range, switch to the number field.

Articles that use this

  • Margin and markup — the target rates are sliders, and the article shows switching one to a number field to type a rate.
  • Percentage change — both percentage cards are sliders from −90% to 100%.
  • Resistors in parallel — the two resistors are sliders from 1 Ω to 40 Ω.
  • Rounding — the number is stepped by 1 with the − and + buttons.
  • Division and fractions — the dividend and divisor are stepped by 1 with the − and + buttons.
  • Area of a triangle — the base and height are separate "Slider" cards from 1 to 10.

When it does not work

  • The knob will not leave the right end, or the number shown does not match the knob — the value is outside the slider's range. The number on the card is the value in use; widening the maximum or switching to the number field fixes the mismatch.
  • There is no place to change an input card's unit — "Result settings" in the calculator changes the unit of a calculation card; an input card's unit does not change there.
  • Decimal places are set to 0, but the next card does not use the rounded value — decimal places change only the display. To carry a rounded value forward, the rounding goes in the formula.
  • A display style or a record changed on an article's board is gone after reopening — changes made on a board embedded in an article are not saved. A board opened with "Open in CalcAnyway" is saved on that device.

Read next — Visualize How to see a result as a chart, a curve as one input moves, or sensitivity bars.


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