Google the Math Whiz

This falls into the betcha didn't know category. Or maybe you do, if you're a Google junkie like me ...

Besides being the Net's foremost search engine, Google is a math genius. Its handy calculator feature lets you perform quick arithmetic operations. Just click in the Google search field and type your arithmetic statement, using standard spreadsheet operators (+ to add, - to subtract, * to multiply, and / to divide).

Ask Google 4+4/2, for example, and it will dutifully report back 6. (The 6 result is because multiplication and division are performed before addition and subtraction. To change the order of operations, put parentheses around the numbers to be added, as in (4+4)/2. Now Google will respond with 4.)

Metric Conversions Too!

The math functionality is handy for calculating expenses, the sales tax portion of a bill, all kinds of things. But it gets better. Google will also convert metric to imperial and back again. Ask this digital savant, for example, to compute 285 miles in km and it will tell you that the answer is 458.66304 kilometers. Ask it for 78 f in c and it will tell you that it's 25.5555556 degrees Celsius outside (OK, maybe not outside this house).

Use it to convert to/from metric when you're cooking. Google quickly confirms that 4 cups in litres is 0.94635295 litres, that 6 oz in grams is 170.097139 grams, even that 12 teaspoons in cups is 0.25 US cups.

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