Minecraft Graphing Calculator - Linear/Quadratic Graphing; Sin, Cos, Tan; Add, Sub, Multiply, Divide Andrew Hsieh

Hello people who read descriptions!

This is a graphing calculator I've been working on in Minecraft. It is able to perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, sin(x), cos(x), tan(x), as well as linear and quadratic graphing.

All computations in this calculator were done in binary (0's & 1's). Farther down in the description I will go into a little detail on how it all works for those who want to know!

This calculator is for a senior project, however it has been a culmination of many years doing redstone in Minecraft. (May have helped me get into college :P) It's a great way to learn new ideas all the while enjoying every minute of it. Many challenging nights of playing Minecraft has taught me important problem solving skills that will last a lifetime.

--- Now for my favorite part ---

As I said earlier, this calculator works in binary (drastic simplification :P). Firstly, there's a decimal input (button panel), which gets converted into a binary number (0-9 or 0-1001). So behind the screen, its BCD, or Binary Coded Decimal. 53 in BCD would look like 0101 0011 while 53 in binary would look like 110101. I have something behind the calculator converting that BCD number into the Binary number to be processed.

-Addition works by using a binary adder (Many tutorials online)
-Subtraction works by also using a binary adder (Altered a little to subtract)
-Multiplication works through the shift/add algorithm (done sequentially). Essentially a computers version of the long multiplication we did in 3rd grade.
-Division works almost the same as multiplication except using the shift/subtract algorithm. Again, much like long division.

The answer from any of these functions is then converted from binary back to BCD using a sequential version of the Double Dabble Algorithm. Then the BCD numbers are decoded to be displayed on the screen as the answer.

Sin,Cos, and Tan were all values stored in ROM (Read-Only Memory) Sorry no approximations using Calculus. (Would take waaaaay to long).

Linear/Quadratic graphing was done by running x values (-20 to 20) through the equation the user inputted. I would turn on the entire x column being inputted and a y value would be achieved. For example; y= x^2 + x + 5 at one instance would be y[0 (just for simplicity)] = (0)^2 + 0 + 5 = 5. I would turn on the entire 0 column and the entire 5th row up, and the intersection of those two lines would be the point plotted.

If you've read all the way through, or just skipped to here from the top, I want to thank you all for watching! It's been a pleasure creating this and I've enjoyed every minute of it.

The summary above isn't everything, but it's certainly an overview! If you have ANY questions at all or just want to know more, please feel free to either post in the comments or private message me and I will with out a doubt get back to you on it!

Minecraft Graphing Calculator - Linear/Quadratic Graphing; Sin, Cos, Tan; Add, Sub, Multiply, Divide
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Science & Technology	Upload TimePublished on 31 Mar 2015