Windows Calculator has improved a great deal in recent years. It still opens in a very basic “standard” view, but you also get Scientific, Programmer and Statistics modes, along with unit conversions, date calculations and more.

The free HiPER Calc Scientific seems a little basic by comparison, as it’s “just” a regular scientific calculator. But it’s compact, portable, and has more than enough functions and features to make it interesting.

HiPER Calc Scientific looks like a regular calculator, and is switchable between portrait and landscape modes. At its simplest, you can use the program much like any other, clicking the buttons or entering some calculation on your own keyboard – “2.4*7.9/4.4” – and the results appear immediately.

The program has both landscape and portrait modes

These basic operations may be extended in various ways. You can set custom precisions of up to 100 decimal places and 9 places of exponent. You’re able to use an unlimited number of braces, and there are 10 memories to store intermediate results.

There are all the usual functions for powers, roots, logarithms, trigonometry and more.

More unusual tools include combinations, permutations, random numbers, greatest common divisors and least common multipliers.

You also support for goniometric/ hyperbolic functions, mixed and improper fractions, degrees, minutes and seconds conversion, fixed point, scientific and engineering display format, and plenty more.

Not sure which of these you need? As with most scientific calculators, HiPER Calc Scientific isn’t aimed at the maths novice. But if you can get by with just a little help, most of the functions have simple tooltips, and these may point you in the right direction.