On this page:
Introduction, Features and Requirements, About Hypatia, Contact, License.
Hypatia is a free, open source, portable programmable calculator for 64bit Windows computers.
What you have to know: Hypatia is different. The two most obvious ways in which it is different are:
- Hypatia uses RPN (Reverse Polish Notation) -- instead of 2 + 3 = you have to enter 2 3 +
- Hypatia is a text-based console program. There is no graphic interface, and you need to use the keyboard instead of the mouse.
As unfamiliar as these features may seem at first glance, they do have their advantages. After a little getting used to them, you will find Hypatia not only to be a tool well suited for complex calculations, but also to be fast and easy to use for simple everyday tasks.
You may want to use Hypatia because of the ways it is different -- RPN may appeal to your sense of logic, and you may appreciate apps that are puristic, portable, small and (in most cases) fast -- or you may be willing to put up with Hypatia's peculiarities because of some of the features it offers, which you will not easily find anywhere else.
With variables, scripts, prompts, user defined elements, count- and condition-controlled loops and versatile If/Then/Else clauses Hypatia offers elements of a programming language. While these features make Hypatia a powerful tool, you can use Hypatia for a lot of things without ever bothering about more than the basic functionality.
What Hypatia is not: It has none of the features of a spreadsheet, it is not a mathematics software in the sense that it could provide you with solutions to mathematical problems, and it is not a tool for statistical analysis.
Skim through this documentation, then read the parts that are interesting to you. It is perfectly fine if you need only a small part of Hypatia's features, you can safely ignore the rest -- but if you ever need more from a calculator, Hypatia may be able to provide it.
Hypatia is a Windows console program -- it can be started from the Windows desktop, from the Windows console, or from the Windows PowerShell.
Hypatia requires a 64-bit Windows system.
You should have a basic understanding of folders and files to install Hypatia, and a basic ability to use a text editor to make use of Hypatia's more advanced features. You do not need to be familiar with the Windows command line or PowerShell to use Hypatia.
Hypatia's main features are:
- It uses its own greatly enhanced version of RPN, offering a wide range of built-in functions.
- It allows you to use named variables and to save and retrieve them.
- It knows decimal, hexadecimal and binary numbers.
- Integer numbers can have up to 18 digits, floating point results are shown with up to 15 significant digits.
- Absolute values of numbers can be in the range from 1e-1000 to 1e1000.
- It can read data from files and write calculation results to files.
- It lets you define your own constants, functions and routines.
- Your own functions and scripts use exactly the same syntax as your calculations and seamlessly integrate with them.
- Its strictly text-based approach lets you scroll through past inputs, edit and re-use them, log inputs and results, etc.
- With count- and condition controlled loops and If/Then/Else clauses you can do things like iterative calculations, Monte Carlo experiments, generalized Fibonacci sequences, etc.
Limitations are:
- Hypatia has no real understanding of arrays (though it can read and write them), does not know matrixes and vectors, and does not know imaginary or complex numbers.
- While Hypatia has built-in functions to calculate arithmetic, geometric and harmonic means, medians and standard deviations, it is not a tool for statistical analysis.
- Scripts cannot be nested.
- There is no syntax checking while typing.
Disclaimer: I've done what I can to make this program work correct and reliably, but always bear in mind that computer programs (and programmers) are fallible.
If much depends on the results, please double-check them.
The name "Hypatia" is a tribute to the teacher, philosopher, astronomer and mathematician Hypatia of Alexandria. For details about her, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypatia
Hypatia is written in the Phix programming language, phix.x10.mx.
The current version of Hypatia is 4.5. Keep checking hypatia-rpn.net for updates.
(c) Robert Schaechter, 2007-2025 (see "License" below).
Feedback is essential. Please report all bugs or any unexpected behavior that you may find! Also please do not hesitate to ask questions or make suggestions regarding the program or the documentation, or just let me know if you find the program useful.
Contact: robert@drs.at — please include "Hypatia" in the subject line.
If you don't receive a reply, I haven't received your mail, am not able to write, or my mail has landed in your spam folder.
No legalese, just very simple rules.
You may do with the executable file, the documentation, and the source code whatever you want, under three conditions:
- that you credit the original author,
- that you document the changes you have made, at least in general terms, and that
- under no circumstances are you allowed to modify this program in a way that could be potentially harmful to the user, or to distribute it in a potentially harmful way, for instance with an installer that installs other software or makes undocumented or unrequested changes to the user's computer.
The executable, the source code and the documentation are offered "as is." No warranty of any kind is provided or implied. All support is given voluntarily.