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Tech Tip: Using Siri as a Quick Calculator

Sometimes pulling up the calculator on an iPhone just to make a quick calculation can take more time than if you just did the numbers on a piece of paper. You have to find the app, clear any previous results, and then hope you tap the right buttons. It’s even worse on the iPad, since Apple chose not to provide a calculator app with its tablet. That’s no problem, since Siri will be glad to help you with many calculations.

Let’s start by adding up three numbers:

“Siri, what is 123.47 plus 34.993 plus 21.016?”

Siri: Addition

Subtraction isn’t a problem for Siri, either:

“What is 2,876 minus 423.93?”

Siri: Subtraction

Multiplication? Naturally, Siri’s a whiz at that:

“What is 225.44 times 631.53?”

Siri: Multiplication

And how about division?

“What is 2,800 divided by 3.14159?”

Siri: Division

Siri’s smart enough that it realizes you’re dividing by Pi, so it gives you an approximate answer to go along with that irrational number. Can Siri do everyday calculations? Let’s give it a try:

“What’s the area of a circle that is 5 inches in diameter?”

Siri: Find the area of a circle with known diameter

For that answer, Siri tosses the question over to WolframAlpha, which accurately displays the answer. Let’s get even more crazy:

“What’s the surface area of a sphere with a radius of 25 feet?”

Siri: Surface area of a sphere with known radius

Siri and WolframAlpha make a great team, and I don’t think they were even breathing hard making that calculation. Siri can even do some statistical calculations:

“What’s the average of 123.47 and 34.993 and 21.016?”

Siri: Calculating mean of three numbers

Note that since I had a few numbers there, I had to separate them with the word “and”. How about calculating the standard deviation of that small statistical sample?

“What’s the standard deviation of 123.47 and 34.993 and 21.016?”

Siri: Standard deviation

Cool. Siri can also do square roots and cube roots!

“What’s the square root of 23.448? What’s the cube root of 23.448?”

Siri: Square Root and Cube Root

And if you ask nicely, Siri will square numbers for you as well:

“What is the square of 93.48?”

Siri: Squaring a number

Siri will also do some fractions for you:

“What is one third of 527?”

Siri: Fractions

By the way, if you happen to have an Apple Watch, it makes an even handier Siri calculator. Just raise your wrist, say “Hey, Siri” and then recite the calculation you’d like Siri to do. Oddly, some of the calculations that are done by WolframAlpha require the Watch to hand off the answer to an iPhone, while others do not.

I’ve just provided a sample of Siri’s fun and useful calculation powers here, and I leave it to the readers to find more ways to use Siri as a calculator. If you come up with something amazing, let us all know about it in the comments section below.

Steve Sande
the authorSteve Sande
Contributing Author
Steve has been writing about Apple products since 1986, starting on a bulletin board system, creating the first of his many Apple-related websites in 1994, joining the staff of The Unofficial Apple Weblog in 2008, and founding Apple World Today in 2015. He’s semi-retired, loves to camp and take photos, and is an FAA-licensed drone pilot.
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8 Comments

  • On iOS 16, Siri has forgotten how to do this most of the time. “What is 625013 minus 101298?” Instead of giving an answer, she responds “whose contact info are you looking for?” I used to use this all the time, now this is driving me up a wall.

  • Ever since the iOS 16 update, Siri is not consistent with repeating the numbers back to me when I ask her for addition for a series of numbers. I use this for work for a quick calculation. Any way I can get Siri to repeat the numbers back that I am having her add?

  • How do I intall this ap to my iPad.?Is it a free service? I need something to help me with calculations

      • Hi, Martha –

        A calculator comes pre-installed on the iPhone, but there is not one on the iPad. I suggest PCalc from the App Store, which is a wonderful calculator for the iPad. If you’ve never installed an app on an iPad or an iPhone before, this Apple support web page is very helpful: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204266.

        Steve