How to Use Your iPhone Calculator as a Scientific Calculator

* This article is from our Tip of the Day newsletter. . *

I use advanced functions on my calculator fairly regularly, so it's great not to need a scientific calculator app on my iPhone. I can use the scientific calculator on my iPhone calculator instead! Here's how to use your iPhone calculator as a scientific calculator.

Why You'll Love This Tip:

  • Use the scientific calculator on iPhone for logarithmic, exponential, and trigonometric functions.
  • View complete mathematical expressions with multiple operations, parenthesis, and trigonometry before tapping the equal sign to see the answer. 

How to Use the Scientific Calculator on Your iPhone Calculator

System Requirements

This tip works on the iPhone XR and later running iOS 18 or later. For earlier iPhone versions, you need to turn your iPhone horizontally to reveal the Scientific Calculator. Find out how to update to the latest version of iOS.

We'll show you how to get the scientific calculator on iPhone, plus all the notations and functions it can do. You don't need a scientific calculator app!

iPhone Life
Discover your iPhone's hidden features
Get a daily tip (with screenshots and clear instructions) so you can master your iPhone in just one minute a day.

Note

Your iPhone's Calculator app uses the order of operations. To arrive at a correct answer, be sure to put parenthesis around expressions that need to be calculated first. 

  1. Open the Calculator app on your iPhone.

    iPhone calculator app
  2. Tap the Calculator icon.

    tap calculator icon
  3. Tap Scientific.

    tap basic or scientific
  4. Now you can work with stored values; for example, add the value on screen to memory by tapping m+.

    tap m+ to add value on screen to memory
  5. You can also use exponential and logarithmic functions or notation. For example, to square a value, enter a number, tap x2, then =.

    tap m2 to square a value
  6. You can also use trigonometric and hyperbolic functions, including Sine. Just tap sin, enter a number, then tap =.

    figure sin on iphone calculator
  7. Finally, you can use radians or degrees. Tap Rad to change to radians, tap Deg to switch back to degrees.

    change from rad to deg on iphone calculator

There are many more options to use on the scientific calculator on your iPhone. Now, you can use your iPhone for scientific calculator functions like exponents, logarithms, square roots, and calculations involving Pi. Be sure to check out our free Tip of the Day for more great iPhone Calculator tutorials!

Master your iPhone in one minute a day: Sign up here to get our FREE Tip of the Day delivered right to your inbox.

Topics

Author Details

Sarah Kingsbury's picture

Author Details

Sarah Kingsbury

As the Editorial Director at iPhone Life, Sarah Kingsbury manages the online editorial team and oversees all website content. She is a long-time Apple enthusiast who never goes anywhere without her Apple Watch and owns way too many HomePods. Since joining iPhone Life in 2013, Sarah has done everything from writing hundreds of how-to articles to founding the Daily Tip newsletter. She even co-hosted the early episodes of the iPhone Life Podcast. When not at work, Sarah can be found hiking in the mountains and canyons around Las Vegas, where she lives with her partner and dogs.