Frequent tipster Leonid Nemirovsky explains how users can access a calculator in AutoCAD.

"I am always losing things in the mess on my desktop — my calculator in particular. I can never find it when I need it, so I type QC at the Command prompt and use the Quick Calculator palette instead. I set it to Auto Hide and use it all the time."

Notes from Cadalyst Tip Reviewer Brian Benton: The Quick Calculator works just like a regular scientific calculator; it also has extra tools built in. The Quick Calculator can get information from your drawing and use it in its calculations. You can also get the calculations from the calculator and put them into your drawing. You can put those calculations — such as the distance of a line or coordinates — into commands. The Quick Calculator is a palette, so it can be moved around the screen, docked, hidden, opened, and closed.