Known quirks and gotchas

These are the places where Varlig Calc doesn’t do what you might expect. Each row shows what you might write, what happens, and what to write instead where there’s a way round it. They were checked against Varlig Calc 0.5.1.

Phrases and functions

You write	What happens	Instead
`5 combinations of 2`, `5 permutations of 2`	`Error: calculation limit`	`5 combination 2`, `combination(5, 2)`

Parsing and words

You write	What happens	Instead
`#` in a calculation	A `#` and a space starts a comment, so the rest of the line is ignored. Joined to a word (`#food`) it’s a tag, and joined to the word before it a musical sharp (`C#4 in Hz`)	Nothing to change; leave the space in for a comment, and take it out for a tag
`#1`, `#2026budget` as a tag	Not a tag, because a tag name starts with a letter. After a word, a hash and digits number the line (`Invoice #123: £250`)	`#q1`, `#budget2026`
`#fee`, `#face` as a tag	Three, four, six or eight hex digits after the hash are a colour code	A name that isn’t all hex digits, such as `#fees`
`20 Mm`	Read as millimetres, `20 mm`	Megametres aren’t available; use `20,000 km`
`1'000'000`	`'` means feet, so this shows `1 foot`	`1,000,000` or `1000000`
`1 tesla`, `3 nights`	Shows `1 teslas` and `3 night`: units display in the catalogue’s own spelling	Nothing to change; the value is right
`5 + rent2` before `rent2` is defined	`Unsupported: unrecognized calculation at "rent2"`. A word with digits or underscores next to an operator is a name you haven’t defined yet, never a description or its digits; earlier versions showed `5`	Define it first (`rent2 = £1,200`), or describe the line in a label (`Flat 2: £1,150 + £200`)
`£40 + hour 2`	Shows `£42.00`. A word before a number describes it and the number is the amount, as `5 + Year 1` shows `6`; a label’s number is left out only before its own amount	Write the row’s amount after its label: `£40 + hour 2 £50`
`km 42 in miles`	`Error: incompatible units`. A unit written before a number names it rather than measuring it, so there’s nothing to convert	`42 km in miles`
`distance 1 500 km`	Shows `500 km`. After a word and its number, a space before a unit starts the amount, as in `Week 2 150 hours`	`distance 1,500 km`
`Salle 12 400 €` with French numbers	Shows `12 400,00 €`. Where a space groups thousands, `12 400` is one number, just like `1 200` in `Loyer 1 200 €`	Put the label before a colon: `Salle 12 : 400 €`
`Meet in room 3B`	Shows `3 B`, three bytes: a line of words with one amount shows it, as `Meet in room 3` shows `3`, and `3B` is how bytes are written	Put the note in a comment: `# Meet in room 3B`

Dates and times

You write	What happens	Instead
`2024`	A plain number, not a date	A full date, such as `1 March 2024`
`week number`	Shows no answer, although `day number` works	`week number on today`
`3rd workday`	Three workdays’ worth of time, not the third working day from today	`third workday` or `3rd business day`
`1 March 2026 + 10 workdays`	Skips weekends only; public holidays aren’t built in	Allow for public holidays yourself
`3pm JST in UTC`	Shows `06:00` on the 24-hour clock, while other conversions show AM and PM	Nothing to change; the time is right
`last quarter`	The quarter before this one, not October to December	`last quarter of 2026` or `Q4 2026`
`3pm in Tokyo`	Converts 3pm on your own clock, not 3pm in Tokyo	`3pm London in Tokyo` for a time elsewhere
`H1`, `H2`	Shows no answer without a year, so a heading stays a heading	`H1 2026`, or `first half` for this year

Units and rates

You write	What happens	Instead
`$1000 at 5% per year`	Shows `20,000 years`	`$1000 * 5%` for a year’s interest
`2 hours 30 minutes as fraction`	Shows `9,000`	`2 hours 30 minutes in hours`
`1-2 kg`	A range that can’t be converted or used in arithmetic	Work with each end separately
`255 to base 7`	Shows no answer and no error	`255 in hex` works for base 16
`12.5 km/h in min/km`	Shows `4.8 min/km`, a decimal rather than minutes and seconds	`12.5 km in 1 hour` gives `04:48/km`
`20c`	Reads as 20 cents; a hint gives the Celsius reading	`20 °C`, or `20c in F` in a conversion
`£10.99 a month * 12`	Still per month; a hint says so	`£10.99 a month in £/year`
`30 mpg`	Miles per US gallon	`30 UK mpg` for a UK figure
`1013 mb`	1,013 megabytes: an all-lowercase data size wins over the millibar	`1013 mbar` or `1013 millibars`
`50 in-lb`	`Error: incompatible units`: the leading `in` reads as “convert to”	`50 lb-in` or `50 inch-pounds`

Finance

You write	What happens	Instead
`$100 invested returned $150`	`Unsupported: unconsumed calculation at "$150"`	`$100 invested $150 returned`
`€100 to USD on 2 January 2020` when historical rates haven’t loaded	`Error: ∞` rather than a missing-data message	Try again once rates are available
`£1000 for 5 years at 1% per month compounding quarterly`	An error: a monthly rate already compounds every month	A yearly rate, as in `12% compounding quarterly`

Display

You write	What happens	Instead
`3bn`	Shows `3G` for a plain number; money uses `B`, as in `$3B`	Nothing to change; the value is right
`1 satoshi`	Shows with the `丰` symbol	Nothing to change; the value is right
`moon phase`, `lunar day`	Update only when the note recalculates	Edit the note to refresh them