Stack Calculator – Efficient Reverse Polish Notation Tool

This tool helps you perform advanced stack-based arithmetic calculations quickly and efficiently.

How to Use the Stack Calculator

This stack calculator allows you to perform calculations using Reverse Polish Notation (RPN). In this system, operators follow their operands. It utilizes a stack data structure where you push numbers onto the stack and apply operations to them by popping from the stack.

Steps to Use:

  1. Input your stack operations in the text field. Operands and operators should be separated by spaces.
  2. Click the “Calculate” button to compute the result.
  3. The result will be displayed in the Result field below the button.

Example:

To calculate “3 4 +”, enter “3 4 +” in the input field and click “Calculate”. The result will be 7.

How It Calculates:

The calculator reads the input string and splits it by spaces to get individual tokens. These tokens are then processed as follows:

  1. If a token is a number, it is pushed onto the stack.
  2. If a token is an operator, the last two numbers are popped from the stack, the operation is applied, and the result is pushed back onto the stack.

Once all tokens are processed, the single remaining value on the stack is the result.

Limitations:

  • All tokens must be separated by spaces.
  • Only supports basic arithmetic operations: +, -, *, /.
  • Does not handle invalid input gracefully beyond simple error messages.