My Pocket PC phone is now officially worth it

I took calculus when I was still in high school, and I did pretty well on the math SAT, but there is one kind of calculation I simply can’t do: the restaurant tip. For some reason my mind just goes blank. Even when it’s something simple like “triple the tax,” I choke. You have no idea how relieved I am when the credit card slip suggests an appropriate amount.

Enter 1-Calc Lite. This application has something called the Tip Calculator. Key in the bill total and choose a tip percentage from the drop-down menu. You’ll instantly see how much you should be tipping. Now choose how many ways you’ll be splitting the check, anywhere between one and twenty people. You’ll see how much each person has to cough up. (Unfortunately, the program is unable to identify which jerk in your party threw in a $10 instead of a $20.)

The next time you open the program, your last tip percentage and number in your party will still be there, so you don’t have to enter it in each time.

1-Calc Lite is currently available as a free download, but I’m not sure if this offer will last forever. A version with many more features can be purchased for $30 from Omega One Software.