“You must show your work.” That was a phrase I heard in almost every one of my math classes. Showing your work proves to the teacher that you really know what you’re doing and helps you backtrack if a mistake was made. When using a calculator, being able to show your work is a little more difficult, and even more so when calculating on your phone or computer. But, there is a little known feature called “Paper Tape” that shows all of your work using the Mac calculator.

How To Enable the “Paper Tape” in Calculator app on your Mac

Step 1.
Open the Calculator application using Spotlight or locating it in your Applications folder.

Step 2.
Select Window -> Show Paper Tape or hit Command + T.

Step 3.
A small window will appear next to your calculator. It will record everything you input. You may clear current calculations by clicking Clear at the bottom of the Paper Tape window.

Step 4.
If you would like to save or print your work, select File and choose your preference in the drop-down menu.

Remember that you can also choose different calculators for more advanced needs or programming options.

This helpful added functionality goes unnoticed by many Mac Calculator users. The Paper Tape option makes it extremely easy to “show your work” and review long and complicated calculations.

How useful do you find the Paper Tape option? Let us know in the comment section.