PCalc 4+

Kilojoules calculation - Is it wrong?

When I enter the argument to convert 4.184 Kilojoules to Calories the returned answer is 1,000 calories. The answer I was looking for was 1.0 so have I misunderstood something here?

UPDATE: Tim got back to me on this so I felt bad about putting this in here prior to sending my query over email. Glad I can come back in to revisit the review / question. The explanation taught me something new so I was very happy about the response - and the App answer turns out to be 100% correct (I was wrong!!) I gave this 5 stars prior to typing the question because the calculator is well worth the money. Top product and TOTALLY LOVE the Apple Watch App that is also a ‘Complication’ (which is why I got this in the first place). As an Australian Chartered Accountant - I totally RECOMMEND this app ESPECIALLY if you have an Apple Watch!!

Developer Response ,

Thanks for getting in touch. The calculation is correct but calories (abbreviation: cal) can be confusing. Often, especially in the context of food, people say calories when what they are really talking about are kilocalories (abbreviation: kcal). In my experience nutritional labels use kcal and kJ, but the writers of recipes sometimes tend towards that usage of Calories, which is also referred to as large calorie or food calorie (abbreviation: Cal). So 1,000 cal = 1 kcal = 1 Cal = 4.184 kJ. Unfortunately the capitalisation often gets lost, overlooked or is even dropped. For the sake of consistency PCalc sticks to cal (sometimes called small calorie) and kcal. Hope this helps.

You know it’s good when...

Not only is it a great calculator, but it has mfi gamepad support (probably for the Appletv version, but still... amazing) and you can change the app icon. That’s crazy. In fact, this app has so much customisation, at this point the only thing it can’t do is read minds and prepare a cup of coffee.

I’ve put off buying this for years. Big mistake. It looks like I’ll be using it a lot!