Home Renovation

Kitchen remodel and patio budget using averages, square roots, constants, booleans, and rate conversions.

View full document →

Planning a kitchen remodel and backyard patio is a great way to see CalcMark’s math functions, constants, boolean logic, and rate conversions working together in one document.

The complete CalcMark file is available at testdata/examples/home-renovation.cm.

Averaging Contractor Quotes #

You’ve collected three quotes for the kitchen remodel. The avg function takes any number of values and returns their mean:

quote_a = 8500
quote_b = 9200
quote_c = 7800

average_quote = average of quote_a, quote_b, quote_c

The average comes out to 8,500. The average of syntax is the natural language form — you can also write avg(quote_a, quote_b, quote_c) using function-call syntax.

CalcMark features: average of (NL form of avg()); variable references.

Room Measurements with sqrt #

You need the kitchen diagonal for countertop layout planning. CalcMark’s sqrt function handles the Pythagorean theorem:

kitchen_length = 15
kitchen_width = 12
kitchen_sqft = kitchen_length * kitchen_width
diagonal = sqrt(kitchen_length ^ 2 + kitchen_width ^ 2)

The kitchen is 180 sqft with a 19.2-foot diagonal. The ^ operator handles exponentiation, and sqrt returns the square root.

CalcMark features: sqrt() function; exponentiation (^); derived calculations.

Circular Patio with PI #

The backyard patio is a 12-foot diameter circle. CalcMark has PI as a built-in constant:

patio_radius = 6
patio_area = PI * patio_radius ^ 2

The area is approximately 113.1 square feet. PI is read-only — you can’t reassign it. E (Euler’s number) is also available.

CalcMark features: PI constant; exponentiation with constants.

Precise Display #

Concrete is sold per square foot, so you need the exact area for your order. The as precise modifier shows full precision, skipping CalcMark’s default display rounding:

patio_area as precise

This shows 113.097336 instead of a rounded value. Useful when you need exact quantities for materials ordering. It’s the opposite of as napkin.

CalcMark features: as precise modifier.

Material Costs #

Cabinets, countertops, patio concrete, and tile flooring. Multiplying a number by a currency preserves the $ unit:

cabinets = $6200
countertop_sqft = 45
countertop_rate = $75
countertops = countertop_sqft * countertop_rate

Patio concrete at $8/sqft (rounded up to nearest whole number):

patio_concrete = patio_area * $8

Tile flooring for the kitchen:

tile_per_sqft = $12
flooring = kitchen_sqft * tile_per_sqft

Countertops come to $3,375, patio concrete $904.78, and kitchen flooring $2,160. CalcMark preserves currency types through arithmetic — the result of 45 * $75 is $3,375, not a plain number.

CalcMark features: Currency literals ($); currency arithmetic; markdown prose between calculations.

Rate Conversion with convert_rate #

Your contractor charges $800/day. The convert_rate function converts a rate to a different time unit without accumulating:

daily_rate = $800/day
weekly_rate = convert_rate(daily_rate, week)

The weekly rate is $5,600/week. This is different from $800/day over 1 week, which would accumulate the rate into a total ($5,600 flat). convert_rate keeps it as a rate.

CalcMark features: convert_rate() function; rate literals ($800/day).

Accumulation with accumulate #

Lumber arrives at 2 pallets per day over the 3-week build. The accumulate function totals a rate over a duration:

total_deliveries = 2 pallets/day over 3 weeks

That’s 42 pallets total. CalcMark handles the unit conversion (days to weeks) automatically. The over keyword is the natural language form — you can also write accumulate(2 pallets/day, 3 weeks) using function-call syntax.

CalcMark features: rate accumulation with over; rate with custom units (pallets/day); automatic time unit conversion.

Project Budget #

The X% of value syntax calculates a percentage directly:

subtotal = cabinets + countertops + patio_concrete + flooring
contingency = 15% of subtotal
total = subtotal + contingency

Subtotal is $12,640, plus a 15% contingency of $1,896, for a total of $14,536.

CalcMark features: X% of value syntax; currency addition across sections.

Boolean Logic #

CalcMark supports and, or, and not operators that produce boolean results. Here you check two conditions at once:

budget_ok = total < $50000 and contingency > $1500
under_budget = not (total > $50000)

Both evaluate to true. The and operator requires both comparisons to be true. The not operator inverts a boolean. You can also use or to check if either condition is true.

CalcMark features: Boolean operators (and, not); comparison operators (<, >); parentheses for grouping.

Napkin Math #

The as napkin modifier rounds to 2 significant figures with a human-readable suffix:

total as napkin

The total rounds from $14,536 to ~$15K — a quick number for conversation.

CalcMark features: as napkin modifier.

Features Demonstrated #

This example showcases the following CalcMark features:

• avg() — averaging multiple values
• sqrt() — square root for geometric calculations
• PI constant — built-in mathematical constant
• as precise — full-precision display for exact values
• convert_rate() — converting rates to different time units
• accumulate() — totaling a rate over a duration
• X% of value — percentage calculations
• Boolean operators — and, not with comparison operators
• as napkin — quick rounding for estimates
• Currency arithmetic — $ preserved through calculations
• Rate literals — $800/day, 2 pallets/day
• Custom units — pallets as a custom unit

Try It #

cm testdata/examples/home-renovation.cm