Google+Search+Tips

Search Tips

Convert currency, metrics, bytes, and more


Google's powerful built-in converter calculator can help you out whether you're cooking dinner, traveling abroad, or building a PC. Find out how many teaspoons are in a quarter cup ([|quarter cup in teaspoons]) or how many seconds there are in a year ([|seconds in a year]) or how many euros there are to five dollars ([|5 USD in Euro]). For the geekier set, bits in kilobytes ([|155473 bytes in kilobytes]) and numbers in hex or binary ([|19 in binary]) are also pretty useful.

Find related terms and documents
Adding a tilde (~) to a search term will return related terms. For example, Googling ~nutrition returns results with the words nutrition, food, and health in them.

Make Calculations
Use Google to do math! Enter a calculation as you would into your computer's calculator (i.e. * corresponds to multiply, / to divide, etc), and voila!

Check The Weather


To check the weather forecast for any location, simply type "weather" and the ZIP code.

Look Up Definitions


Google can be used as an online dictionary. To look up a word, type in "define:" followed by the term you're looking for (i.e. "define:sculpture").

Eliminate Unwanted Results


The "minus operator" helps narrow down searches that may bring up unwanted results. Looking for information on oil spills--but not on the BP spill? Type in "oil spill -bp."

Search Numerical Ranges


Use Google's X..Y modifier to return only search results within a certain numerical range. (Hint: It's especially useful for date ranges and prices.)

Phrase Search


[|Joe Trusty]: Search for phrases in double quotes will find pages containing the exact phrase you searched for.

Link Search


Using the "link:......" putting the website in for .... will give you a list of webpages that have links to the website identified.

Information about a Website


Putting "info:" in front of a website's address in the search box will return information about the website.

Google Calculator Tricks
sec, csc, cot ||  || trig functions (arguments are assumed to be in radians) ||   || cos(pi/3) cosine(pi/3) ||
 * Solve mathematical problems with Google's built-in calculator function. Simply enter the expression you'd like evaluated in Google's web search box and hit the ENTER key or click the "Google Search" button. ||
 * **BASIC ARITHMETIC** ||
 * [[image:http://www.googleguide.com/images/cleardot.gif width="1" height="5"]] ||
 * OPERATOR ||  || MEANING ||   || TYPE INTO SEARCH BOX ||
 * **+** or **plus** ||  || addition ||   || 12 + 34 or three plus four ||
 * **–** or **minus** ||  || subtraction ||   || 3.4 - 5.6 or five minus two ||
 * ***** or **times** ||  || multiplication ||   || 56 * 7 or six times nine ||
 * **/** or **divided by** ||  || division ||   || 7 / 8 or ten divided by two ||
 * **% of** or **percent of** ||  || percentage of ||   || 45% of 39 ||
 * **mod** or **%** ||  || modulo (the remainder after division) ||   || 15 mod 9 or 15 % 9 ||
 * **^** or ||  || raise to a power ||   || 2^5 or 2**5 ||
 * the //n//th root of ||  || //n//th root ||   || 4th root of 16, sqrt(16), cube root of 109 ||
 * reciprocal of ||  || multiplicative inverse ||   || reciprocal of 7 ||
 * [[image:http://www.googleguide.com/images/cleardot.gif width="1" height="5"]] ||
 * ADVANCED MATH** ||
 * The following table lists some of the functions built into Google's calculator. ||
 * OPERATOR ||  || FUNCTION ||   || TYPE INTO SEARCH BOX ||
 * sin, cos, tan,
 * arcsin, arccos, arctan, arccsc, etc. ||  || inverse trigonometric functions ||   || arccos(.5) ||
 * sinh, cosh, tanh, csch, arsinh, arccsch, etc. ||  || hyperbolic functions ||   || cosh(6) ||
 * ln ||  || logarithm base e ||   || ln(16) ||
 * log ||  || logarithm base 10 ||   || log(16) ||
 * lg ||  || logarithm base 2 ||   || lg(16) ||
 * exp ||  || exponential function ||   || exp(16) ||
 * ! ||  || factorial ||   || 5! ||
 * choose ||  || //x// choose //y// calculates the number of ways of choosing a set of //y// elements from a set of //x// distinct elements ||   || 5 choose 3 ||
 * [[image:http://www.googleguide.com/images/cleardot.gif width="1" height="5"]] ||
 * CONSTANT ||  || MEANING ||   || TYPE INTO SEARCH BOX ||
 * e ||  || base of the natural system of logarithms ||   || e ||
 * pi ||  || the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle ||   || pi/6 ||
 * i ||  || imaginary number, which represents one of the two square roots of -1 ||   || i^2 ||
 * gamma ||  || Euler's constant ||   || e^gamma ||
 * [[image:http://www.googleguide.com/images/cleardot.gif width="1" height="5"]] ||