Ask Siri
You can ask Siri for feet-inch-fraction math without opening the app. Siri passes what you said to the same exact engine the Dimensional Calculator uses, then says the answer and shows it written out.
Step by step
- Say "Hey Siri", then one of these two phrases:
- "Ask Housewright Calc to calculate"
- "Calculate a dimension in Housewright Calc"
- Siri asks "What should I calculate?"
- Say the sum — for example "5 foot 3 and 5/16 plus 12 and a half inches".
- Siri reads the answer in words — feet, inches and the fraction — and shows the sum with the written answer beside it.
What you can say
The sum is read by the same parser as the mic key, so the same phrases work and the same ones are refused. The list is on Voice entry. It never guesses: if it cannot read every word, Siri says "I couldn't read … as dimension math" and suggests a phrase to try.
Fractions and format
Siri answers at the fraction and format you last chose on the Dimensional Calculator's fraction menu — the 1/16″ key in the bottom row. Set the calculator to 1/32″ and Siri answers to 1/32″. An answer that does not land exactly on that fraction is marked ≈, as it is everywhere in the app.
Siri's answer is only spoken and shown. It is not added to the calculator's tape.
In the Shortcuts app
The same action is in Shortcuts as Calculate a dimension, under Housewright Calc. It takes one text input, Expression, so you can build it into a shortcut of your own.
If it doesn't work
- Siri does something else. Use one of the two phrases as written, with the app's full name, "Housewright Calc".
- "I couldn't read … as dimension math." A word in the sum is not in the vocabulary. Common ones: "to" and "for" heard in place of two and four, or a number said straight after "inches". See Voice entry.