Calculators

[SY]

Whatever happened to books of logarithms and slip-sticks?

When was the last time you used the word "mantissa?"

[jackinnj]

Originally posted by SY


When was the last time you used the word "mantissa?"

Don't they eat their mates?

Man tissa one b_itchin' calculator

[ak_47_boy]

I have a TI-84, it does everything and some since you can write your own programs for it. Graphing features are great.

[bwaslo]

"The earlier 33S had an impossible-to-see decimal point.."

Did they fix that in recent ones? That's the main thing that kept me away. Another thing was that it is a REALLY UGLY calculator, maybe I can squint my eyes and get past that (squinting couldn't make it any harder to find the essential keys like 'Enter'). I think HP hired some trekky to design their new calculators, rather than someone who occasionally uses one!

I've got two HP32S that I'm nursing along, but I'll only be able to fix them so many times.

And yes, IMHO, RPN is much nicer for long calcuations and for figuring things out without having to use paper or have the calculator preprogrammed. I truly hate algebraic notation calculators after using RPN.... But I'm an oldie too. Do younger people even use calculators anymore other than for taking SATs? Young engineers I see seem to always open their laptops to do math....

[torroid88]

"HP made damned cool stuff before they went in the PC/Printer business..."

Yeah, they had the misfortune to be taken over by MBAs, whose only "invention" with the "INVENT!" motto !!!

[Conrad Hoffman]

I don't know about the decimal, as both my units were old ones Wal-Mart blew out very cheaply a year or two ago. I keep my brown 32S ones for use at home, and the new one at work where it wouldn't be a tragedy if someone threw it against a wall because they couldn't figure out RPN.

I won't buy HP computer anything, as the last scanner and printer I got from them were nothing but trouble and got no upgrade support. IMO, their entire software staff should be, er, "reeducated" in some fashion. It's too bad the test equipment half the company, that owes its legacy to Mr. Hewlett and Mr. Packard, couldn't have kept the name.

[Brett]

I've used RPN calculators (currently an old HP48G) for so long now, that using a 'standard' one takes me a few moments of conscious thought, and I'm much, much slower using them when doing anything more complicated than a simple addition, multiplication etc.

I also used to have a free PC based HP clone software calculator, but lost it in a crash. Sure would be handy to have for when the HP isn't to hand.

[jackinnj]

You may find the program you need here:
http://www.hpcalc.org/

[peranders]

This is extremely cool, if you have owned an HP25 like I have.

Scroll down to HP-25
http://www.hpmuseum.org/simulate/simulate.htm#java25

This simulation runs rather slowly on a PC but very fast on a Mac? Any idea why?

[peranders]

Originally posted by stoolpigeon
I've been using my daughters calculator to help a friend with their small business but even though it has "everything" I wish I had my old HP with reverse polish notation.

I know there are some computer simulations but can you still buy a hand held calculator with this feature?

If nothing else we will see who the oldtimers are!!!!!!

If you happend to use Mac, check this!
http://www.tamburri.net/LXVII/LXVII%20Home/Welcome.html