Shop Calculators

It appears that the staples website has some HP's that might work. I hope the local store has in stock.

Bob

I have a HP48G at work and a somewhat more modern calculator at home (hp 49G?), I do not think that they stopped making RPN based calculators. They are also very easy to program.

See HP HP 48gII Graphing Calculator (F2226A#ABA)

i

IIRC, the early Casio scientific calculators (mid to late 1970s) were also RPN. Perhaps they're not quite so pricy on eBay as the HPs?

And I *know* there are RPN calculator programs available for PCs.

HP-33s, but the decimal point is hard to see and they put the Enter key in the wrong place.

Mike

HP still makes a financial calculator that uses RPN.

I'll miss my HP-16C and HP45 if they break.

snipped-for-privacy@c> I often run engineering calculations in the shop and for work. I have

Thank you guys. I placed an order.

Bob

It's not RPN, but I like the Construction Master 5 calculator. It lets you directly enter, and it displays fractions, such as 7/16.

What's RPN, and why is useful?

Strange that an *old* calculator would *appreciate*! Why is this?

But, along those lines, I myself have always felt that some of the old DOS software I used to use was substantially superior, from a nitty-gritty functionality POV, to the fancy-dancy windows stuff today. In particular a word-processor called XyWrite. Fit on a 5.25 floppy! And, if you form the quotient of functionality divided by (complexity+overhead+....), a lot of that old DOS stuff would calc out to be

*orders of magnitude* more superiorer. imvhco (c = caveman).

PV, would it be possible to remove those strange characters from your username, they are messing my screen.

it is reverse polish notation, where operands are entered first and then the operator. To calculate 2 +3*4, for example, you enter

2 3 4 * +

no idea

I use OpenOffice myself, it is a lot better tham MS Office, and is free.

i

Reverse Polish Notation.

1 (enter) 2 (enter) 3 (enter) (plus) (plus)

instead of

1 + 2 + 3 =

It's actually much easier once you get used to it, particularly for complex calculations -- but you have to get used to it.

Because no one makes RPN calculators any more, or at least they're hard to find. HP does make them, but you have to dig into their web site to find them.

XyWrite was nice.

I use OpenOffice. It's nice, it's free, they managed to make it robust about a year after I started using it and they've kept it that way -- and it works on my Linux machines, so if I ever lose all sanity I'll still have a word processor.

My HP 33s is RPN Thank goodness. I just got it at Wallmart last year. Hope they are still made. ...lew...

I am shocked to hear this. Hard to believe. I just checked on my calculator and it works correctly both ways.

i

Is there a reverse polish notation calculator for kids (meaning not too expensive, sturdy and simple to use).

i

The HP11C through 15C calculators are highly prized not for their top performance (they're slow compared to current ones) nor their power consumption (their NMOS technology means they go through batteries a lot faster than they could) but rather for their user interface. I learned to use my HP11C back in about '84 and then upgraded to a HP15C (which I still have) and the cool thing about it is you really don't ever have to use the manual. It's just so intuitive.

I got a HP28S sometime later, in grad school, and that thing was like programming a Commodore computer. More powerful, sure, but *way* less intuitive. I went back to my 15C and still have it, still use it.

In the school district where they live they call out TI-83+ calculators. We have had 4 students each with one of those. I wound up with one. They're nice little calculators, can do really a lot, but they are also very painful to use.

I'm happy the 15Cs have appreciated so much. Someday I'll sell mine and buy a Harley. :-)

Grant

You must explain that as I have been using HP calculators with RPN since about 1976 and on my 11C "1 (enter) 2 (enter) 3 (enter) (plus) (plus)" gives 8 whereas if I wanted to add 1 + 2 + 3 I would do 1 (enter) 2 (+)

3 (+) which gvies the correct answer of 6.

I have 2 HP11Cs the oldest being 1982 vintage made in USA, the 2nd being

1988-89 vintage made in Mexico. The oldest is on its 3rd set of batteries so maybe I don't use it enough but the batteries have always been changed as a maybe this would be a good time to do it rather than the calculator needing new batteries. I can't think of any other modern electronic device that I am still using regularly 25 years on and I would be saddened if I had to part with these most reliable tools. I'm pleased to see that HP still make RPN calcs as its so ingrained that non RPN calcs are a pain to use.

Regarding having 2, I lost the first and replaced it but the first was then returned. I went to thank the guys that returned it and their comment was that it was a nice looking calculator and they would have kept it if they couldn't figure out how to use it. It still amuses me if someone askes to borrow it and then gets that bemused look when they can't find the = key.

Here's a quote from a post that may have some application to calulators used in the shop...

"Ed Mueller, a fellow I worked with years ago told the story of the TI & HP reps coming to the campus to try to sell calculators (Northrop University circa 1974).

The TI guy went 1st. At the end of his spiel, he said, "and here's something that our's will do that his won't--hyperbolic trig."

The HP guy went next. After he had finished, he asked, "Any questions?". A guy said, "He showed us something that his will do that yours won't; show us something that yours will do that his won't."

The HP guy threw the calculator up against the wall, picked it up, and continued to use it as a calculator."

Grant, I think that it is not really confusing at all. I will experiment with my son and will report on it.

i

By doing 1 (enter) 2 (enter) 3 (enter) you put in the stack:

1 2 3 3 then by doing +

• you add 3 + 3 + 2 to get 8.

If you want to do 1+2+3 do 1 (enter) 2 (enter) 3 + +

Pilot error ..

Grant