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View Poll Results: Which calculator manufacturer do you prefer?
Casio - everyone loves Casio! 4 16.67%
Texas Instruments - serious is best. 11 45.83%
HP 3 12.50%
Sharp 0 0%
Pen and paper 0 0%
Other - as I shall explain below 6 25.00%
Voters: 24. You may not vote on this poll

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  #26  
Old 01-05-2008, 08:06 PM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

Well, here is the manual.

ETA to :shakegummibear: at Master Taran. How dare you crosspost me!

:P
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  #27  
Old 01-05-2008, 08:08 PM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

Thanks both of you! :)
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  #28  
Old 01-05-2008, 08:40 PM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Goliath View Post
:shakegummibear:
I've had better threats. :whup: :D
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  #29  
Old 01-05-2008, 09:58 PM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

Sorry, I voted "Other" with the intention of posting "calc.exe" before I read the OP and discovered you were only interested in hardware.

I only know how to do basic arithmetic and that's all I've ever had to do, so calc.exe does it for me.
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  #30  
Old 01-05-2008, 10:45 PM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ensign Steve View Post
It takes 4 AAAs as well as some kind of watch battery, apparently. :shrug:
The watch battery is so you can change the main battery without you losing all your programs. The watch battery only powers the memory and lasts for years and years...
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  #31  
Old 01-05-2008, 10:48 PM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

The watch battery is still in there, but there's no AAA batteries. Not dead ones, just none at all. I can't remember what programs I had in there. I remember making some in high school, but I don't remember what. Mostly I think I just had text files full if crib notes. :shiftier:
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  #32  
Old 01-05-2008, 11:00 PM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

I have a TI programmable scientific calculator (TI-35+?) that I purchased when I was enrolled in engineering correspondence school back in 1986 that operates off a watch battery, one which I've never ever changed. It had bubble memory, which retained memory like a hard drive but with no moving parts, kind of like a flash drive. That programmable calculator still has some of the programs I put in it back then.
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  #33  
Old 01-05-2008, 11:10 PM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

I have to go with a more traditional calculator.

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  #34  
Old 01-06-2008, 07:14 AM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

I really like TI- and had one at one time which printed, which I liked best of all because I like records.

Right now I have a Texas Intruments BA II Plus. Way more buttons than I need or understand, but it lets me pretend to be smart.
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  #35  
Old 01-07-2008, 04:25 PM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

bc

And man, do I wish they had a hobbyist license for Mathematica. I cannot possibly justify the cost of the program, I don't do anything professional in the field, but it was just so damn FUN.
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  #36  
Old 01-13-2008, 03:26 AM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

This is what I have on my desk. Casio fx3600P, use it more often than the calculator on my computer.
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  #37  
Old 01-13-2008, 10:26 AM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

I like this one...

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  #38  
Old 01-26-2008, 08:32 AM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

I decided that I would treat myself to an RPN calculator so I've bought myself an HP 50g. :pleased:



It has USB and Infrared ports, an SD card slot and a buzzer. :vibes:

In some ways it seems more powerful than my TI-89 Titanium, but I'm not sure yet which one I shall end up using the most.
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  #39  
Old 01-26-2008, 09:44 AM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

Why does it need to buzz?
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  #40  
Old 01-26-2008, 10:37 AM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

The buzzer can alert you to errors, or when a long calculation has finished.

The calculator has a clock with timers, so you can use the buzzer as an alarm.

You can even program it to play primitive music. :vibes:

When you're playing games, the buzzer might be useful. I've not downloaded or written any games for my HP 50g yet, but on my TI-89 Titanium I play TI-Chess and you can even run Super Mario Quest on the TI-89 (not sure about the Titanium), which is pretty much a direct port of the original NES game.



The TI-89 Titanium doesn't have a buzzer, however.

You have to think of these high end calculators more as portable computers than as traditional calculators: the TI-89 has a 68000 processor running at 13MHz, and the HP 50g has a 75MHz ARM. Compared to a Pocket PC or Palm, they have poorer graphics and less connectivity, but they do have much greater battery life and are cheaper. (Plus, of course, they are much better for calculating. :P)
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  #41  
Old 01-26-2008, 03:56 PM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

Congratulations! She's a beaut!

What's a RPN Calculator?
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  #42  
Old 01-26-2008, 04:23 PM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ensign Steve View Post
Congratulations! She's a beaut!

What's a RPN Calculator?
Reverse Polish Notation.
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  #43  
Old 01-26-2008, 04:26 PM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

Oh, I get it.

Wait, what?
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  #44  
Old 01-26-2008, 04:43 PM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

RPN stands for Reverse Polish Notation.

'Normal' calculators use what is called Algebraic notation. Actually the HP 50g can work in either mode, and defaults to Algebraic, but HP aficionados will quickly switch it over to RPN mode to make it compatible with the classic HP calculators of old.

Say you wanted to work out 2 + 2 on most simple calculators you would press the keys:

2 + 2 =

On more advanced calculators, such as your TI-82, There will be a key labelled 'ENTER' that you use instead of =

2 + 2 ENTER

Now with RPN, you put the numbers on the stack first, and then use the operator key + at the end

2 ENTER 2 +

You can see now why RPN is also termed 'Postfix notation' whereas the algebraic mode is termed 'Infix notation'.

The advantage of RPN is that you almost never have to use bracket (parenthesis) keys, so there are many fewer keystrokes. Also, most RPN users claim that once you get used to the system, it's easier and you are less likely to make errors.

Say you wanted to work out:

3 x (2 + 4) + 5
---------------
6 x (7 + 8) + 9


On a TI-82 you'd press
( 3 x ( 2 + 4 ) + 5 ) ÷ ( 6 x ( 7 + 8 ) + 9 ) ENTER

And you'd get the answer 0.23 recurring, using 24 keystrokes

On the HP 50g you'd press

3 ENTER 2 ENTER 4 + x 5 + 6 ENTER 7 ENTER 8 + x 9 + ÷

And you'd get the same answer using only 19 keystrokes.

Actually you'd get that answer if you put the HP 50g in 'Approx' mode - in it's normal default mode it would display:

23
--
89


...and then you'd have to press rightshift ENTER to see that value as a decimal.

If you don't mind swapping the order of entering the numbers, compared to the order they're written down in, you can save a few keystrokes using both modes, but RPN will always have less keystrokes than Infix.

Have you got your TI-82 working yet, by the way?
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  #45  
Old 01-26-2008, 05:58 PM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

Very interesting. I learned postfix notation in C++ class, but I never heard it called reverse polish before. Learn something new every day! :)
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  #46  
Old 07-30-2008, 09:58 PM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

I have used a number of calculators, from the early HPs using reverse Polish processing to contemporary TIs and Casios. Two I consider no good: the TI-89 and the TI-nspire. The 89 is a powerful calculator but its programming is far more complicated than the best TI machine, the TI-84 series. And the Inspire is so complicated that it takes months to get used to doing the simplest tasks with it. Sadly, I understand that Casio is moving in the same direction. Their FX series calculators (mine is the Casio CFX-9850GB Plus) are excellent, nearly as good as the TI-84s.

Anyone with a TI-84 might be interested in the programs Mark Spahn developed to solve sudokus. They may be found at:

Inside Your Calculator
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  #47  
Old 07-30-2008, 10:15 PM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

it's it's like you guys are speaking in a forign language! I have NO idea what any of this means :D
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  #48  
Old 07-30-2008, 10:24 PM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

Ahh I miss my trusty TI calculator and my math and science classes. I've always wanted to buy a RPN calculator but since I'm out of school I can't bring myself to splurge on one. I used to have Mathematica and loved using it but now I'm no longer a student, Mathematica's out of my reach, me lowly science layman.
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  #49  
Old 07-30-2008, 10:43 PM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

I'm going back to school in the fall, and I'm taking Calculus. Should I buy a new calc, or just new batteries for my TI-81? (Or do I have an 85? I forget what I've already posted in this thread.)
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  #50  
Old 07-30-2008, 11:14 PM
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Default Re: What's your favourite calculator?

I had one in second grade that was shaped like a robot. It was fucking awesome.
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