Sometimes there is just no substitute for a good calculator. Even though your computer could do a little calculation for you - if it had a decent calculator program - the applet that came with the OS is hopeless and you are stuck. I sometimes use one to calculate parameters for use while I am working with GF4, and I have occasionally had other needs for a calculator in the past.
I am very fond of HP Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) calculators. I used one or another professionally for years before -and sometimes after - the advent of practical personal computers. If you aren't used to RPN, it takes a little getting used to, but it's generally much easier and faster to use once you have. Those of you who have used them in the past know what I mean. There are on-screen emulators for a number of HP calculators, and they work well (some of them may be for Windows only). The best ones use the actual microcode extracted from old calculators. HP had some engineers who really knew their stuff about arithmetic calculations and maintaining precision in difficult cases, and their algorithms were generally outstanding. A number of these calculators could be programmed, a feature I made good use of. But the extra functionality makes the keyboard more complicated and hard to read. Probably few of us will actually do any programming with these emulators even though they support it. Some of the calculators that are available include the HP35 (the original HP pocket calculator), HP45, HP21, HP25, HP41, and HP15c. I recommend the HP-45 emulator because it has the best combination of functions, simplicity, and an easy-to-read onscreen keyboard. The HP-15c emulator is very good, but the calculator has a horizontal layout and is somewhat large, so it may not fit well on the screen with other program windows very well. It depends on your screen, of course. Here are some links for emulators - HP 35, 45 <http://www.panamatik.de/html/hp_classic.html> HP21, 25 <http://www.panamatik.de/html/hp_woodstock.html> HP41 <http://www.hp41.org/Emulation.cfm> HP15c <https://hp15c.com> Have fun! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "leo-editor" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to leo-editor+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/leo-editor/371ff3a4-10f0-48ec-b245-357c3a5f2f29n%40googlegroups.com.
