There is a very good HP-35s simulator too, but I don't use it because, with all the programming and other extra features compared with the early HP calculators, it's too complicated to look at and use on a monitor.
The Reverse Polish Notation of my first HP calculator (the HP-45) prepared my brain to use FORTH, and that led to the basic design of the first ancestor of the GF4 Waveform Calculator. With Windows 10 (I hope it will work on Windows 11, too), I've been doing simple arithmetic and unit conversions using the Start Menu type-in facility. For example, tap the Windows key and type "21 deg c". It shows you 69.8 deg F plus some other conversions. Another one could be "5 oz in gr". I never remember how big a hectare is, so: "1 acre in hectares" gives "1 Acre = 0.4047 Hectares". "sqrt 640" gives the square root of 640. It's really handy, and surprisingly flexible in grasping the questions (I imagine it's quietly going out to Bing to do the work). More convenient than going through a search page in a browser, although search engines will do the same. On Saturday, August 27, 2022 at 5:31:35 AM UTC-4 jkn wrote: > I have an HP-35s calculator which I like but use fairly rarely - not > enough to fully use the RPN features. It is a shame that battery life is > relatively short. > > At the age of 13 or so I first saw an HP-65 calculator not long after they > came out, in 1974. My mum took me to some sort of education open evening > and it was there on open display to play with, magnetic card reader and > all. My teenage brain was never the same again... > > On Saturday, August 27, 2022 at 4:42:51 AM UTC+1 tbp1...@gmail.com wrote: > >> 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/4f345764-0035-4f0b-8706-f619268f9af9n%40googlegroups.com.
