RPN is the only way to go. I have been using my trusty old HP15C since it was new in 1984. Wrote a short program for it that translates between decimal and hexadecimal. When displaying a hex number, (two) digit places are used to display 11,12,13,14,15 (more commonly called A,B,C,D,E.F) The program is set up so that when ever it is displaying one of those jury-rigged hex results, the display blinks to remind me to read it as hex. In my humble opinion, HP15C is by far the best hand held computer ever made.
On Friday, December 27, 2024 at 5:08:44 PM UTC-5 Mac Doktor wrote: > Some random thoughts... > > > On Dec 27, 2024, at 3:20 PM, newxito <[email protected]> wrote: > > - What happens if I enter 12.999? Is that even possible? > > > - For subsequent calculations, does it use the displayed value or the > entered/calculated value with all decimal places? > > > In fixed mode my RPN calculator displays everything you enter and then > truncates that to two decimal places on both the display and internally. > It's commonly used for financial calculations so I would assume it's > rounded up. > > > - How is a result like 1234567890.65 displayed? 34567890.65 and overflow? > 1234567890 with no decimals? Something else? > > > Normally you'd use scientific notation for floating point operations with > lots of decimal places: > > 123.456 = 1.23456E2 > > The snag here is that you don't have "E" or a minus sign for numbers < 0 > without alphanumeric tubes. Problematic. > > I suppose you could at least use neon lamps and optic fibers to create > decimal points. Commas would be cute. > > > What would really interest me is an RPN calculator. My beloved HP is out > of production and used ones are going for $125 on eBay. I programmed in > FORTH back in the day (Apple ][+; I still have it) and became very > comfortable doing stack-based math. Once you get used to RPN you never go > back. > > With alphanumeric tubes you can also do hexadecimal, the other thing that > I'd like to be able to never go back from. I hope that last sentence makes > sense. RPN, hex, I'm there. > > > Terry Bowman, KA4HJH > "The Mac Doctor" > > https://www.astarcloseup.com > > "Would you like to see the relevant data?"—343 Guilty Spark, *Halo 2* > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/3edfa6c2-b9e5-443c-ba7d-8386068506dfn%40googlegroups.com.
