Re: HP Graphing Calculators

["Ivan E. Rouse" <irouse@LASIERRA.EDU>]

At 11:55 9/11/00 -0700, you wrote:
> But what about the relative merits of Keuffel & Esser (wood) and Sun-Hemmi
> (bamboo) calculators, relative to, say, Pickett (aluminum) and Faber-Castell
> (solid plastic). Is a twenty-inch K&E really necessary to prove one's
> manhood? Are five-inch circulars for wusses? Are ten-inch circulars good for
> pitching to athletic dogs?
>
> I actually purchased a small circular at the Caltech bookstore in about 1986.
> It cost less than five dollars; I couldn't help myself!
>
> Leigh

Does that ever bring back memories!  When I was taking engineering and
physics in the late 60's the status symbol wasn't a cell phone or laptop
(of course) but a long leather case hanging from your belt with as wide a
sliderule as you could afford inside.  Personally, I liked the bamboo ones
best but could only afford a cheaper aluminum Pickett.

When I got to graduate school in physics about 1970 I splurged and bought a
Sears scientific calculator (no scientific notation but many math
functions) because it cost half what the new HP calculators cost (~$300+).
Oh yes and computers were communicated with using punched cards (many a
late night was spent correcting jots and tittles to get a graph plotted by
the computer etc) or eventually a Teletype terminal in the Physics
Department.  During her college & grad school years my wife helped put food
on the table by running a keypunch machine.  When I came to this job 23
years ago I spent one of my first summers learning how to use an Altair
8800 that one had to start by using binary switches on the front, step by
step.  Then we could load a tape that fired up a nice version of basic.
Those were the days and what a long way we have come in recent years!

I still vividly remember one of my older colleagues remarks about an
assignment he was giving his undergrad optics students.  He was having them
do calculations using Mathcad that in his grad school and industry days
were only available in published papers because they were so difficult to do.

Sometimes I think our students have it too easy.  Complex calculations are
so easy they seem like magic and it is way too easy to put garbage in and
get garbage out!
Ivan Rouse, Professor and Chair
Physics Department, La Sierra University
4700 Pierce St., Riverside, CA 92515
email: irouse@lasierra.edu
web: http://physics.lasierra.edu/irouse/
phone: 909-785-2137, FAX 909-785-2215