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Re: HP Graphing Calculators

My mail program died for a few days beginning the 10th, so:

Memories: I still have the circular slide rule I used as an undergrad -- The linear ones (10"?) I often used to make log graphs (I don't know why I didn't just take the log and use lin. paper.)

Since I bought an early Casio graphing at the Tokyo airport (~ '87? before available in the US!), I've only used them -- and often. I've never been able to afford a lap top, so they were very useful
while I bus commuted (45 miles tot.) to UCSC. The only computer competition would be AWK for the majority of my use. When necessary I use Kaleidagraph on "our" G3. As a grad student, initially I
used a PDP 8 to reduce my ellipsometer data. My diss. advisor had thought I'd do it "by hand" with his Marchant, but I discovered the communication dept's PDP 8 (they used it for artificial speech
and speech recognition). After a year the U. got an Eliot Automation (similar to an IBM 703?). So I became the proud possessor of multi-inch stacks of cards. The tallest one was my K-K transform
program. The U. was so small that I would reserve the machine for a half hour at a time to do on line debugging in the middle of the day!!

bc

P.s. I still have the Timex I used for ray tracing. It had the best BASIC I've ever used -- probably because it was written by scientists / engineers instead of computer types.

Larry Smith wrote:

I hope this is closely related enough to physics to be appropriate here.

Engineers love HP calculators, other disciplines love their TI's. I've
always thought that physicists loved HP, but maybe a quick little poll on
this list would be interesting. Which brand do you use?

I teach a 1-credit class for the Math dept. each fall in how to use the HP
48G series. This year I'm attempting to also address the increasing number
of students that come in with the HP 49. I'm finding it more difficult to
do both models in the same class than I thought.

I'm new to the 49G, so maybe some of you more experienced 49G users can
help me out.

1. If someone wants an algebraic calculator, don't they buy TI? I thought
the main point of buying HP was to get RPN; so why is the _default_ mode on
the 49G algebraic? This irks me. And I doubt it stole much market share
from TI.

2. The users guide that came with the 49G is inadequate (and it takes a
lot of paper and toner to print off all the documentation from HP's
website). My 1999 edition of the guide has incorrect instructions (which
work for the 48, but not the 49, see page 2-6 for example); I find that
particularly annoying.

3. Is there some kind of 48-emulation mode I can put the 49 in? I find
that almost all of the functions on the 48 are supposed to be available on
the 49, but that they are much harder to get to, requiring more menus and
keystrokes. I prefer the function key menus to the pop-up menus that
require scrolling.

4. Here's the kicker: I've been totally unsuccessful in getting the 49 to
plot anything. I've followed the instructions in the manual to no avail.
I've played with it for a long time to no avail (and remember I've been
teaching the class on how to do it on the 48 for a half-dozen years). I
keep getting PPAR errors. Not one single plot yet. I've even taken the
batteries out to reset it to its factory condition and I still can't get
the instructions in the manual to produce a plot for me.

So far I'm liking the 48 a lot better than the 49. All they should have
done to the 48 is add a few more functions (such as Diff EQ, and more
symbolic manipulation), increase the RAM by 10x-20x, and increase the speed
by 100x and leave good enough alone. Maybe I'll like the 49 better when
I'm the master of it rather than the other way around, but so far...

Comments?

Thanks,
Larry

P.S. I do tell my students that most serious calculations get done on
computers these days rather than hand-held calculators.