Calculators for the PE 2

[erikhorton]

Now that we can no longer use the HP48 or the TI89 on the FE or the PE, what is the calculator of choice? Reasons?

 

[zdas04]

I've always assumed that "RPN" stood for something other that "Reverse Polish Notation", but that the real name was lost in the mists of time. Turns out that it is really Reverse Polish Notation. See

http://www.hpmuseum.org/rpn.htm

I bought an HP83 for the PE exam, sort of mastered it during endless hours of studying. The day I finished the test I threw the calculator into a hotel trash can and went back to TI. It never felt natural to me.

David

 

[FalsePrecision]

buzzp,
Researching the evolution of the PC is very challenging. For instance: when you look up an article, from say, Paul Allen's bio, it contradicts what other articles say about him. Another example is Steve Jobs claiming to have invented the PC. It goes on and on like that. Frequently, these early PC illuminati had worked for a major mainframe computer company (IBM, Digital), and had "stolen" intellectual property.
The small company I had been at was a beehive of excitement at the time. It was located in an old house in Albuquerque. It went on to produce the "Altair" line of computers. When I was there, its signature product was a 14-digit or something LED display calculator - a rather large breadbox-size affair.
To change the subject as bit, when MicroSquish came out with its version of word processor, I remember a person opining that the Word Perfect word processor was far superior. Later on, same thing with Excel - some claimed that Lotus or Quattro Pro was superior. But the competing companies kept "one-upping" each other withe their latest version.

 

[buzzp]

I guess one thing about it, it all works to our advantage, or at least used too. I used to think Microsoft would remain a monopoly but now I don't think this is certain any more.

 

[epoisses]

Casio FX-992S
Got it when I started this job a year ago because I need to... add and (more seldomly)... multiply.
But I checked out the other features as well, and found out it actually does NOTHING more than the Casio I had at school 15 years ago, except it has built in funny conversion factors (ft, lbs and what have you) and a handy cover which HP already had 15 (or maybe 30) years ago.
I believe development has really come to an absolute standstill here, I think even can openers have evolved more the last few decades.