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Subject: 
Re: Purimish fun
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.fun
Date: 
Mon, 27 Mar 2000 05:06:14 GMT
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In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Bram Lambrecht writes:
On Mon, 27 Mar 2000 03:36:45 GMT "Frank Filz" <ffilz@mindspring.com>
writes:
Bram Lambrecht wrote in message
I use one of those (48G).  Once you've used Reverse Polish Notation,
you can't ever go back...

So true, though these days I mostly use a non-RPN calculator. I keep
watching for a modestly priced RPN calculator, but it just doesn't
seem like it will ever happen (HP's cheapest calculators aren't RPN).
Of course these days I don't use a calculator for much other than
Hex/Decimal comversion.

I wonder why RPN calculators are so rare...

Because HP had a patent on them, and by the time the patent ran out, there
just wasn't enough market (I suspect most people real attached to RPN would
also be fairly HP loyal).

When I was in elementary
school, the only calculator in our house was a RPN HP with a 3-level
stack (but it only displayed the top of the stack) It was bigger than
most modern graphing calculators and had an AC adapter :)
Depending on your definition of modest, you might be able to get an HP
48G--mine was $75, which is cheaper than a lot of graphing calculators.
It is a bit slow at graphing, though...

What I want is a <$25 fairly simple calculator. I don't really need
programability. Unfortuanately my $5 used HP15C (which cost an additional $6
to feed with batteries) got stolen, and my HP29C (I lied earlier) is on it's
last legs, and my HP41CX is also a little flakey (the electrical contacts are
worn, and the cost to have it repaired is probably too high).

Frank



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Purimish fun
 
(...) HP was not the only manufacturer of RPN calculators; I remember using a National Semiconductor RPN calc in the mid-70's. See (URL) for more non-HP RPN calcs. I tried to find the patent for RPN calcs on both (URL) and (URL), but neither one (...) (25 years ago, 27-Mar-00, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)  

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Purimish fun
 
(...) I wonder why RPN calculators are so rare...When I was in elementary school, the only calculator in our house was a RPN HP with a 3-level stack (but it only displayed the top of the stack) It was bigger than most modern graphing calculators and (...) (25 years ago, 27-Mar-00, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)

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