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In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Frank Filz wrote:
> 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).
HP was not the only manufacturer of RPN calculators; I remember using a
National Semiconductor RPN calc in the mid-70's. See
<http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/7227/rpn_calc.html> for
more non-HP RPN calcs.
I tried to find the patent for RPN calcs on both
<http://patent.womplex.ibm.com/> and <http://www.uspto.gov/>, but
neither one goes back far enough. The USPTO site only goes back to
1976; the IBM site goes back to 1971. RPN is definitely older than
that; I'm not sure when it was first implemented in a desktop/handheld
calculator.
A couple years ago, I bought a very gently used HP 41CX with card
reader and other accessories, including the manuals and boxes (!) for
$10 at a garage sale.
I wonder whether my parents still have that NSC tucked away in a drawer
somewhere?
--
Susan Hoover
Houston, TX
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Message has 1 Reply:
Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Purimish fun
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| (...) 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). (...) What I want is a <$25 fairly simple calculator. I don't (...) (25 years ago, 27-Mar-00, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)
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