Calculators
Calculators
(OP)
I have had my HP 15c calculator since 1984, when I was a grad student. Yesterday, the zero key started getting "squishy" and it won't always produce a zero in the display. I love my HP 15c, but I know it is no longer made. Has anybody out there made the transition from an HP 15c (or 11c) to a newer model? If so, which one?
DaveAtkins






RE: Calculators
I cannot use the ones with an equals sign (whatever they are called!)
StephenA
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http://www.hpmuseum.org/
that has a history of the HP calculators and a section on repairing them.
The reason you might want to repair it is that HP seems to be de-emphasizing the calculator business. Their latest models don't seem as well made or thought out as their earlier ones. I believe the they only make two scientific calculators and after I tried the 49, I returned it and got a 48GX. Maybe you can get a used one.
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Its got way more features than I'll ever use...but that's what turns us engineers on, right?
There's also a 49G out there but I think they discontinued it.
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The later 48GX's that were made were not under as strict of quality control as the earlier 48GX's that were put out (so a guy at HP told me). I got a defective one last year and sent it back to HP, happened to another friend of mine also. I would try the new 48G2.
RE: Calculators
RE: Calculators
Check out this site http://www.hpcalc.org
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The programs I used to run on my HP41CV I have largely ported to spreadsheets.
I, too, am stuck to the RPN logic. Casio tried one about 15 years ago, but it never caught on.
I really hate to see this era of calculators go away, though that is likely. I had my HP45 rebuilt by HP about 20 years ago. Not sure if they will still do that for calculators.
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I love the reverse polish notation and it makes so much sense. When I retire, my HP will retire with me.
My two cents
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They usually have a list of graphing calculators that they "approve" and these are usually Texas Instruments, Sharp or Casio.
I got my son an HP 49G which allows switching between RPN and the traditional a + b = c method.
So all calculator companies are forced to consider the the major market is driven by multitudes of kids going through schools where the teachers can't handle RPN.
RE: Calculators
Feel free to contact me.
regards,
John McCracken
1st Rate Fabricators
www.firstratefabricators.com
RE: Calculators
I was a late convert, after going through numerous Casios, TIs, etc. It took me a couple of days of concentrating to teach myself how to use RPN and after that I couldn't use anything else.
JAE, I think your marketplace analogy is good in that engineers are just not that big of a market. Plus, with computers, there's less and less manual calculations being performed.
RE: Calculators
RE: Calculators
RE: Calculators
RE: Calculators
You can still find a HP-15c calculator on eBay. At a price tough.
RPN or not, mathematics are universal and if you want something one step ahead, buy yourself a little Pocket PC (perhaps the same price than a new HP-15c) and install the software Pocket 15C Scientific Calculator by Lygea. Check it out on http://www.handango.com it's only $17.00!
That way you can have your old calculator back and all the benefits of a Pocket PC.
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Back in the 801 I taught engineering courses at a community college. I was not impressed with the student’s high school training. They could not use a scientific calculator.
I spent three-class period and worked with them on how to use a scientific calculators.
I know things may have changes since then. I also acknowledge that the quality if students who attend community college is not the highest; but this argument is not always correct. Trust me on this one. I have seen some bright students go through the community college that I taught at.
You be the judge.
RE: Calculators
I have had an older HP repaired by an individual, and he did a good job. He has repaired other friends old calculators, also. In addition, he sells "new" and repaired calculators. His web site is...
www.fixthatcalc.com
good luck!
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Not much of a fan of reverse polock notation, :-p
RE: Calculators
akastud
RE: Calculators
I use a TI-30Xa. It has plenty of functions for me and is only about $10 or $15. Anything that needs programming or spreadsheets, I use my computer.
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Know what I want? I want the RPN equivalent of a cheap nonprogrammable barely scientific calculator. I use my fancy 48GX for arithmetic and I feel a little silly.
I fear that after hanging onto my dead 11C forever, I may have finally tossed it a couple of years ago. Idiot. But I had no idea at the time the thing would become such a commodity, nor that someone was out there who would fix it.
Hg, wallowing in regret.
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DaveAtkins
RE: Calculators
RE: Calculators
I use an HP 28S, but I keep the owner manual(s) handy in case I punch some wrong button and get myself off in some "never-never land," which can happen real quickly.
rmw
RE: Calculators
RE: Calculators
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Talk about tactle feel, the keys clicked clearly as you pressed them.
Regards
pennpoint
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Staples does not carry the HP 33s, in fact I had a hard time finding it anywhere. I finally picked it up off of HP's website, and it was mailed to me in about 3 days.
akastud
RE: Calculators
RE: Calculators
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Hg
RE: Calculators
X + Y = Z
RPN method -
X
+Y
-------
Z
RPN is actually the way I was taught in 1st grade/2nd grade, etc. although I didn't really understand it at RPN.
RE: Calculators
My first day on a job, the guy in charge of supplies and setting up workstations is installing an overhead light above my desk. Using 2 hands to tighten up a nut&bolt, with a screwdriver dangling between his palm and little finger, the screwdriver slips. About 4 feet below is my HP27S. Like a Spear, it plunges in and shatters the INPUT key. He might as well have cut off my arm.
Anyway that's how I ended up with the 48GX, but similar to some of the other posts I'm mostly limited to the basic math. I don't really like to recommend it because it seems so cumbersome to input custom equations, and I think it's slow to process them once you've got it entered without buying the extra memory card (over $100 dollars last time I checked). But I don't know what else is out there.
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Anyone else have that?
Hg
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Does anyone have any experience with the new HP33S? I don't like the way it looks for one, but I wonder about how it functions.
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Nowadays I get funny looks when describing someone who's "wicked smaht" as a "Bowmah"
- as in "He's a wicked Bowmah!"
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RE: Calculators
"HP" used to mean quality, innovation, and a strong, motivated, appreciated workforce.
They're not distinctive anymore and are simply another tech company, not THE tech company. Most of the older folks I know inside the company say "the HP way" seems to have died with the founders. Too bad.
I really, really miss my HP15 and its replacement HP32. If I'd known they were giving up on that line, I'd have bought some spares.
I just can't afford the eBay premium for a used calculator.
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RE: Calculators
I have a collection of HP's in my desk drawer...42S (long minus batteries), a large graphing calculator (never used), and the two that I use daily: a 22 year old 15C and 12 year old business 17BII (can't beat those built in financial functions). The 15C has a few squishy keys but it seems like they usually get unsquishy after a year or so. Can't beat the 15C for overall speed and convenience. Anything more complicated than a few sines and cosines and I'll set up an Excel spreadsheet instead (although many years ago I used the programming features of the 15C all the time).
ahhhh....memory lane (yes, I remember Bowmar Brains!)
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