×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

best engineers pocket calculator
6

best engineers pocket calculator

best engineers pocket calculator

(OP)
I want to replace my old outdated engineer pocket calculator I'm using right now. Any recommended best model of a brand somebody knows?

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

I found a $5 calculator in WalMarts that I use a lot for pocket field work {LeWorld 250}  and if I drop it, no big loss

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

Just depends on what you need or want.  Casio make some acceptably complex calculators for less than $20.  TI's calculators range from around $30 to $100.

TTFN

FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies


RE: best engineers pocket calculator

I mostly just use Excel on my laptop in the field.

I don't think I have brought a "calculator" into the field in a while.

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."   
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

I just use the simple calculator in my old Palm Vx PDA.  I think I've installed a slightly fancy RPN calculator in there, but I don't use it much.  

If I buy a newer PDA, I'll probably select one that can deal with Excel files.

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

I use one I bought at Eckerd's several years ago for $15 or so.

Back when I was in college, a fance calculater was a must-have.  But now, anything involved goes on the computer, and some pretty cheap little calculators will handle the rest.

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

Don't forget that there is a scientific calculator built into Windows.  Nice thing about it is you can copy-and-paste.

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

Wow, until TheTick mentioned it, I had no idea that the Windows calculator also had scientific functions.  And here I have been toiling away with just the "standard" view...

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

I have a simple casio scientific calculator (non programmable, non graphics, non anything) that works for about 90% of what I do.
I also have a TI-89 with some built-in programs that I use when I need more complex things to figure out.

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

If you do anything more than arithmetic (and you probably will), RPN is worth learning.  It takes one evening and will change your life if you have been storing numbers, writing them down and using parentheses.  It not only allows you to work an equation of any complexity quickly and easily, it changes the whole way you think about caluclation and allows you to continue to meddle with your figures as you design.

I have been through three scientific calculators in my 21-year career.  I literally wore out the first two.  My favorite one was the second one: an HP-32sII.  It was RPN and had all the mathematical functions you could ever need and some programming, without all the frou-frou crap like graphing, music, etc. (that's what your computer is for).  

I finally replaced it with my HP-33s, which is essentially the modern version of the same calculator.  One new feature that is nice is that you can switch it from RPN to algebraic, in case someone else who doesn't know RPN wants to use your calculator (which happens often).

Don
Kansas City  
 

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

Same topic, variation: how many here even use a calculator for anything other than the big 4 math. functions, add/sub/mult/divide? In the days before PCs, I used my beloved HP15C for quadratic equation inversion (you know, x=-b+/sqrt(...blah blah blah)). Now I just use it for the big 4, plus storage. anything more complicated goes into Excel VBA.

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

openoffice, a freeware office program, 99% compatible with MS Office, has a program called Calc that's pretty strong. There's also Calc98, google it, also free, with excellent capabilities.
Regards,
RLS

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

hp 33s Scientific does RPN.
~$40 from wally-world online

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

mcinco50:

What brand and model are you currently using? What do you mean by outdated? Does it not perform the function(s) you want or is it just a cosmetic issue?

Why is my handle 65Roses?
Please visit http://www.cff.org/aboutCFFoundation/About65Roses/ to learn why!

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

It seems that your original question was pocket calculator, I use a Texas Instruments 36X Solar. It has all the functionality you should want but can be a little confusing because most of the buttons have three possible functions assigned to them. I also have an old HP-20S but the batteries are a pain and expensive. I do like the solar feature of any of the calculators out there. You might keep in mind the traveling aspect of what you buy. My 36X has a cover that snaps on the front or back, an old Casio I have at home has a flip cover that is attached. A little thing but something to consider.

Good Luck

Dennis

SolidWorks 2007 SP3.0
Windows XP Pro, Pentium4 3.00GHz
1GB RAM, Nvidia FX500
Logitech Marble Mouse, CadMan

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

I agree with eromlignod.

I bought the HP 33s a few years ago to use on the PE exam. I am now a true believer in RPN. I used to have a TI-89 but I gave it up to learn RPN for the exam and didn't want to go back.

The HP 33s is also less expensive (and smaller) than the fancier TI/HP graphical calculators. I rarely use calc or diffeq so the graphical calculators are overkill for me.

Just my 2 cents.

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

I have used the TI calculators for many years and have gotten used to the algebraic entry and the keyboard layout.  Now I use the TI-30XA which is a solar powered and costs about $12 to $14 US.  Actually I have 4 or 5 of these spread around in places like the home, office, briefcase, job-site, etc.  It's a decent calculator with a good feel to the keys.  To me it is important that a calculator have the square, square root, inverse and pi as primary functions and not require hitting two keys to get to these functions because of the frequency which they are used.

My son has a HP-88 and 89 and these are nice machines.  The 88 is much better than the newer 89 according to him, but they aren't cheap and don't fit into a pocket easily.  I realize that RPN is a better system but it's not for me.  I've been programing in BASIC for twenty years so have never really been interested in programmable calculators.  During the last few years I have moved to Mathematica CalcCenter for almost all my calculations except for simple adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing, which I use my TI-30s for.

It makes sense to me, but I'm sure there are many opinions on this subject.  

Regards,
-Mike

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

In 1985 while in college I bought an HP-41CV.  Still use it and love it.  I don't take it into the field, though, and I certainly do not use all of its features.

RPN is definitely the way to go.

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

The Casio FX-115 appears to have had a least one facelift since I bought mine, but it is a great little tool. It has a hard cover which slides over the keypad and screen, and it does just about everything I'll ever want in the field, and has never broken down on me. They're common as dirt in our place too, so no one has ever pinched it. Under £10!
 

----------------------------------
  Sometimes I only open my mouth to swap feet...

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

I bought an HP 48G for the PE exam and used it exclusively while studying and on the test.  I never got over hating RPN even though I did finally get over fumbling with it.  Right after the test I put it in its case in the back of a drawer and I don't expect to ever turn it on again.

I use a TI30X all the time (I think I have 5 of them).  I like that I can set up an equation and just keep going back to it with different data (the editing isn't really easy, but you can get used to anything).  

I also have a TI-83Plus, but I don't really like it, it is trying too hard to be an HP.

David

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

Twelve years ago, I found my first TI-30. Someone had left it in a lecture hall, and I stuck it in my bag thinking that i would take it to the lost and found... but alas I forgot. Several months later, I pulled it out in desperation, forgetting my TI-85 (or 82), while taking a test. To my surprise, it was a pleasure to use. No fumbling around through  layers and layers of menus. Yes you can't do as much with it, but hey, if i need to do something that complicated, I've go excel. It does the quick calcs that i write on little post-it notes that are currently covering my desk.

I still use the one that I found, even thought I've gotten a more updated version.

My thoughts on calculators is to apply the KISS principle.

Oh, and Star for you Tick... Never new that the windows calculator had so much functionality.  

Wes C.
------------------------------
No trees were killed in the sending of this message, but a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

In the other thread on RPN v's DAL I wondered about whether there was an age-related split with RPN v's DAL users. I also wonder if there is a geographical divide - RPN favoured in North America and DAL in Europe perhaps? Or maybe the UK is the odd one out?
 

----------------------------------
  Sometimes I only open my mouth to swap feet...

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

I dunno.  I just never saw the great advantage to using RPN.  If you try to enter equations as written with multiple parentheses, it's a mess with normal calculators, but no reason you can't work from the inside out using one.

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

I always thought it was an economic issue.  Years ago the HP was clearly state of the art and the people I knew that had them were going to school with much better financial backing than me.  Many of us doing it on a shoestring either couldn't or didn't want to pay $400 US which was the going price way back them.  In my case I got used to the algebraic entry and have stuck with it, as many others probably did too.  I think the first calculator I bought was a SR-40 by TI for about $100 US.  But I'll have to check to make sure, I think it's in the same box as my slide rule.

Regards,
-Mike

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

During senior year in high school, the HP35 and HP45 were about 2 years old, TI came out with the SR51, which was $150 at the Emporium, while the HP35 was still $350+.  When the HP25 came out at $150 during freshman year in college, it was a no brainer.

TTFN

FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies


RE: best engineers pocket calculator

I use a Casio FX-602p. I bought one in circa 1981 to do my masters and used in for rudder loading calculations et al using up all the programming steps in the process. Now I only use it for simple calcs but it's still great; small cute with great buttons and excellent functions.

Recently a line of pixels started to go so I tried to get another. Shock horror ! Calculators from that period are now collectable with silly eBay prices. Finally got one that few others had noticed for a good price. Really pleased I did; like having an old friend back.

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

There are actually a number of HP calculator simulations, in addition to several generalized RPN calculators.

The HP sims are essentially worthless on a PDA, since the physical representation is shrunk to fit on the PDA display, making them prit-near useless, as far as i'm concerned.

TTFN

FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies


RE: best engineers pocket calculator

I got the HP 49g, TI-36X Solar (for use on FE Exam), TI-83 and TI-85.

While in school I kept finding calculators (TI).  I purchased the 49g because you can use rpn or standard,  whatever your flavor.

For a pocket calculator, I'd recommend the TI-36X.  It doesnt use batteries and the does the basics.

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

http://www.hpcalc.org/hp49/pc/emulators/

EMU48 is my favorite with the jemac's gx KML script.

I added a shortcut key to the shortcut for the application int he start menu. Now all I do is hit crtl+alt+c and it pops up.

About the hardest thing I ask it to do is unit conversion. Anything complicated else goes into Excel for documentation I can double check and reuse.

HP has had some retail level calculators on and off over the year that were inexpensive.

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

Someone emailed to ask me how to get scientific mode on Windows calculator.  Here's the answer for everyone...

from help...

To open Calculator, click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Calculator.

For information about using Calculator, click the Help menu in Calculator.
For more information, click Related Topics.

to get scientific mode:
With calculator open, select from top menu: "View --> Scientific".

batHonesty may be the best policy, but insanity is a better defense.bat
http://www.EsoxRepublic.com-SolidWorks API VB programming help

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

Most cell phones have a 4-function calculator built in, and you're already carrying it...  

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

For those fortunate, or unfortunate, to carry a PDA, there are built-in calculator programs.  For Windows PDAs there are HP emulation and RPN calculator programs

TTFN

FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies


RE: best engineers pocket calculator

Tmoose,
That is the coolest slide rule I've ever seen.  It is a lot smoother and therefore more accurate than the high-dollar one I carried in Nuc School.

David

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

Way cool slide rule.

A star for Tmoose.


Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: best engineers pocket calculator

A strange thing happened on the way to the forum.

I have older models of the Casio fx 115w and the TI 30XA Solar that I normally keep and use the desk where my computer resides. I have have a laptop that for some unknown reason doesn't have the Microsoft Calculator installed. When I tried to use the Casio it wouldn't go and the Ti was iffy. It took a little while to figure out that the recently installed miniature fluorescent light bulbs will not power the calculators.  They both work fine in natural or incandescent light.
 

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources