I'm an RPN person, but there seems to be plenty to choose from, even TI clones

TTFN (ta ta for now)
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Yeah, but I didn't like the looks of them, or the graphing functions and all. Some looked like jelly bean keys and if I wanted a Casio, I'd buy a Casio. I wanted just a nice clean, easy to look at thing with the =+×÷ keys in the right places.

But you're right. Pick the one you like the best.

“What I told you was true ... from a certain point of view.” - Obi-Wan Kenobi, "Return of the Jedi"

My Samsung comes with a tolerable scientific calculator, but only in landscape mode. I think it even does unit conversions



TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg
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Alternatively, there's an SMath Studio app on Android

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg
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I have a calculator sitting on a bookshelf, but I can't remember the last time I used it, and I never use the Windows calculator.

Why does anyone need calculators, now we have spreadsheets?

There are several spreadsheets available for Android, including Excel.

Doug Jenkins
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Try Creative Creek for a decent RPN calculator. Only paid app on my phone. I first started using their calculator apps on my palm pilot.

On the phone is too hard for me, but a tablet might be a plausible venue. So far, all the free apps seem to do a decent job, but I do all the heavy lifting on my laptop.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg
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Sure I use Excel, etc. on the desktop all the time, but on a tablet, no thanks. Tablets really aren't ment for working, right? I usually only need the x+/-% keys, but the occasional sin or cos can be handy. I like the keys (Western) oriented to the right, with = at lower right, calcs/answers shown in a top bar towards the right corner, rather than the left. I don't like black keys blending into a black background, with white numbers, usually too large or too small. Too much illdefined space. Just give me normal type, black on white anytime. KISS.
Your Samsung calculator is OK, but I just bought a 10" Samsung TabA and I deleted that one because I had to rotate the tab on its side to get the "scientific calculator" option to appear. Give me a break. That doesn't help me a lot when I'm doing barrel rolls.

“What I told you was true ... from a certain point of view.” - Obi-Wan Kenobi, "Return of the Jedi"

Yeah, that rotate to get scientific mode is pretty annoying, but I don't use that calculator; if I do need a calculator, I go for the RPN one.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg
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I use RPN also and find that Free42 makes my phone look exactly like an HP-42 calculator just perfectly, including programs. I use it every day. The Win10 version is equally useful and I use it everyday.

IDS...

I use a calculator every day, mostly a SwissMicros DM42 (a superclone of the 32-yr-old HP-42S running the Free42 simulator as firmware) and sometimes an HP-50g or other HP model. I also use Excel every day and Mathcad often. There are some things a calculator does faster and better than Excel and Mathcad, especially quick what-if type calculations. It's all about the right tool for the job.

============
"Is it the only lesson of history that mankind is unteachable?"
--Winston S. Churchill

Quote (fel3)

It's all about the right tool for the job.

It's also about the right tool for the person doing the job.

If I have a computer sitting in front of me, I can't think of any job where a calculator will do the job better, but if others prefer calculators for some calculations, then of course they should use them.

Doug Jenkins
Interactive Design Services
http://newtonexcelbach.wordpress.com/

I agree with davidbeach's recommendation of Creative Creek for an excellent RPN calculator.

In another thread I have gone on at length about Droid48, an emulator for the HP-48-GX calculator that runs on Android. There is a similar emulator for iPhone.
thread724-313111: Engineering Apps for Android phone

It is an indespensable tool for me personally. RPN calculator with units, ability to save everything (values, equations, programs etc) into nested named directory structure. I have built a few of special-purpose tools for my own needs using the hp48gx structured programming environment, and those tools are easily backed up and transferred each time I get a new phone. The programs can also be transferred back and forth to PC where they can be edited using HPEdit which provides great full screen interactive programming environment that automatically indents and color-codes, shows syntax errors in real time, allows debugging, etc although you'd need admin rights to be able to install that program on your pc. I was biased toward Droid48 from the time I got my first smartphone because I had previously invested a lot of time in programming a similar HP calculator way back last century. I'm probably even more biased towards it now because I haven't kept up with many of the new alternatives. I guess I should say the obvious downsides: there is a startup learning curve, there are a lot of keys with multiple functions per key, which makes things hard to find until you get used to it, and the graphing capabilities will be disappointing compared to other apps (graphing is done in approx the top quarter of the screen and mimics the original calculators limited resolution).

Regarding smath. I find that to be pretty darned useful on my pc. It creates calculations that are well formatted and very easy for others to follow. I'm told it is almost identical to mathcad. But I never really liked the phone version personally....anything I need done on smath I do on my pc.

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(2B)+(2B)' ?

I've been using Realcalc on my android phone. Another HP rpn clone.

But to be honest I prefer my HP50 if I have it handy. Everytime I pickup a non RPN calculator I have to think really hard how to use it nowadays and invariably for anything complicated hand it to someone younger who I'm usually helping to do the calculation for me.