+- HP Forums (https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum)
+-- Forum: HP Calculators (and very old HP Computers) (/forum-3.html)
+--- Forum: General Forum (/forum-4.html)
+--- Thread: HP 32S II fraction issue (/thread-20803.html)
HP 32S II fraction issue - cjsuk - 11-08-2023 08:54 PM
Hi all. Just discovered a footgun, not really a bug as such, in the HP 32S II.
When you enter a fraction 1/2 then 1/3 then subtract it'll give you 1/5 as the answer rather than 1/6. I was being lazy and didn't notice this half way through a calculation and shot myself in the foot on something. Doh.
Well investigating it appears that the denominator in FDISP is reduced in some way from 1/(0.5-0.333...). This is 5.999... which it rounds down to 5 as the denominator rather than 6. Grr.
That'll teach me to trust and not verify!
RE: HP 32S II fraction issue - Steve Simpkin - 11-09-2023 01:28 AM
You may have the "/c" value set to 5 or similar. The /c value defines only the maximum denominator used in Fraction-display mode.
Try typing 0 [right-shift] [/c] (located on the decimal point key) to see if that fixes the issue.
See page 5-6 of the HP-32SII Owner's Manual for more information.
RE: HP 32S II fraction issue - cjsuk - 11-09-2023 12:16 PM
Quite possibly right there. Thanks for the tip. I pulled the batteries out and hit the power button to thoroughly clean it out (this is a second hand calculator) and it behaves as expected now. The previous owner must have set the /c flag as you say. Just checked /c and it's set to 4095.
My own fault. I should be reading the instructions before I drive the car
RE: HP 32S II fraction issue - Pyjam - 11-11-2023 08:10 PM
There is indeed a bug (or a limitation) in the fractions of the HP‑32SII.
If you set /c = 100 and enter pi, you’ll get 3 ¹⁄₇ while 3 ¹⁴⁄₉₉ is a better fraction with a denominator under 100.
This was fixed with the HP‑35S.
If you want to know more about this limitation, read this topic:
https://forum.swissmicros.com/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=3718
RE: HP 32S II fraction issue - Joe Horn - 11-12-2023 12:59 AM
(11-11-2023 08:10 PM)Pyjam Wrote: There is indeed a bug (or a limitation) in the fractions of the HP‑32SII.
If you set /c = 100 and enter pi, you’ll get 3 ¹⁄₇ while 3 ¹⁴⁄₉₉ is a better fraction with a denominator under 100.
This was fixed with the HP‑35S.
It was also fixed in the HP 33s.
RE: HP 32S II fraction issue - cjsuk - 11-12-2023 04:28 PM
Interesting read. Thanks both. I'll use the Prime if I want to do fractions then
