A quick precision test

[Dieter]

(06-03-2014 10:20 PM)Gerson W. Barbosa Wrote:  Back in the day I would occasionally change the ROM of my MSX computer in order to exchange dots and commas in numeric outputs).

I used a patched Turbo Pascal RTL file to make my preferred compiler do the same. ;-)

Quote:It was a pleasant surprise when I discovered the HP-15C, a replacement to a TI-59, had an equivalent of that built-in (ON/.). I had never bothered about decimal points in my previous calculators, but commas as thousands separators looked quite strange - there ought to have a way to change that.

That's why the 41C offers every option you like: with and without separators (flag 29), with a comma or dot as the decimal marker (flag 28). After a master clear my first keystrokes always are "CF 28" to restore the decimal comma.

BTW I would not care much about the "right" decimal marker if it was not hidden between two digits as it is nowadays. There were times when the dot/comma hat its own digit in the display, e.g. on the 67/97. I think this is much better than what we have on most calculators today. That's why I do not have a problem with numbers displayed in a fixed width font on a computer screen - the decimal marker is perfectly visible, both as a dot or as a comma.

On the other hand I can hardy distinguish the dot/comma setting on a 34s. The marker simply is too small. That's why I usually turn the thousands separators off – in a number with four dots it's hard to tell which of them is the decimal marker.

Dieter