Calculator Wars at your School

[Paul Berger (Canada)]

In high school in the early 70s I only had one class where a calculator would have been helpful for doing load calculations that involved vectors. Our instructor did not believe that hand held calculators where reliable so he obliged us to learn to use a slide rule, I still have mine a inexpensive plastic Sterling.

A few years later when I was taking my electronic technician course we where told that we would need a calculator. There was no one brand that dominated, in my class my Commodore PR-100 probably had the most built in function and was the only programmable. When I was in my second year, one of the new first year students showed up with a shiny new TI-59. I do not recall anyone having a HP calculator, I had considered them, but settled on the PR-100 as it seemed to offer the most bang for the buck... if only I knew then what I know now..

Paul.