(06-22-2014 01:11 PM)Dieter Wrote: (06-22-2014 12:38 PM)Gerald H Wrote: So that's it? An obvious error will be passed over & the operating system remains defect?
I do not think this is an "obvious error" or the 34s firmware is "defect". This topic and the various reasons for the one or other way an operator like MOD or RMDR should behave with negative operands have been discussed here several times over the years. Take a look at this thread that is more than ten years old now: 33s RMDR bug?. It's even almost exactly the same subject, but here with a question mark since the author was not so sure if the observed behaviour actually was a bug. Which always is a good attitude, I think. ;-)
All essential information is included in that thread. Please especially take a look at message #7. It boils down to the simple insight that there are two different functions that return some kind of division remainder: the one is MOD and the other is RMDR. Some calculators only offer the former, others feature the latter, and both are different in the way they handle negative arguments. The mentioned 41-series as well as their successors 48 and 50 offer MOD and do it their way, the 33s and 35s (and probably others) do it the other way and call their function RMDR. The 34s offers both. It operates exactly as the trusted 16C that offers both flavours as well. They both do not neccessarily match the mathematical definition of the MOD operator, whatever this may be. And the thread above even discusses the ways common math software like MathCAD and Mathlab handle these functions: they do not agree either.
So I think it's all as it is supposed to be. AFAIR the 34s implementations of MOD and RMDR have been discussed in the old forum as well, and this is the result. Today's RMDR even used to be named MOD in early 34s versions. ;-) As always, you just have to know how the tools you use behave.
Dieter
Sorry, I forgot, what's the result of the calculation on the HP 16C?
Search
Member List
Calendar
Help
