Rediscovering the HP50g after many years ...

[John Keith]

I don't see an image, but the decimal points are there because the 50g is in approximate mode. The 50g also has an exact mode which uses exact arbitrary-precision integers and rational numbers. The decimal points tell you that the number is approximate, whereas exact integers have no decimal point.

If you enter or edit a program in approximate mode, all integers are converted to approximate. If this is undesirable, hold down right-shift and press ENTER. This action switches between modes. Note that changing to exact mode does not remove the decimal points- you have to edit them out if they are unwanted.

Approximate numbers are identical to standard (floating-point) numbers from the HP48 series. Calculations are usually faster with approximate numbers than with exact integers but are limited to 12 digits.