Should I replace my TI-89 Swiss Army Knife on the table with the HP Prime?

[Bill Triplett]

Quote:Since i don't always know if the variable used has already been created and given a value, this is unfortunately very dangerous and a strong argument against using the HP Prime.

I dearly love my HP Prime. I love and use the simulators on the PC, and on my Android phone. Using a smartphone with a big display and a stylus, it really is a surgical tool.

That said, there is no reason to skip keeping a TI on hand.

I noticed with the TI-92+, TI-89, and V200 it is possible to simply type in ln(1+i) and immediately we see symbolically that the answer is ln(2)/2 + (π/4)*i.

That funny character that looks like a cubist lowercase "n" in the text is the Greek letter pi.

With the Prime, I enter ln(1+i) and the result comes back ln(1+i). This same thing happens if I hit Simplify, Expand, Collect, or Factor.

The Prime refuses to acknowledge that this simple input can be converted into something else. Perhaps there is a Settings secret handshake that could cure this, but I gave up.

Perhaps someone here could show me a cure, other than switching on my backup system.