Introduction and RPN calculator advice

[LinusSch]

(08-11-2023 11:45 AM)NicolaB Wrote:  my 50g did FEM, statistics, CFD, quad precision stuff and everything imaginable, it's literally a handheld pc.

(08-11-2023 11:45 AM)NicolaB Wrote:  I did rocket research and in our lab there was this beaten-up bulletproof casio(was it even scientific?) which let's be honest ended up doing 90% of the keypresses, but in the remaining 10% the 50g has proved invaluable. Matlab is crashing? 50g. No FEM or CFD at hand? 50g. Improvised eq? 50g.

For those remaining 10%, I think the 50g is extremely difficult to replace. If this is what you need, try to find one or two more, maybe look into whether newRPL or DB48x will be able to replace it for you in the future. That may take some porting effort, newRPL is not 100% compatible with HP RPL (they decided to fix +/add on lists, I don't know yet if there's more differences than that but from the discussion on DB48x I probably should be working on documenting that).

(08-11-2023 11:45 AM)NicolaB Wrote:  My 50g has already been abused and it's bulky to carry around, I'd like something compact and RPN.

Therefore I think I'll have to choose between a 15C, 32SII, DM15L, DM32..what would you suggest?

But from this it looks like you're wanting a more portable machine for the first 90% and maybe a bit more of scientific functions and programs so that maybe maybe you get to 95%. For that use case, I myself will choose the DM32 to complement my 50g's so that they may lead a more cuddled life and stay with me for very many years.

These are my reasons for the DM32:
- Being used to RPL I've found it very very helpful to me to see the entire stack at all times, I easily lose numbers from the top if I don't see it because I'm not used to thinking about that.
- The more advanced RPN calculators, 41/42/43, get frustrating for me to use because they probably can do everything I need to do but I don't know how and I wish for my trusty 50g.
- The multiple states, the larger display, the USB interface and the readable mnemonics makes the DM32 by far the most friendly calculator for RPN programming - unless you include the ones that I excluded in my previous point.

How the DM32 avoids frustrating me like the more advanced ones isn't due to just one thing, but the most important part is that it just has way fewer functions. It is small enough that I will actually take the time to work through the 32sii manual and learn the thing - it also helps that I do have a paper copy of that manual in good nick in my native Swedish. And if I forget stuff, the inbuilt help seems to be shaping up to be a quite complete and helpful resource!

For most tasks, for the 90%, using the 32sii/DM32 is just a matter of reading the faceplate (which I much prefer to reading through menus, doubly so since the menus make me think of the 50g and long for that familiarity). As Bob Prosperi likes to point out, this calculator is one of if not the best in HP history to just pick up and use immediately. It appears to be very much the intention here that you should rarely if ever need the manual. To me this is ideal as a secondary calculator, a calculator that you did not go through your education with and therefore do not know inside out.

YMMV, but this is my conclusion in what from I can tell is a quite similar situation.