Is Sharp even in the running.

[dm319]

I always thought Sharp were ahead of Casio when I was going through school. This was my first calculator in primary/middle school:

Sharp EL-531GH

And I think it was superior to the equivalent casio which everyone else had:

Casio FX-82LB Fraction

The Sharp had a better algebraic mode, where brackets and multiple/divide had precedence over +/-. The Casio was almost an RPN device except for +/-. The Sharp was also the first calculator I came across to have a menu system.

Later on I got this Sharp:

Sharp EL-556L

And at the time, the equivalent secondary school Casio was similar to this one:

Casio FX-115W

The Sharp had an algebraic mode which effectively allowed formulas to be entered. Casio now had got algebraic notation fairly figured, but I felt the Sharp still had the edge due to its ability with formulas. It had constants, conversions, and I think it might have solved polynomials too.

I don't know why everyone still bought Casio back then. I guess people felt you couldn't go wrong with a Casio as it was effectively the standard.