Does the HP-35S need a 'guide for dummies' how-to guide?

[MarkMason]

Don,

You are looking at a bigger picture than I was. Thanks for that perspective.

In 2011 I found myself assigned to train 2 new young engineers, we were all working on an extended new plant startup. Both were about 2-4 years out of school. One received permission to purchase aps for his company smart phone. Seems like steam tables and heat transfer were a couple of the ones he had.

The other used his smart phone for lots of daily stuff, but I don't remember him calculating with it. He had an HP 48 series on his desk, obviously left over from his school days which he used occasionally.

Like most technical workplaces, the most used tool was MS Excel, which we pretty much used for everything. The biggest advantage of that software for us was being able e-mail your calculations to someone else, as well as save a copy for future reference. The major disadvantages were portability while in the field and numerical entry, which my HP 32S did much better. (as an aside, both young men could not be broken of the habit of completely filling in every cell of the spreadsheet with all colors of the spectrum, I guess they never had to purchase printer toner)

So these most recent experiences would tend to support your assessment.

Darn, there's nothing like using good HP calculator keys, and while sitting in meetings, running some numbers to answer various questions that come up is a lot faster on the calculator. But this preference of mine is probably just referring back to what I'm used to.

Could we please hear from any of the members of this forum who are still in school and never use a calculator?.....(probably on a different forum!!!) Have you been able to get a smart phone or tablet to do all the portable calculation jobs you want?

Mark