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

[MarkHaysHarris777]

(03-09-2015 05:08 PM)Don Shepherd Wrote:  I think we are in the midst of another technological revolution that will have major impacts on calculators . . . [b]ut for the mainstream, I think it is dead. Same with RPL.

Of course, I may be wrong!

Of course you are correct, and we're seeing the results the world over with Arduino and Raspberry PI, and others. The current phase of the revolution is that 'normal' everyday people (heck, even kids, maybe especially kids) are able to embed their 'calculator' in anything-- from a helicopter drone, to a kitty box feeder, to a seismic monitor... limited only by the DIY person's imagination.

All of my son's heavy calculating needs at ISU are met almost exclusively by Excel. He uses it for everything/ and I mean everything; most home work assignments, most personal computing|calculating, and all his engineering work so far. The students at ISU take an entry level class where they focus on Excel (and then Excel is expected to be used for the remainder of their time in the program!).

In the seventies you had three choices 1) use a slide rule, 2) spend some thousands on an MITS Atair 8800 and try to get Bill Gates BASIC going, or 3) buy a scientific calculator from HP or TI. All of those options today are not only unnecessary, they are obsolete. Today spread sheets, Mathematica, Sci-PI, Wolfram, and others dominate the computing arena... mostly I think because of the ability to collaborate with those tools; fully programmable, fully portable (tablets, phones, iPads, notebooks, Chromebooks, Netbooks) and way more accurate than a hand-held calculator... even more accurate than the WP34s, I must confess.

Specific engineers over a 'certain' age are going to be the hold-outs for a really good calculator (and I am one of them).

RPN vs RPL comes down to use case: 1) interactive: RPN, 2) programmed: RPL.

Conclusion: Calculators, from a marketing perspective, are dead... and there is one exception and that's the mathematical classroom (mostly high school). TI has that market sewn up. It would not surprise me to find that HP stops making calculators completely.

PS I read it twice... tried hard not to offend anyone...


Cheers,
marcus