Why did they separate Cas and non-cas?

[Joe Horn]

(02-16-2014 03:25 AM)DeucesAx Wrote:  Is that it? It boils down to me either wanting 3.46... or 2*sqrt(3)? Why not just something more like press enter for exact and shift enter for approx?

Good news: They must have either read your mind, or you read theirs. You can do exactly what you suggested in CAS. Check it out:

\(\sqrt{12}\) Enter --> \(2\sqrt{3}\)
\(\sqrt{12}\) Shift Enter --> 3.46410161514
\(\sqrt{12}\) Enter [a b/c] --> both answers (best of both worlds!)

HP made it exactly the way you suggested. Cool, huh?

Quote:Can I turn off the default setting that each variable is initialized as 0 in the home mode?

No, because the built-in Home variables are like the 4 stack levels in traditional RPN calculators, always existing and always containing something. Prime's A through Z always exist, and contain zero until you replace the zero with some other real number; Z0 through Z9 always exist and contain zero until you store a complex number in them; and so on.

Quote:Im scared I forget about that in an exam.

No problem: to avoid accidentally using a variable that you didn't initialize, stick to user-created variables, which can nicely have descriptive names, and do not exist until you store something in them, and cease to exist when they are deleted.