RPN is nice, but I find textbook mode better

[martinot]

(03-01-2018 08:36 PM)Gene222 Wrote:  When crunching numbers on the HP Prime, I always use the "textbook" mode instead of the RPN mode. I know RPN entry is faster and easier to use. Textbook entry requires more keystrokes and requires you to use the large, circular arrow key button, which is a bit of a pain.

But, I always double check my calculations. The only way to recheck RPN calculations is to re-enter your numbers and see if you get the same answer. If the answers don't agree, I have run the calculations a third time to see which of the first two calculations was correct. With textbook entry, I can simply look at the equation in the history portion of the display and see if it matches what I wrote down. If I made a mistake, I can copy the equation to the command line. I can then edit it by touching the area where I made the mistake and correct it. I also find entering equations with a lot of exponents easier in textbook mode than in RPN mode.

It is not easy to stop using RPN. Every now and then I find myself punching in numbers as if I was in RPN mode. Have any other RPN user switched to textbook entry mode?

If you enter long formulas that you would like to either check afterwards like you do, or to simply adjust some values and do a total recalculation, I agree that textbook/algebraic is better option.

If you however want to work interactively with the different math steps, and evaluate and check them along the way, I think RPN is better suited.

With a calculator like 28-series, 48-series, 49/50-series you can of course do both very well (and a little bit better than Prime I think, in the way you can have the textbook/algebraic objects on the RPN stack).