[34S] Ticks

[walter b]

Bom dia, Jose,

muito obrigado for sharing your thoughts. BTW, posting at a typical Portuguese time when other people are sleeping deeply already

(05-17-2014 10:47 PM)jebem Wrote:  4) As I see it - what am I missing in this book?
There are some fundamental math features that do not have concrete examples (like the ones in the beginning of the book) to get the users started on this calculator environment. So there is space for improvement here.

For instance, it was nice to have explicit simple examples explaining how to:
4.1) Create a matrix;
4.2) Take a couple of matrices and use them to solve simultaneous equations;
I know how to do it on a HP-42S, quite easy in fact, but I didn't find the time to decrypt the information supplied in this guide and develop/test how to do it in the WP-34S;
4.3) Use Complex numbers, if possible with matrices;
4.4) Use Differentiation;
4.5) Use Integration;
4.6) Use Derivatives;
4.7) Use the Solver (SLV);

Again, I'm not complaining, just pointing out what I see is missing in the book.
After all this is a free open project that was created by a small group of dedicated people to whom we should be grateful!

And from my part, I say again:
Thank You for the opportunity You are giving to other people to enjoy this great project for free!

OK, let me start at the very end: Other than in Portuguese and German, you don't capitalize "you" in English unless you talk to gods. So it's not necessary here
Beyond that, you are welcome.

Seriously, about the manual:

It took me many (!!) hours to write it, including endless correction loops as the project developed. And more than once I reached the point where I was thinking "enough is enough". Writing and rewriting 244 pages just for nothing - without the slightest idea of any revenue - can be regarded as more than just a bit crazy even by very close people. So I avoided copying stuff I found in earlier manuals covered sufficiently IMHO to reduce my workload and since I assess that being just boring and adding no value. I entered pointers to those manuals instead.

Well, our friends from the USA repeatedly complained about that short form (although I declared it being a reference only), so I felt pressed to add some elementary RPN chapters for them. And the chapters and appendices about flashing, hardware, and advanced functions came as I had to write them down for me anyway to be able to operate my own WP 34S.

You should be able to follow the development of the manual at SourceForce quite well if you want to.

About your points in detail:

4.1 & 4.2: Matrices are the weak point of the WP 34S. We felt we had to include them for sake of completeness (the HP-42S featured them) but we could not support them on the same level as the HP-42S due to that ... #§&! ... display of the 20b/30b and lack of memory. Beyond testing the implementation, I didn't use matrices on the WP 34S. It shall be far nicer on the 43S ...

4.3: I thought I've explained complex numbers and calculations on pp. 36ff. What do you miss?

4.5 & 4.7: Those were points I felt explained elsewhere sufficiently. It's all in the manual of the HP-34C or HP-15C. No sense in copying & pasting IMHO.

4.4 & 4.6 (why two points for that?): I admit I didn't see a pressing need for f' and f" on our calculator. Frankly, I don't see any "killer application" justifying those two functions and I was too lazy to look for one.

Hope that explains a bit. There will be more about those topics in the manual of the 43S.

d:-)