[Survey] HP users around the world

[badaze]

(01-15-2018 10:44 AM)TheKaneB Wrote:  

(01-15-2018 09:34 AM)david sanz Wrote:  Why they chose HP48 over TI59, I can not say. But HP hit first and the one who hits first hits twice. HP became a trademark of engineering students in Spain until today.

That's a good explanation! Here in Italy I wasn't allowed ANY kind of calculator in my exams, except maybe a few in which the professor allowed the use of basic scientific non programmable, non graphing calculators. I don't know about the other schools here, but from my experience I can say that each professor does differently.

In France at the beginning of the 1980's few were the people who knew what a programmable calculator or a pocket basic was and they were permitted because they weren't forbidden. So I had the possibility to use my TI 57 LED at the "bac" (more or less the "maturità" for Italians or the "abitür" for Germans). Then at College I used first a Casio FX 702P and after a Sharp PC 1500.
Most friends of mine had normal calculators and a few HAD programmables. I particularly remember two guys with HP 15C, HP 41 CV. But the use of such devices was only aimed at controlling the calculations and save a lot of time.
I remember to have controlled different calculations on matrix in a few minutes while colleagues with TI 30 or calcs like that took a lot more.
Now, it's a bit different... not a bit in fact... very different. Programmable calculators that don't Exam mode are forbidden. This special mode disables programmation, wifi, mass memory.