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Gene222 · 03-01-2018, 08:36 PM

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?

Voldemar · 03-01-2018, 09:21 PM

Using RPN is not a fault.

DrD · 03-01-2018, 09:44 PM

Does that make it a default?

martinot · (This post was last modified: 03-01-2018 09:57 PM by 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).

Voldemar · 03-01-2018, 10:10 PM

(03-01-2018 09:55 PM)martinot Wrote: 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).

With Prime You can have the textbook/algebraic objects on RPN stack too. Use ' ' and Eval.

Arno K · 03-01-2018, 10:56 PM

I have used RPN (28,48,49,49+,50G) for a long time and it is faster than textbook/algebraic entry when it comes to crunching numbers, but that is all, now I use the Prime, most of the time in textbook mode, and I am contented. Some calculations take longer for input but they can very easily be cheched and that is a reward for the entry time.
Arno

Carsen · 03-01-2018, 11:58 PM

I have not changed from RPN to Textbook. I find that all my work is best in RPN mode. And if I need to evaluate an equation in Textbook mode, I just use the tick [ ' ] key and solve the equation in the stack.

I made the tick key and the parentheses key swap its places on the keyboard with the power of key assignments and USER mode locked. So using the tick key is more convenient. This makes using algebraic objects in the stack even easier to create.

pier4r · 03-02-2018, 10:15 AM

As discussed in a previous topic http://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/archive/in...-9622.html , when one has the ability to edit a formula, then I find it better than rpn.

If you don't have this ability though, or the formula has quintillion of parentheses. A short rpn program may do it better.

Example. Ti 34 (from 1987) vs rpn: rpn

Sharp 506w (2002) or ti89 vs rpn : Sharp until the formula doesn't have tons of parentheses. If too many parentheses: rpn.

Equation writer vs rpn: equation writer.

TheKaneB · (This post was last modified: 03-02-2018 10:24 AM by TheKaneB.)

I agree on the textbook mode of the Prime.
The integrated formula editor and the touchscreen make it very easy to enter complex formulas, and the template system reduces the amount of parenthesis used by older algebraic calculators.

On the 50G however, the equation writer is a separated app and I don't like the user interface, where you have to select portions of the equation to apply operators in a non intuitive way. Therefore I prefer the RPN / RPL entry in that case. On the simpler scientific model I find RPN to be absolutely the best for my taste.

harryp · 03-06-2018, 03:05 AM

I pretty much agree with the general tenor of the thread. I used RPN for decades and loved it, but the textbook entry works well also and I've found myself using it mostly. For one thing, you can pause and look over the entry and see if it's right before you execute it. There is that limited RPN in the Home screen of the Prime whenever you want to switch gears.