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dmmaster · (This post was last modified: 05-01-2018 04:10 PM by dmmaster.)

Hello,

For high university, bachelor/master, post-doc, ph.d.,... and more, would you recommend for maths/physics either the HP PRIME or the HP50G?

Kind regards
thank you!

grsbanks · (This post was last modified: 05-01-2018 05:54 PM by grsbanks.)

Both the 50g and the Prime have a built-in CAS so they should both be equally well suited to any mathematical application. CAS is, however, better integrated into the system with the 50g than with the Prime, so the 50g just about has the edge in that respect.

The built-in solver can work with units (eg. Kg, m/s etc.) on the 50g, not on the Prime, so the 50g might be slightly better suited to physics.

The big advantage of the Prime over the 50g is its sheer speed. In some benchmark tests that I tried, the Prime checked in at just over 100x the speed of the 50g.

Both the 50g and the Prime allow either algebraic input or RPN, although the RPN implementation on the Prime does leave a bit to be desired. It looks like it was bolted on as an afterthought (as does CAS!).

If you're in to programming then the HP Prime Programming Language (HP-PPL) is probably easier to learn than the 50g's RPL. The 50g does, however, offer more options in that it comes with the wherewithal to write programs not only in UserRPL (i.e. the RPL that is readily exposed to the user) but also in SysRPL, Saturn assembly language and ARM assembly language if you really want to get down and dirty. Hours of fun exploring stuff that will inevitably distract you from what you actually bought it for Smile

I find the keyboard action of the Prime to be far superior to that of the 50g, but that's entirely subjective. Only you can make your mind up about that.

If you want to "try before you buy" there are emulators available for both that you can try on your computer, smartphone or tablet.

pier4r · 05-01-2018, 06:18 PM

If you are not going to dive deep, making use of the extensive library of solutions made for rpl in 20+ years, go for the prime. The prime is a monster and it is only a bit behind the rpl in terms of library of solutions done by the community. Hopefully hp will continue to extend its firmware.