In the 80s and early 90s there were scientific calculators that were programmable and had substantially more functionality built in than the current batch of sc

In the 80s and early 90s there were scientific calculators that were programmable and had substantially more functionality built in than the current batch of scientific calculators. If you want illustrations of this, compare the HP 42s to the TI 36X Pro. Granted, the HP was more expensive than the TI, but the 36 series is the top of the line for TI at this point. The TI can do integration, complex arithmetic, vectors, and matrices. However, most of it's functions don't work in the complex domain, and the matrices are limited to 3×3. It has a solver, but that's limited. It can't store equations or programs. The HP can also do integration, complex arithmetic, vectors, and matrices. Almost all of its functions work in the complex domain (complex matrices are particularly useful). It has a versatile solver, works with matrices of over 10 elements, and can even store user programs (with GUI elements!). My theory on what happened is that normal desktop computers became powerful enough to run mathematical software packages, and graphing calculators became popular. Those two things dis-incentivized calculator manufacturers from creating powerful scientific calculators that could ACTUALLY fit in a pocket. The calculator now exists just for highschool students, which is a shame, because it would be really nice to have a powerful scientific with nice buttons. Maybe someone will build a calculator that also serves as an interface with a mathematics package… maybe even with "cloud" computing capabilities (where it runs the software package on your computer to do non-trivial things.