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Ask HN: Why are modern scientific calculators such rubbish?
Given how powerful computing is, and how cheap devices are, why are specialized devices like modern scientific and graphing calculators such rubbish? Admittedly they're incredibly cheap now, but it seems that not only has their quality declined dramatically, but even the more expensive ones don't actually have any features - just a harder body. Has anyone found scientific calculators that are high quality?
- Hackbraten 6y agoI’m looking into getting this one: https://www.numworks.com/ https://www.numworks.com/
- poormystic 6y agoyes! I have found an Android version of the Hewlett Packard 48g which suits me very nicely. The Emu48g is actually better than the original in that it is possible to archive files both on and off the system and of course those awful battery changes are no more. I can't really imagine a better machine for the kinds of things I like to do - I have a hobby in algorithm design and also sometimes want to do engineering calculations. Maybe everybody in calculator design looked at the hp stuff and they couldn't see anywhere further to go on a handheld device, so the design teams stopped being headed by top programmers.
- cik 6y agoThis is a pretty good point - and thanks for the link to a great application. I guess I'll just try it out on my tablet, then give up and run a tablet. I just miss the instant and always on value of a calculator. Today I use a drop down terminal (guake) and bc.