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Question: why HP-41 over other things, like TI's TI-89? The latter has, among other things, has two properties which make it really useful for day-to-day engin
by theamk 6y ago
Question: why HP-41 over other things, like TI's TI-89?
The latter has, among other things, has two properties which make it really useful for day-to-day engineering use:
- Large screen which shows which expression you entered. You can spot a typo easily, and then fix it!
- Unit support -- helps a lot, as it will ensure you are not adding meters to ohms. Or add meters and feet and it will just work.
- jmspring 6y agoSwissmicros seems to focus on the classic HP lines which were RPN based. I have a few HP calculators as well as a couple of SwissMicros and am happy to have the updated version.
- SamReidHughes 6y agoThey already make the DM42, with a large display. But there is a large degree of throwback HP fanboyism.
- madengr 6y agoWell it also may be the key layout. After years of using a certain HP calculator, you get used to the layout. I prefer the 32Sii. Some have primary keys for x^2, x<y, 1/x, PI, etc. if I designed my own I’d have 10^x and LOG(x) as primaries. All depends on what field one works in. Anything non RPN sucks anyway.
- gbraad 6y agoAnd the DM42 runs free42, ... source is on their github
- madengr 6y agoWell, once you use RPN, there is no going back. I truly despise normal calculators. I’d hate entering expressions anyway.
- saagarjha 6y agoTI-89 has some pretty decent RPN programs ;)
- FandangoRanger 6y agoUnlike the RPL series, they don't integrate with the rest of the calculator. And unlike RPN calcs like the 41 and 42, you can't program in RPN which many people find very easy to do. TI's a fine calculator... for a middle school student.
- masklinn 6y ago> Question: why HP-41 over other things, like TI's TI-89? One reason would be that you can buy a TI-89 Platinum today (though not a "classic: TI-89), the 41 series was discontinued in 1990 and the 42 in 1995. A second reason is that classic HP calculators are legendary enough that people managed to set up an apparently successful company based entirely on cloning and evolving classic HP calcs, that's literally what SwissMicros is: the company started in 2011 with an HP-15 clone. Ti is still out there serving what market there is for Ti-style scientific calculators, not so for HP.
- TheOtherHobbes 6y agoHP's calculators were legendary at the time. TI's calculators weren't quite in the same league. The TI-89 is a later and much more refined design. HP's engineering was literally state of the art and unbelievably sophisticated for the day. At a time when computers ranged from big-box desk stations to air conditioned room fillers and cost thousands to millions of dollars, HP put a small programmable computer in your pocket. They're not particularly useful for modern math, and if you really want the same features you can buy app emulations. But like any other brand of tech nostalgia, some people imprint on the machines they first played with. Any excuse to own a reinvention of the original hardware is going to appeal to them.
- Finnucane 6y ago40 years ago, the HP-41 had a whole ecosystem of add-ons that took advantage of the expansion ports. Today, I suppose, you’d be better off with just a USB port.
- snvzz 6y ago>The TI-89 is a later and much more refined design. I've got both ti89 and hp50g. I seldom use the latter anymore. TI-89 is slick, fast, responsive, a pleasure to use, something to study for its great UX. HP50g is sluggish and a chore to use. It doesn't deserve the reputation. This is particularly sad as the hp50g uses a relatively fast ARM cpu, whereas the ti-89 uses a plain 68000.
- qz2 6y agoThe HP 48/49/50 series is more of a competitor to the TI89. The HP50G is a fairly extensive ARM based computer not a calculator. It is ridiculously powerful. It is discontinued now in favour of something pretty and shiny but vastly inferior.
- snvzz 6y ago>It is discontinued now in favour of something pretty and shiny but vastly inferior. Similarly, TI is pushing some crap (TI-nspire) with vastly inferior UX to TI-89/TI-92. Fortunately, TI haven't lost their minds yet. They still sell a version of the TI-89. I am hoping that line does last. Otherwise, they'll be basically abandoning a market to whoever will have to pop up to serve it.
- qz2 6y agoYep. The NSpire is an awful pile of shit. I had one for a month. I’ve taken to stock piling HP48GX’s when they turn up on ebay.
- snvzz 6y agoIf you're into stockpiling them, it wouldn't hurt to get a TI-89/92+/voyage200 while at it, and see the best the other relevant calculator maker has to offer ;) I've had hp50g for a long time, got a ti-89 recently and became enlightened.
- jedbrown 6y agoRPN is really useful for observing intermediate results and comparing with a mental model of what would be reasonable scales. I use Emacs M-x calc quite a bit for this reason, versus a Julia/Python session when variable names and functions become necessary.
- _trampeltier 6y agoYou are asking the wrong question. "Why use an RPN calculator", would be the better question. But there are still some answers, why an HP calculator. The build quality and the buttons on a HP calculator are just so much better, there is no contest. You say on a TI-89 you can spot a typo easily .. maybe .. I belive you catch errors better and quicker with an RPN calculator, because you allways see a result after each step. And if you need a TI-89 to stop you from adding meter to ohms, then I don't know .. Try a free RPN app and after a short time you will see, how it feels more natural to use this kind if calculator.
- ghaff 6y agoDoing a calculation chain with RPN does take a bit of practice to do correctly and efficiently. It's probably a little easier on the 42 because the display shows the Y register. That said I've been using RPN since I got an HP-55 in college (retiring my TI after a year--calculator prices were dropping fast at the time).
- wtallis 6y ago> And if you need a TI-89 to stop you from adding meter to ohms, then I don't know Don't knock it until you've tried it. Though as usual, the HP calculators that have this capability (48/49/50 series and 28 series) have a better UI for using units. But either way, this is a form of type checking, which is pretty universally regarded as a useful and worthwhile feature in programming languages. It catches mistakes from errant keystrokes, lowers the cognitive load by not requiring you to keep track of how many places to shift the decimal point when converting between metric units and obviously makes things a lot simpler when non-metric units creep into your calculations (because you can directly add feet and inches without problem), and encourages proper labeling of units for the quantities you end up writing down.
- _trampeltier 6y agoOk, I'm from europe, so I never had to deal with inches and feet. I also have all my calculators in engineering mode, because I have often very large and very small numbers (electronic). But that also depends on for what you use your calculator. I have an HP50g but the units menu is something I tryed in the beginning and think at least for me is not useful. And yes, an HP50g would be more like an TI-89.