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You 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

You 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 ago
Doing 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 ago
  Ok, 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.

ghaff 6y ago

Doing 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 ago
Ok, 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.