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Outside of the artificially restricted world of education, it's hard to think of a use for a physical calculator that would not be better accomplished with a ph
by LeoPanthera 3y ago
Outside of the artificially restricted world of education, it's hard to think of a use for a physical calculator that would not be better accomplished with a phone, tablet, or laptop.
- uoaei 3y agoI find one very handy when doing carpentry or other physical practices that require on-the-fly minor adaptations of designs as you build.
- Affric 3y agoI have never used a phone calculator I didn’t hate
- maven29 3y agoThis is a bit ironic, but have you tried the Numworks simulator app or any of its forks. I usually have excel sheets or python/matlab scripts. However, this simulator felt self-consistent enough to develop muscle memory for quick back-of-the-envelope work. https://github.com/UpsilonNumworks/Upsilon https://github.com/UpsilonNumworks/Upsilon https://www.numworks.com/simulator/download/ https://www.numworks.com/simulator/download/
- bxparks 3y agoI love the Free42 app. The Plus42 app is also great, but the buttons are too small on my 5" phone screen. JRPN15C and JRPN16C are also awesome, even more so in landscape mode.
- antod 3y agoI love free42 as well. Mostly as a tribute to the HP42S that got me through engineering school 30 odd yrs ago. The RPN muscle memory never completely went away.
- hskalin 3y agoDesmos
- adhesive_wombat 3y agoHIPER is the best one I have found. Not having been railroaded into HP calculators by the American education system, and thus not being very familiar with them, I've always found the HP clones a bit clunky on phones. But I still much prefer the RPN option. The free version does have an ad banner, which I have to tolerate although I paid for it ages ago because this phone doesn't have Google play on it. A unit-aware calculator is what I really crave, however, and I keep going back to Google for that which is pretty shameful. E.g. (1GWh/ 1 year)/2 km^2 in W/cm^2
- askiiart 3y ago> Not having been railroaded into HP calculators by the American education system Did you mean TI calculators? I have never seen anyone use an HP calculator in the American education system, much less one being required.
- adhesive_wombat 3y agoOh yes. Derp! No one really uses graphic calculators in UK schools, so they're all the same to me to me to be honest. A £10 Casio was all that was ever needed at school, and I didn't need one at university either. So I never got any kind of deep connection with any model in the way that some people seem to live and breathe their favourite models. A sad side effect of this is few get suckered into accidentally learning to write software by trying to pay games in their maths lessons.
- _trampeltier 3y agoIt depends. Of course a phone is mostly just with you, it still has for ex. the lock screen. It is also more easy and faster to tip on real buttons. If you just have to calculate once a year something, yes, just go with the phone. But all guys I know have a calculator on there working place.
- makapuf 3y agoWhat kind of work is it? One where you stand at a desk with a computer or on a bench or sales counter?
- _trampeltier 3y agoIndustrie automation / plc programming / electro or mechanic cad
- TheOtherHobbes 3y agoI recently bought a Casio FX991ES Plus 2nd Edition (...) Having real buttons, a selection of memories, support for fractions and hrs/min/secs, and some very basic automation has been really nice - much better for simple jobs than the MacOS calculator.
- jdietrich 3y agoCalculated Industries make a range of calculators designed for specific industries and trades, offered as both phone apps and as physical calculators. The physical option is generally superior IMO - they're rugged, the battery lasts forever and hardware buttons are just faster, particularly if you've got wet, dirty or gloved hands. A pocket calculator is not a substitute for Excel or CAD/CAM, but it's often a more appropriate tool if you just need to make a couple of quick calculations. https://www.calculated.com/ https://www.calculated.com/
- layer8 3y agoDedicated tools can have better useability. Like physical buttons, in the case of pocket calculators.
- Cthulhu_ 3y agoTrue, but the amount of people that need a calculator while not at a computer is dwindling. I can imagine it's still a thing in manufacturing though.
- layer8 3y agoI sometimes prefer using a pocket calculator even when I’m at a computer, because I can use it more intuitively. A software calculator app has some upsides, but also some downsides. One isn’t strictly better than the other.