NCEES release updated calc list

[Flyer_PE]

Today I own a 41CV, 32sii, the dreaded 33s and I'm buying a 35s. One good thing about owning a RPN calculator is nobody ever borrows it.

:thumbs: for the 41CV. My current collection is: 48GX, 28S, 33s, and 41CV. I bought the 33s just for the PE and it has been retired to the back of the desk drawer. I bought the 41 in 1987 and it is still my primary calculator. I'm now proud to be an "old timer".

The funny part is that we only have one engineer in our company that's younger than I am and he's the only one using something other than a RPN calculator.

Jim

 

[IlPadrino]

Yeah, me too.
All the old timer's love it. They all have that same boxy HP calculator from when they were in college in the 60s and it's intuitive to them.

It's not complicated... instead of entering algebraically (2, +, 3 , =), you use a stack (2, enter, 3, +). The (2, enter) puts 2 on the stack. The (3) pushes the 2 down and puts the 3 on the top of the stack. The (+) tells the calculator to add the first two items on the stack, remove them from the stack, and put the answer on the top of the stack. It's a straight-forward process that's easy to see when the calculator shows the two stack positions (which the 33S and 35S do). Technically speaking, the stacks are registers (X, Y, Z, and T) and values are rolled through the stack as required by the operation. If you look at a users manual (try HP33S), you'll notice that the top of the stack (the X register) is actually on the bottom visually - but don't let that confuse things.

In simple equations, it's not much of a savings (keystroke-wise), but for more complicated calculations, it can be a great savings. The other benefit for me is that I tend to naturally think of things with stacks so it's very intuitive.

 

[IlPadrino]

Wikipedia has a decent entry on Reverse Polish notation...

 

[ktulu]

I went through all of undergrad and grad school with my 48GX. Now, it's a staple on my desk. I have the 33s POS (piece of shit) for the exam

 

[csb]

I used to think I couldn't be an engineer if I didn't know RPN...turns out engineers use TIs too.

P.S. If I don't like this board, do I just start my own and whine? And make it look like this one?

 

[C-Dog]

It's not complicated... instead of entering algebraically (2, +, 3 , =), you use a stack (2, enter, 3, +). The (2, enter) puts 2 on the stack. The (3) pushes the 2 down and puts the 3 on the top of the stack. The (+) tells the calculator to add the first two items on the stack, remove them from the stack, and put the answer on the top of the stack. It's a straight-forward process that's easy to see when the calculator shows the two stack positions (which the 33S and 35S do). Technically speaking, the stacks are registers (X, Y, Z, and T) and values are rolled through the stack as required by the operation. If you look at a users manual (try HP33S), you'll notice that the top of the stack (the X register) is actually on the bottom visually - but don't let that confuse things.
In simple equations, it's not much of a savings (keystroke-wise), but for more complicated calculations, it can be a great savings. The other benefit for me is that I tend to naturally think of things with stacks so it's very intuitive.

Sort of like a spreadsheet?

 

[IlPadrino]

Sort of like a spreadsheet?

Well, maybe... but there are only a few cells to work with (the 33S has only 4 stacks/registers) and when you make an operation (which I guess is sort of like entering a formula in a spreadsheet with only one operator and two cell references which are always right before the formula cell), it replaces the reference cells. It's a bit of an analogy stretch but maybe...