Re: RPN and TI calcs
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Re: RPN and TI calcs
On Wed, 19 Aug 1998 17:09:44 -0700, James <slimjimmy@usa.net> wrote:
>The whole discussion on HPs and TIs got me thinking:
>
>Would it be possible to implement some kind of RPN interface/shell for
>a TI (written in ASM, of course)? Has this been done yet?
I remember when I bought my first 'serious' calculator, around twenty
years ago. It was a TI SR56, and I liked it a lot. In the user
manual, it had a small section extolling the virtues of what they
called Algebraic Operating System over RPN, and to prove the point,
the manual gave as example a huge formula for evaluation, full of
brackets and quotients and products and exponents, all sitting inside
a giant root sign. "Just enter it left to right" said the manual.
After three attempts, I was still getting the wrong answer. I
happened to have an HP25 borrowed from a friend, and it produced the
right answer first time.
Strictly speaking, so did the SR56, once I'd twigged what my keying
errors were; but the RPN system did mean that you entered problems the
way you would work them out naturally, as opposed to the way you would
write them down.
I simply never earned enough at the time to be able to afford a
Hewlett Packard calculator!
Alex
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