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Do you still use stand-alone ("pocket") calculators?
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Specmaster:
I have a number of calculators within easy reach, but the one I use the most is a Commodore SR4912, it has a l overly red LED display and what I consider to be the nicest feel push buttons on a calculator that I've come across. I brought it in the late 70's, uses a PP3 and has a 3.5mm jack socket to accept a external power adaptor.
emece67:
.
madires:
I've collected a few inexpensive scientific Casio calculators over the years. Of course, one is kept on the work bench. The only high-end model I have is a fx-7500G.
MagicSmoker:
Another vote for RealCalc (pro version) on the phone, but I still have various generic scientific calculators sprinkled around the lab which I use on a daily basis. I'm not a complete masochist / atavist, however: if I need to do a calculation involving more than a couple of nested parentheses then I usually open up a spreadsheet.

I never had a graphing calculator or learned RPN, despite being old enough to remember their heyday.
SiliconWizard:

--- Quote from: ataradov on January 10, 2020, 09:25:51 pm ---Have not used a physical calculator since university. On the phone I use RealCalc Pro. It does not want location and does not share the data.

On PC I use some random command line calculator from linux repo. I think it is called AP Calc or something like this. Works fine and I have it setup to pop up on F1 key, so it is always handy.

I don't get physical calculators. I can enter very complex formulas and then go and edit whatever I want. It would be a huge pain on a real calculator.

--- End quote ---

That was the only post I can relate with so far (although I get all the others, no issue there, just that I'm closer to this one.)

At uni I had a HP28S which at the time was great. I didn't "upgrade" to the 48S although it was available as the 28S was fine for me (and I didn't have the cash to spend yet more).

I have RealCalc on my phone too, but use it rarely (only if I need some calculation while I'm on the go and have nothing else available...) I personally find touchscreen UIs to be terrible anyway except for the most basic tasks. (That could be an entire topic for later.)

The interesting thing all in all I noticed in this thread is that most people still using a pocket calculator are doing this either just from habit, or also because they just don't know (or have bothered) to find decent tools on computer. Certainly tools on computer require being in front of a computer... but these days how often do you not have a computer in front of you, or near you, while working? It's pretty rare for most engineering jobs (except as I said the rare cases when on a bench with no computer, although it's still common to have a laptop on lab benches nearby...) But beyond that obvious requirement, there actually are tons of software that are, as I and ataradov said, much more powerful and usable than any pocket calculator. And no we are not talking about the basic calculators that come with your OS, they are just ugly toys. I personally also use a command-line calculator, 'calc'. It's available on many Linux distros, otherwise it's pretty easy to build. I have it on Windows too (and it opens its own console directly, so there's nothing to fiddle with). http://www.isthe.com/chongo/tech/comp/calc/index.html
it's arbitrary precision, it's fast, it has an embedded C-like interpreted language (many calcs have something like this, but not quite as powerful and it's always pretty clunky to type programs on a small keyboards and small screen), it has virtually unlimited history (so actually seeing what you calculated before is all there, and redoing a calculation is just a keystroke away, you have also cut/paste...) OTOH I've tried, but wouldn't use any of the desktop apps that are just pocket calculators look-alikes; they serve no purpose except being toys IMO. Definitely a wrong approach. Apart from calc, I also use Maxima for symbolic stuff (and several other programs...)

As long as I'm in front or close to a computer, it doesn't take any more time than firing up a physical calculator. I have desktop shortcuts for those, it's just a double-click away (and I usually keep them open anyway.)

And after that, certainly that's also down to personal habits and preferences, but I would certainly recommend taking a look and trying at least one of those powerful CLI calculators (and don't let the CLI aspect deter you, it's every bit as easy to use, and a lot more productive, than any calculator.)

Then I still have a HP48G+. (I don't have my old HP28S anymore, and bought this 48G+ after uni.) It's a great calculator and a great feat of engineering, but I just find using a computer calc (a good one again, not the toy apps) so much more productive that I see little use for it now, so I use it more on occasion out of nostalgia (and appreciating the object.) I also happen to own a HP39gII, which is kind of an oddity (got it for cheap at the time and it was the odd predecessor of the HP Prime, I was just curious to see where HP was heading with calculators. Like the Prime, it was more targeted at students than professionals, but apart from the fact it has no CAS, it's actually pretty usable and very fast. I fired it up lately just as I found it back in a drawer.) They are fun to "play" with once in a while, but always still feel a lot less productive to me than the calc programs I routinely use.


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