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Do you still use stand-alone ("pocket") calculators?

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KL27x:

--- Quote ---That is because you never tried a an engineering calculator (like the fx-115MS for example) from Casio. These can deal with hex and binary just fine. And they also keep up with typing with two fingers. I found that to be a problem with TI calculators.
--- End quote ---
+1. Tactile keys, no lag, intuitive mode selection. If I have to look at a manual to do something, just cuz it's been a few months, then forget about it. FX 115 is my daily driver.

The RealCalc is great in a pinch for certain things, when I'm away from home. But sometimes the touch screen is just not the right thing for the job. Heck, sometimes we (I do, anyway) use things like adding machines, even. No, an adding machine doesn't have any fancy math functions, but it has features and fuctions/ergos made to detect/avoid human errors and for ease of use when adding lots of figures.

blacksheeplogic:

--- Quote from: SiliconWizard on January 11, 2020, 03:00:18 pm ---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.

--- End quote ---

I did not reach this conclusion and I am not sure how you would from the replies. I suspect you are projecting your preferences and views in the conclusion which is fine when stating your position but I don't think when read objectively that it representative of the the group 'Most'.

My preference for using a calculator ha nothing to do with access to software, a PC, alternatives, skill, or lack of knowledge. I have a preference that suites how I work. I also don't know from the replies the age group of those with a preference for a calculator over a smart device over a PC but it would not surprise me if there was a bias based on age.

KL27x:

--- Quote ---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 ---
A lot of humans use calculators to do more basic things than algebra and integrals and graphing, 99 times out of the 100 we pick up the calculator.

It would be a huge pain to do your taxes with a smart phone app.

Also, RealCalc doesn't even show you what you punched in. It's the most old school calculator UI. 16 + 12... oh, what did you do, so far? The display says "12." This is using a mini computer and million color touchscreen to replicate the lamest scientific calculator ever made. It's a dollar store toy calculator that also does geometry and square roots and couple other basic things.

On a lot of the modern calculators, you can see all the things you punched in as you do it, so you can doublecheck if you made an error. On the FX115, for instance, there's two lines. Even after you get your answer, you can still see your inputs, above it, and to scroll through the whole thing, even. Quantities, operations, parentheses. The entire both sides of the equation. So you can do a lot of things without writing things down, and still have 100% confidence in what you did.

Modern 15 dollar calculator is so far beyond this, just in UI/useability. Casio. Check them out.

george.b:

--- Quote from: KL27x on January 11, 2020, 09:14:04 pm ---Also, RealCalc doesn't even show you what you punched in. It's the most old school calculator UI. 16 + 12... oh, what did you do, so far?

--- End quote ---

RealCalc can show 4 lines of RPN stack:

KL27x:
^That sounds nice, but I don't even know what "4 lines of RPN stack" even means or what the x y z stuff on the left means.

Honestly, first time I booted up RealCalc, I was stunned at what it was. All that display resolution. And 99% of it used to replicate push buttons. It was literally a 1970's basic calculator. I guess there are more features, but hell if I know them.

Some TI calculators might as well require 1 year course to use. Casio makes a lot that are for normal human beings. I can rely on my 115. And when I spill coke on it, I can buy another. Punch in your figures and operations, see it as you "type", dozens/scores or operations, go back and edit mistakes before pressing "=".* The UI part is brilliant and using RealCalc/1970s calculator is ancient boat anchor in comparison.

I don't know how many operations it can display at once, but is shows enough and scrolling through as it goes to show you where you are and keep your place. It is great as a light adding machine, even. I have a pricer Casio with graphic display and more lines. It will even show fractions as you write them, with the bar and whatnot. But it has a bit more complexity, and I didn't read the manual, yet. So I keep using the 115's.

*Or you can edit AFTER you press equal, and the answer updates when you press "=" again. Sometimes you want to optimize something, but you don't need full graphing. You can play with the numbers and see how the answer changes. This is graphing-light, and it's completely intuitive. You don't need to real a manual to figure any of this out. Just move the cursor around and edit things, intuitively. Sad is the only word you can use to describe RealCalc. Even replicating the pixelation on the old school display, lol.

This makes me wonder if SiliconWizard has used RealCalc, or if he just assumes that since it's on a smart phone, it is not completely archaic, basically emulating a real, retarded calculator that was obsolete decades ago. What he is describing on his computer (I presume) is nothing like RealCalc. RealCalc is like using a computer and printer to emulate a typewriter.

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