General > General Technical Chat
Do you still use stand-alone ("pocket") calculators?
SiliconWizard:
--- Quote from: blacksheeplogic on January 11, 2020, 08:42:01 pm ---
--- 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'.
--- End quote ---
Just re-read every post made. Apart from ataradov, I haven't seen one that, when considering computer alternatives to calculators, wasn't only talking either about the basic Windows calc (an ugly joke) or mobile apps, which I also dislike as I stated (especially for the UI thing.) So obviously if your only reference to computer alternatives to calculators are these, I'd fully agree that they can't match a real calculator. But there are much more useful and capable software out there as I cited (and ataradov), and I haven't seen anyone talk about them apart from him. So this really looked like indeed "most" people here have this preference out of actually not knowing about better software tools, and I again strongly suggest trying. It's really hard to go back once you have.
As I said, there will certainly always be a personal preference part in this. But just make sure you know all your options, that was my point.
ataradov:
Just as an example, here is a random snapshot from my calculator history.
As you can see there is quire a bit of repetitive formulas where I want to tweak one or a few values. You would go mad doing using this a regular calculator. Even if displays some sort of a formula display, navigating that typically is not easy.
Also note some pretty simplistic calculations (256/2 :) ). I do that all the time because it is way easier to just enter the raw numbers while occupying my brain with more important stuff when thinking about a problem. Using a regular calculator you would be compelled to do simple calculations in your head.
Also I have the full history of requests and results. I don't need memory, I don't need RPM, I have all the history of all the calculations I ever made. I can copy-paste those things at will.
All this stuff is for this project https://www.eevblog.com/forum/projects/reverse-engineering-fnirsi-5012h/ , in case anyone is interested.
sibeen:
I've got two calculators sitting on my desk, a large button 4 banger and a scientific Sharp EL-531XH. I'd very rarely touch either. I do quite a bit of stuff in Mathcad so it is always open on my computer and that's my go to for any form of calculation. If I'm out of the office I'll use my phone's calculator for anything simple, if it's not I'd open up my laptop and fire up mathcad.
nctnico:
--- Quote from: ataradov on January 12, 2020, 12:07:31 am ---Just as an example, here is a random snapshot from my calculator history.
As you can see there is quire a bit of repetitive formulas where I want to tweak one or a few values. You would go mad doing using this a regular calculator. Even if displays some sort of a formula display, navigating that typically is not easy.
--- End quote ---
For that kind of stuff you have spreadsheets.
ataradov:
--- Quote from: nctnico on January 12, 2020, 12:58:51 am ---For that kind of stuff you have spreadsheets.
--- End quote ---
It takes a few ms to bring up and put back this calculator. Why would I use spreadsheets for this?
I mean everyone has their preferences. I'm just sharing what works for me. I don't want to convince anyone to switch what they are doing.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version