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What calculator do you use ?
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odessa:
I'll be honest ... I had to google RPN  :D

Also my teenage daughter has been a great help showing me how to use a scientific calculator ... .god I feel old  :(
Jad.z:
I've been using (Casio fx-991EX plus) for more than 3 years now and I'm pretty pleased with it.

cybergibbons:
The 6 key has just failed me on my trusty Casio FX-9700G graphic calculator after 19 years and one drop from a 12 storey building. Going to take it apart and see if I can repair it.

I am now using sage maths to replace it. Incredibly powerful and free. Similar to Mathematica in many ways.

However, I am tempted to get a HP-50G as I'm struggling with breaking away from a physical calculator.

All the ipad calcs seem to either be crap or don't break away from the constraints of a physical calculator.
Psi:

--- Quote from: amspire on April 17, 2012, 08:31:01 am ---I would definitely get the re-issue of the HP15C while it is available.

--- End quote ---

Dad has bought one of those, quite nice.
saturation:
Unfortunately, choosing a calculator is a touch complicated if you're in school. 

For general purpose electronics use, any scientific calculator will do.  I like the Casios, FX 260 is as close to ones I used heavily in school in the 1980s [ older Casios are more durably made and keys laid out better, I still use my 30+ year old college Fx-100 today]. 

This is really for bench fixups, back of napkin designs or estimates.  Portability, maintenance free, and low cost are most important, this is about $8 at Walmart or $11 at Amazon, fully solar no batteries.  Its very light too, and wont' load your shirt pocket, so I have 3: one in the lab, one in my work bag and one in the living room:



For just $1-3 more you can get another with gobs of added functions, even graphing, but it also makes the calculator bigger, adds more keystrokes, and hard to shirt pocket.

You don't really need more than ~ 8 bit accuracy for making back of envelope calculations.  if you need to do more complex or accurate calculations, its best to use a PC so the outputs are fed into SPICE or other simulator, has superb graphing, and the free Windows calculators provide all the basics.  Also if you track calculations with a 'paper tape' on a PC its far easier to manipulate.

For school, learning math concepts and being that some classes do not allow you to use a PC, PC provides far better graphing capabilities, you have to go with what the class recommends.

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