General > General Technical Chat
What calculator do you use ?
WattSekunde:
--- Quote from: gildasd on April 01, 2017, 09:42:19 pm ---
--- Quote from: David Hess on April 01, 2017, 04:11:40 pm ---
--- Quote from: Rolo on April 01, 2017, 01:50:52 pm ---I use a Casio fx-991ES most off the time. I also have my first calculator that could do BASE-N, a Casio FX-4000P. Using BASE-N on the 4000 takes les keypresses, function is less hidden. Overall the 4000P is a very nice calculator to work with.
--- End quote ---
My only complaint about the HP48g and HP50g is that using them with hexadecimal is a pain. I would not mind a more programmer oriented version.
At some point I had a TI-55-II which I replaced during early high school with a TI-66 which I still have. Then Casio's FX-7000G came out which led to a funny story. My friend Mike made me aware of it and I thought, "I have got to get that." So that night I arranged to travel across town to BEST to buy the last one they had. The next morning Mike tells me that he had planned on picking up the last FX-7000G available locally but some jerk beat him to BEST by about half an hour.
Later I moved to the HP48g with RPN and never looked back although I still have my TI-66 and a couple of LCD TI-35 derivatives stored with my slide rules for emergencies.
--- End quote ---
The TI-NSpire has good Hex and other non 10 based decimals options. Worth spending 10 minutes leaning how it's done.
As for the Google option, it's nice when you have it, but on site, with dodgy internet, not so good.
And if management caught us doing work calculations (fuel usage, fill rate, efficiency of x etc) on something that is not secure, like Google, not so good...
I still wish a manufacturer had an "unlimited version" of their top of the range CAS calculators with none of the educational shackles left. I think the HP 50g was the last of those.
Personally, while I do have a CAS app on my Iphone, I do find that a single purpose tool works better for me, less farting around.
--- End quote ---
If the 50g has a manual as good as the 48S(X) then you are right. A user and prog. guide for the 50g in 48S(X) style needs maybe 5000 Pages. ;D
In my opinion the 48G(X) was the first step backwards. Keyboard material and colors, documentation quality, pop up menu system, etc. are not as good as the older ones. But that's history. The last calculator withdrawal areas are schools and collectors. Kids grow up with smartphones and every other thing has a cpu in it to calculate its needs. I am a little collector. ;D
@Rolo: What was the problem with hexadecimal? You can configure the user keyboard or write little programs for your needs. The 48 UI is as flexible as a unix shell. And with some stack enhancement libraries even the old 48S(X) is fast enough for every need. But that's another story...
screwbreaker:
At the high school I had a Casio fx-d400 first, and a Casio fx-p401 later. They are both stolen to me. The first at the high school, the second at the university. They was the best calculator of ever for me. I'm still looking for them on ebay from time to time.
saturation:
Its fairly rare for calculators to be updated so I was surprised when I saw this at a Walmart, and $7.
Full review:
https://edspi31415.blogspot.com/2017/03/review-casio-fx-260-solar-ii-fx-82.html
--- Quote from: saturation on April 17, 2012, 10:50:55 am ---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.
--- End quote ---
rsjsouza:
Last acquisition for the collection: an HP 35s. Pretty well made calculator and has 40 bits for my Hex calculations. This is an excellent companion for my HP 48GX (which stays at home).
RedDogAlpha:
I use the HP 35S for land, surveying and electrical engineering. It is a great calculator and you can program it with different functions and cogo routines and there’s an equation, solver, and many other functions that are really useful.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version