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What's the current go-to calculator for electrical engineers?
rsjsouza:
--- Quote from: blacksheeplogic on November 21, 2021, 02:50:15 am ---
--- Quote from: rsjsouza on November 21, 2021, 02:04:43 am ---Indeed. Over the years I always used one of the advanced RPN calculators mentioned here for such base conversion operations (HP48SX/GX, HP35S), but a few years ago I got a vintage TI programmable that is tailored for this and has single button operations for base conversions and logic operations. The only two limitations are battery consumption (I have the older model with LED display, but there is a newer with LCD) and 32-bit only (covers 90% of my needs).
Result: I ended up with two calculators on my main desk and a few others sprinkled around my workstations. :palm:
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I have a both an HP Prime and TI nSpire. The TI nSpire always needs charging and the HP Prime is better in every way to use. But for quick and easy I use a Sharp EL-515S. It's 3 decades old 10 digit LCD, thin & small. For quick calculation esp base conversions I'm done before any of my newer calculators boot.
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Quite interesting. In a modern professional environment, the concept of booting a "standalone" calculator is mind boggling.
I remember in early 1990s the PC-based dictionaries sold for a pretty penny and they weren't very common in the households due to the presence of a real, paperback one in a shelf: "why would you power up the computer and wait all that time to just look up for a word?" was the common motto for the detractors at the time. This was before computers were left powered on all the time and took quite a long time to boot and load a program.
David Hess:
--- Quote from: dunkemhigh on November 21, 2021, 09:55:21 am ---The FX-991ES is single-key conversion between bases (the primary reason I got this model). I though the Prime looks nice and have had the simulator on my desktop to try out and can't believe how difficult it is to do this kind of stuff. Even just entering a hex digit, for instance, needs FIVE extra keys not counting the actual number! It's ridiculous.
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I would have liked something like an HP48/HP50 but oriented more toward engineering and programming, with easy access to base conversions. The way HP did it was kind of cumbersome.
--- Quote from: rsjsouza on November 22, 2021, 11:29:32 am ---I remember in early 1990s the PC-based dictionaries sold for a pretty penny and they weren't very common in the households due to the presence of a real, paperback one in a shelf: "why would you power up the computer and wait all that time to just look up for a word?" was the common motto for the detractors at the time. This was before computers were left powered on all the time and took quite a long time to boot and load a program.
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The first dictionary and "encyclopedia" CD-ROMs were pretty expensive also, like the first movies on videotape.
PlainName:
--- Quote ---The first dictionary and "encyclopedia" CD-ROMs were pretty expensive also
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They still are if you want authoritative ones!
SiliconWizard:
--- Quote from: dunkemhigh on November 22, 2021, 04:17:51 pm ---
--- Quote ---The first dictionary and "encyclopedia" CD-ROMs were pretty expensive also
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They still are if you want authoritative ones!
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Yep. These days they'll come in DVD form and are not cheap.
Berni:
Pretty sure the vast majority of calculator sales these days are to students because a calculator is the only tool they are allowed to use in class/tests.
It's the reason why i bought that TI Nspire back then. It was the most capable piece of electronic help i was allowed to use. Didn't actually end up using it that much afterwards and has now been collecting dust on a shelf for years. I kept using a TI scientific calculator for a good while because its fast to use. But these days i use SpeedCrunch or my phone.
The classical math teacher line "You won't always have a calculator in your pocket".. well not only we do have one constantly in our pockets, it also has more computing power than those supercomputers from the 80s.
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