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What's the current go-to calculator for electrical engineers?
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mansaxel:

--- Quote from: rsjsouza on November 22, 2021, 11:29:32 am ---
Quite interesting. In a modern professional environment, the concept of booting a "standalone" calculator is mind boggling.


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The SwissMicros DM42 is instant-on. No waiting. (it also retains the stack, which is quite useful.) Takes far less time than launching the Free42 app on my phone. Unless, of course, I have to go fetch the calculator. Then phone wins easily, assuming I'm carrying the phone.

Yes, the practice of having a standalone is relegated to old farts, people who hate computing (sic) and exams. And, people who love and support the project of building new RPN standalones.

2N3055:

--- Quote from: Berni on November 23, 2021, 06:55:26 am ---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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I also bought Nspire years ago and after initial playing with it, I used it very little. Casio FX61F is just much simpler for fast and quick ( and has impedance mode with parallel operator no other calc has ). For more complicated stuff I go to PC or phone.
I like HyperCalc and RealCalc (Casio emulation) on a phone.

My son used Nspire some in last few years because of symbolic math, but also drives fx991 and piece of paper as his daily driver. For anything more complicated he goes to PC too.

blacksheeplogic:

--- Quote from: 2N3055 on November 23, 2021, 08:10:36 am ---My son used Nspire some in last few years because of symbolic math, but also drives fx991 and piece of paper as his daily driver. For anything more complicated he goes to PC too.

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The Casio fx-CG10 is not a bad upgrade, I used it for a while. The NSpire CX is about the worst I've used.
rsjsouza:

--- Quote from: David Hess on November 22, 2021, 04:11:18 pm ---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.
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Although the HP48 relegates the base conversion to a submenu of the Math button (understandable given its main focus), the data entry with a preceding hash symbol to denote base notations is easy enough for my taste. Sure, it is not as straightforward as a specialized calculator, but given it remembers the menus through a power off helps keep the functionality at hand. Also, being programmable, it helps that you can create your own routines for fast access.


--- Quote from: David Hess on November 22, 2021, 04:11:18 pm ---The first dictionary and "encyclopedia" CD-ROMs were pretty expensive also, like the first movies on videotape.

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Indeed - their price was very inflated due to the novelty of the technology. We also didn't have encyclopaedias as everything was in English back then.


--- Quote from: 2N3055 on November 23, 2021, 08:10:36 am ---Casio FX61F is just much simpler for fast and quick ( and has impedance mode with parallel operator no other calc has ). For more complicated stuff I go to PC or phone.
I like HyperCalc and RealCalc (Casio emulation) on a phone.

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I never understood the fixation on the FX61F and its "electronic" functions. Sure, it is a "fit for purpose" gadget and was a cute novelty at the time, but even back then I was already doing that and much more in my dad's (already ancient) TI-59 programmable calculator.
2N3055:

--- Quote from: rsjsouza on November 23, 2021, 12:29:46 pm ---I never understood the fixation on the FX61F and its "electronic" functions. Sure, it is a "fit for purpose" gadget and was a cute novelty at the time, but even back then I was already doing that and much more in my dad's (already ancient) TI-59 programmable calculator.

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I could say same about RPN... :-)

I wouldn't call it fixation :-).
And it is not about programmable either.

As I said, the "parallel" operator allows you to type dc networks pretty much directly into calculator...
Also it has Si sufixes.

It's just easy to use for simple stuff..
I already used Mathcad III on DOS for more complicated stuff looong time ago...
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