HP Releases New RPN Scientific Calculator

majid writes "HP just announced a new calculator, the HP 33S. It supports RPN and algebraic notation, and sports a funky V-shaped design. I don't think it looks as nice as the 33SII it is supposed to replace, and it seems to have rubber keys instead of the wonderful hard plastic keys on older HP calculators, but it's nice to have a new RPN scientific calculator that does not have the intimidating learning (and remembering) curve of the 48 or 49 series. This one just might join my trusty 15C ... The User's manual PDF is available courtesy of Amazon, where it is apparently already No. 85 on the best-selling list."

Comments

Good for basic math

[thedogcow]

This calculator good for basic math and people in non-engineering majors.

The Ti92 (or Ti89 if you don't want the qwerty keyboard) is still the best route to go for higher-level mathematics (Calculus etc) ... however it has its limitations. I am taking Partial Differential Equations this summer and I don't think any calculator can help me get the answer quick and easy.

Complaints.

[eddy]

There's been some complaints on the HP newsgroup about a near invisible decimal dot in the display, IIRC. Something to look out for.

And people, this isn't a replacement for the graphing calculators, it's meant to be a competent calculator for people who don't need graphing, and it can be used on tests where the HP49G+ and such are often forbidden.

Re:Complaints.

[morcheeba]

4-bit bus

Actually, the Saturn processor is a lot more complicated than that. Just about everything in it is a different size:

- 4-bit addressable word size
- variable instruction sizes (very cisc)
- 20-bit address
- four 64-bit registers that can be addressed in a number of ways (example: you can manipulate just the exponent portion of the register, not the mantissa)
- Physically, the HP48 interfaced to 8-bit-wide memory, but this is invisible to the programmer

I'd be tempted to call it a 64-bit processor because that's the register size, but that is a generalization. It is fundamently a low-power design specifically for BCD math.

Re:Complaints.

[Foolhardy]

According to the spec sheet for the new 33s that the story is about, it in fact DOES use a 6502 . Note CPU.

HP still making calcuators?

[jpmkm]

I seem to recall an announcement a while back saying that HP was getting out of the calculator business. Since then they have released two new calculators(HP49G+ and then this one). What's up? I love HP calcs though. I have an old HP41CV that I have thought about selling on ebay(they are worth quite a bit now) but I think I'm going to keep it. RPN is the best idea ever.

enlarged image

[Janek Kozicki]

the enlarged image didn't work for me (don't know why). but at last I managed to get it. In case some of you had similar problems - here it is:

http://www.hp.com/calculators/images/33s_350x350.j pg

Re:Funny, was talking about this yesterday

[CylanR77]

This is really just based on my observation, but I'd have to say that the reason why HP calculators are almost unheard of these days [or rather, why TI's calculators are everywhere] is because that's what middle schools and high schools buy to sell to their students. I belive that the schools get a bit of a discount, buying in bulk and being educational institutions. I think that the bottom line is that early on, the schools get TI calculators for their students.

This way, the teachers and students are more used to using one brand/model of calculator, and once there's a bit of inertia in one direction, it's tougher to change things to the other direction.

I can't really imagine a school system recommending a calculator other than the TI-83+ for their math classes, mainly because they're easy to get, easy to find someone who knows how to use it, and easy to see that every other school system uses it.

Re:15C Still rules for programmers

[majid]

You mean the 16C. The 15C is a scientific programmable calculator that does not have a hex mode.

Re:RPN for Cluebies?

[Noksagt]

The wikipedia article is pretty good on this. But a short summary of benefits:

1. Uses less calculator memory, as it doesn't have to parse parenthesis and algebraic BS.
2. Could be entered more quickly because you don't use parenthesis and the like (shorter expressions because you operate on the stack)
3. The stack facilitates correct entry--easy to check parts of an expresion & you won't get lost in the ()s
4. You will never get lost in which set of () you're in.

Re:RPN!

[Cryptnotic]

It's faster because you never need to type parentheses.

Example:

4239 * (12382 + 147324) + 2342

in RPN, you would type:

4239 [enter] 12382 [enter] 147324 [+] [*] 2342 [+]

No parens to balance, plus you can see all of the intermediate values (e.g., the result of 12382 + 147324) as you go.

HP Calculator Emulator for PalmOS

[pigpogm]

If you want to emulate the 48SX, 48GX, and 49G calcs on your Palm...

http://power48.mobilevoodoo.com

They look fantastic - an impressive graphics job, and look like they work well to me. Sadly, I'm just a wannabe geek hanging around slashdot to look cool, so I don't actually follow a fraction of what they do.

How sad is that?