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The Future of RPN Calculators

Noksagt writes "HP's recent release of the 33s won't be the last RPN calculator. Former HPers at Hydrix are hyping an impressive Linux-based PDA/calculator, named Qonos. They have a survey up regarding features, etc. More information can be found at comp.sys.hp48 or The Museum of HP Calculators. A new open hardware project called OpenRPN has also begun. Their mission is to produce horizontal and vertical format scientific RPN calcs and later a graphing calc."

22 of 301 comments (clear)

  1. maxima by John+Meacham · · Score: 5, Informative

    maxima.sf.net is a truely awesome symbolic algebra program, it is derived from one of the first ever 'modern' computer algebra systems and was recently made open source.

    If it could be put into a calculator, that would rock.

    --
    http://notanumber.net/
  2. More details and pictures by Warlock48 · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's more details and pictures on hpcalc.

    Quote:

    Operating system:
    eCos, running in 512KB SRAM and providing one month of battery life
    Linux, running in 64MB of SDRAM and providing considerably more than a day of battery life

    Other software:
    Emulation of both the HP 49G and the TI-89
    Advanced math software: Gnuplot, Giac/Xcas (supposedly better than Maple), MathsExplorer
    PDA software: calendar, tasks, notes, time management
    Datalogging capabilities

    Processor:
    Intel PXA 263 XScale processor, running at 400 MHz
    32MB of on-chip flash memory
    32-bit data bus

    Display:
    Grayscale 3" 320x240
    Full support already exists for a color screen to be offered at a later date

    Other hardware:
    Mono speaker and microphone
    Stereo audio input and ouput ports
    Keyboard with tactile feedback designed for fast, accurate data entry
    Compact Flash Type II slot
    SDIO slot
    IrDA port
    USB client and host ports, supporting external keyboards, webcams, and other devices

    Optional sled:
    Vernier probe compatible
    8 analog I/O channels
    16 digital/sonic I/O channels
    Extra high-capacity lithium ion battery
    DB-9 serial port

    Price:
    Over US$350

  3. Re:The future of RPN calculators... by SamBeckett · · Score: 2, Informative

    WTF that isnt the chain rule.

    d/dx f(g(x)) = f'(g(x)) * g'(x)

  4. Re:TI Rocks by ronsonal · · Score: 2, Informative

    *cough*matlab*cough* erm, mathematica? maple?

  5. Re:Qonos???? by nytes · · Score: 4, Informative

    Hoo-boy. I'm labeling myself as uber-geek.

    The reason the 'r' comes and goes is because the 'Q', in Klingon, is sort of like an over done 'k' in English. It's pronounced toward the back of the mouth. The net effect is vaguely like a "kr" sound in English.

    So "Kronos" is sort of a phonemic transcription of what "Qo'noS" would sound like.

    --
    -- I have monkeys in my pants.
  6. Re:12 C replacement by k_yarina · · Score: 3, Informative

    Real geeks want an HP 16C replacement. My 16C's still going, and on only it's 3rd or so set of batteries since 1982. http://www.hpmuseum.org/hp16.htm

  7. Re:This is very good for the student by JonathanBoyd · · Score: 4, Informative
    Right now most math and science students are given or required to own a graphic calculator.

    Here in the UK, they're forbidden in exams (up to and including university level) and frowned upon as a distraction and hindrance to being able to visual graphs yourself.

  8. Re:??? - More Detail, please. by |/|/||| · · Score: 2, Informative
    I think the parent's point is that the chain rule works by breaking an equation up into a set of simple, nested functions: 2x-3 becomes f(g(x)), where f(x)=x-3 and g(x)=2x.

    If you wanted to punch the same equation into a RPN calculator, you would need to break it up the same way. This is a pretty trivial example, but if you've used RPN (I haven't used it much at all) then I think you'll see what the parent meant.

    P.S. - Real sophomores know how to spell it. ;)

    --
    [javac] 100 errors
  9. Re:The future of RPN calculators... by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 4, Informative

    That is the chain rule. Sheesh! Doesn't anyone know any mathematics these days. There's more than one type of notation for writing derivatives: f'(g(x))g'(x) is the same thing as df/dg dg/dx.

    --
    Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
  10. Re:The future of RPN calculators... by dillon_rinker · · Score: 2, Informative

    Go sue your calculus teacher for malpractice. Seriously. I wrote THE EXACT SAME THING you wrote, but I used differential notation. You clearly haven't been taught differential notation. You likely wasted time memorizing formulas that should be instantly grokked (and are, with differential notation). I'd bet my next paycheck that you can't explain the purpose of the "dx" in an indefinite integral (and no, it's not to show that "x" is the independent variable in the expression being integrated).

    Out of curiousity, did you use calculators in your calculus class?

  11. Re:Very great and all... by Roydd+McWilson · · Score: 2, Informative

    For the keyboard.

    --
    THE NERD IS THE COMPUTER.
  12. Re:The future of RPN calculators... by pclminion · · Score: 5, Informative
    First, what he posted is the Chain Rule, written in Leibniz notation.

    Second, you've committed the atrocious sin of mixing Leibniz notation with Newton prime notation. What a horrific mess you've created.

    The proper way to write it would be:

    h(x) = f(g(x))
    h'(x) = f'(g(x))*g'(x)

    I think this should help explain why the Leibniz notation is so popular, because in the Newtonian notation, a prime can only bind to a name, not an arbitrary algebraic expression. Hence you are required to introduce the additional function h(x) just to allow the notation to work.

    Anyway, you're hardly qualified to school us in calculus.

  13. Re:Shameless Plug by pdbogen · · Score: 2, Informative

    Not to douse your fire, but I've been using grpn for a while, and it works quite well.

  14. The past RPN of by wombatmobile · · Score: 3, Informative

    Reverse Polish notation was invented by an Australian in response to Polish notation, which was invented (gasp!) by a Pole.

    The whole story here is

  15. Re:Integration in PDA/Calculator by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Except OpenRPN isn't trying to be a PDA. It has the hardware to do so (except that the first model will be a small horizontal format, a'la the HP Voyager (11c,12c,15c,16c) series. 1 or 2 lines makes for a difficult PDA. The open nature will likely let people put PDA features on it, but that isn't the goal of the project (though it is the goal of the quonos, which was also mentioned).

  16. There are a bunch of others by bsd4me · · Score: 2, Informative

    There are a bunch of others. My favorite is PARI-GP.

    --

    (S(SKK)(SKK))(S(SKK)(SKK))

  17. Re:My survey response by am+2k · · Score: 3, Informative
    Having to reenter a large formula just to change a constant is a pain with RPN.

    That's why you should use variables on the HP48 for that kind of thing...

    In school in electrical engineering, I had a huge set of formulas and constants stored in a directory on my HP48GX, all I had to do was to change a constant, then push the right formular onto the stack, press ->NUM once, and had my numeric result (even complex numbers) there, which would have taken at least two sheets of paper by hand.

  18. Re:Shameless Plug by Fourier · · Score: 2, Informative

    Graphics are for the weak. Allow me to respond with my own shameless plug for Orpie; it runs in the console, the way God intended.

  19. Re:The future of RPN calculators... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    The prime is not limited to binding to names. In Newtonian notation this is expressed as

    (f.g)'(x) = f'(g(x)).g'(x)

  20. Re:The future of RPN calculators... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Just to pick a nit - IIRC, Newton used a dot notation, which this screen is too limited to display. Here's an attempt at explanation. If x were a function, then x with a dot over it would be the first derivative, and x with two dots over it(like an umlaut) would be the second derivative. I don't recall where the 'prime' notation came from.

    It's not uncommon to use prime for spatial derivatives and reserve the dot for derivatives with respect to time.

  21. Re:The future of RPN calculators... by Bush+Pig · · Score: 2, Informative

    Caunt isn't too bad. My copy originally belonged to my grandfather, then my mother. Its style is a bit archaic, though, as it was published early last century.

    --
    What a long, strange trip it's been.
  22. Galculator by nitrocloud · · Score: 1, Informative

    For those with Linux searching for the most perfect RPN calculator, I have found it! Galculator, a free open-source GTK2 driven application fills the gap that is created by the absense of a HP calculator. I do hate that I own a TI-89 and not a nice new HP 49G+ due to extensive use of galculator I have come to love RPN during the conclusion of my high school junior year. So I say unto thee:
    May your entity of lack thereof save RPN. (use galculator or if you use Debian, apt-get install galculator)

    --
    Karma: Good, or bust!