11–20 of 118 posts
It also made for very confused expressions whenever anyone borrowed my calculator...
I was forced to use an HP12C as part of my university degree. Once you get used to RPN it’s quite uncomfortable to switch back. It’s a much more intuitive way to do math once you get over the small hurdle. 15 years later and I’m still using the same calculator!
I was forced to use an HP12C as part of my university degree. Once you get used to RPN it’s quite uncomfortable to switch back. It’s a much more intuitive way to do math once you get over the small hurdle. 15 years later and I’m still using the same calculator!
I like to repeat everywhere that HP48 series had code block syntax with arrow notation. a a + >> (double function) Those machines were well before their time.. I hope the makers had fun, it's really sad it's gone from the market although one could say that ES6 in your smartphone browser is your modern day HP48 reincarnation.
My grandfather was a civil engineer and he had a number of different RPN HP calculators. He gave them to me when I was becoming interested in programming - a really exciting gift to explore.
It took awhile to learn RPN in undergrad in electrical engineering. But, once you learn it, it is so much easier to solve problems and it is much more efficient. You never go back, and you are less likely to make errors entering in equations compared to your peers. This is important on timed exams. I prefer to always use RPN. MacOS has an RPN mode on their calculator, which one can activate by pressing command + R. O…
And since you're solving part by part, it's easier to spot mistakes in calculations.
Going back to algebraic is pretty much impossible... luckily, there are many rpn calculator apps for phones.
It took awhile to learn RPN in undergrad in electrical engineering. But, once you learn it, it is so much easier to solve problems and it is much more efficient. You never go back, and you are less likely to make errors entering in equations compared to your peers. This is important on timed exams. I prefer to always use RPN. MacOS has an RPN mode on their calculator, which one can activate by pressing command + R. O…
I wonder if teaching it early on, instead of parenthesis, would have made math lessons different?
Could there have been different notations used for things like factoring out a quadratic equation?