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DB48X: High Performance Scientific Calculator, Reinvented

48calc.org

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Re: DB48X: High Performance Scientific Calculator, Reinvented

#31

Post by jiehong »

topspin wrote: post #14
whartung wrote: post #8

Seems like a really nice effort. Nice they crammed it into the DM42 machines. But for me, the learning curve is steeper than the utility. I have no real need for an actual calculator, I rely on my phone. On there I have iHP48, and I've already gone through much of that learning curve to make it useful (back in the day with an original one). If you already have the DM42, I guess its a mostly compatible upgrade from th…

> Seems like a really nice effort. Does it? Another powerful calculating engine trapped behind a skeuomorph interface? Here[1] is a really nice effort that, sadly, hasn't been updated in 14 years and only runs on Windows. It's a wonderful 606kB math REPL that can probably do everything DB48X can do, except it foregoes all the 1970's portable calculator nonsense, making it about a thousand times more useful. I have a…

Some newer terminal based implementation of something similar is Numbat [0], for example.

For a GUI calculator similar to seqmath, but cross platform, try speedcrunch [1].

[0]: https://numbat.dev/

[1]: https://heldercorreia.bitbucket.io/speedcrunch/

Re: DB48X: High Performance Scientific Calculator, Reinvented

#32

Post by agateau »

jwr wrote: post #26

The 48G was a really good calculator, but only after loading additional software. The HP50g that came much later is better in every respect, except possibly for the smaller "ENTER" key (and people used to 48G will have to change some habits and possibly redefine some keys…). Incidentally, many young people (yes, I know how that sounds) do not know how useful a good engineering calculator can be and do not want to lea…

I loved my HP 48G when I was in school (even if it was much slower than the Ti 81 it replaced when it came to graphing). I regret throwing it away because of the nostalgia, but I don't feel a need for using it these days.

As such I am genuinely curious about what rewards you get from using an engineering calculator in your work. That's an honest question: I would really like to have an excuse to get my hands on a 48G again!

Re: DB48X: High Performance Scientific Calculator, Reinvented

#33

Post by tivert »

ninalanyon wrote: post #30
jwr wrote: post #26

The 48G was a really good calculator, but only after loading additional software. The HP50g that came much later is better in every respect, except possibly for the smaller "ENTER" key (and people used to 48G will have to change some habits and possibly redefine some keys…). Incidentally, many young people (yes, I know how that sounds) do not know how useful a good engineering calculator can be and do not want to lea…

> No, this is not replaced by typing "python" (or "bc", or anything else, really) at your command prompt. Why not? At least I can easily copy the results and the code to a document which avoids transcription errors. Or do you mean that there simply isn't a program that has the functions you use?

>> Incidentally, many young people (yes, I know how that sounds) do not know how useful a good engineering calculator can be and do not want to learn how to use one. They are missing out. Yes, there is a steep learning curve, but the rewards are significant if you do any amount of calculation in your hobby or work. No, this is not replaced by typing "python" (or "bc", or anything else, really) at your command prompt.

> Why not? At least I can easily copy the results and the code to a document which avoids transcription errors. Or do you mean that there simply isn't a program that has the functions you use?

My guess it's the ergonomics between a specialized tool and a non-specialized one. Technically, python may be able to replace "a good engineering calculator," but so can ASM. No one would even ask "Why non ASM?," because its ergonomics are near-universally understood to be so poor, but the same issues can apply to more popular tools like python, just less obviously.

Re: DB48X: High Performance Scientific Calculator, Reinvented

#34

Post by 7thaccount »

tivert wrote: post #33
ninalanyon wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No, this is not replaced by typing "python" (or "bc", or anything else, really) at your command prompt. Why not? At least I can easily copy the results and the code to a document which avoids transcription errors. Or do you mean that there simply isn't a program that has the functions you use?

>> Incidentally, many young people (yes, I know how that sounds) do not know how useful a good engineering calculator can be and do not want to learn how to use one. They are missing out. Yes, there is a steep learning curve, but the rewards are significant if you do any amount of calculation in your hobby or work. No, this is not replaced by typing "python" (or "bc", or anything else, really) at your command prompt.…

I'm a calculator nut who has had many fancy TI (like the Voyage 200) and HP calculators (yes RPN) including the SwissMicro reproductions.

The ONLY benefit to these tools that I can surmise is basically that they are a physical device for scientists or others in the lab or field and not in front of a computer.

For any kind of data work I've seen, Excel, R, Python, Mathematica, or Matlab are all vastly superior. They allow faster entry, can show large amounts of data on screen, can allow for saving large amounts of data ...etc.

Re: DB48X: High Performance Scientific Calculator, Reinvented

#35

Post by downut »

PaulHoule wrote: post #29
Mister_Snuggles wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Prime G2 and the RPN mode is just bad. It feels like it was an afterthought, and some things just don't seem to work properly in that mode. My 48G+ is a much, much better RPN calculator. The Prime G2 is also missing the equation library from the 48G+, which I found weird. Maybe they expect you to download what you need instead of using space in Flash for it.

That's my take on the RPN mode but I like the algebraic mode and agree the 48 series is way better for RPN. (My favorite HP calc was the 28, which I bought when the 48 was available. I discovered soon afterwards that a powerful spring will eventually break the battery door and it seemed to be a problem that no engineering student managed to solve.)

I use my 32S (lives on my monitor pedestal next to my 8087 chip) weekly. When I was doing floating point/integer bit twiddling the 'base' key was my deeply appreciated friend. But that was 36 years ago. RPN (if trained into the brain) really is faster and I love how the register transfers work.

Nowadays when I'm not feeling especially tactile I tend to reach for the Free42 Android app, which lives in a stack with the 32S. If I ever get bored, I'm going to relearn how to program them both. Next time around on the wheel, likely, if I have hands.

I've replaced the battery on the 32S twice. Suck on that, modernity.

Re: DB48X: High Performance Scientific Calculator, Reinvented

#36

Post by exe34 »

7thaccount wrote: post #34
tivert wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Incidentally, many young people (yes, I know how that sounds) do not know how useful a good engineering calculator can be and do not want to learn how to use one. They are missing out. Yes, there is a steep learning curve, but the rewards are significant if you do any amount of calculation in your hobby or work. No, this is not replaced by typing "python" (or "bc", or anything else, really) at your command prompt.…

I'm a calculator nut who has had many fancy TI (like the Voyage 200) and HP calculators (yes RPN) including the SwissMicro reproductions. The ONLY benefit to these tools that I can surmise is basically that they are a physical device for scientists or others in the lab or field and not in front of a computer. For any kind of data work I've seen, Excel, R, Python, Mathematica, or Matlab are all vastly superior. They a…

yeah after a decade in my job, I have a ton of utility functions in python that I reach for when given a new request to think through something. I doubt a smaller screen where I have to type in stuff and then copy out results would make it any easier.

Re: DB48X: High Performance Scientific Calculator, Reinvented

#37

Post by hggigg »

jwr wrote: post #26

The 48G was a really good calculator, but only after loading additional software. The HP50g that came much later is better in every respect, except possibly for the smaller "ENTER" key (and people used to 48G will have to change some habits and possibly redefine some keys…). Incidentally, many young people (yes, I know how that sounds) do not know how useful a good engineering calculator can be and do not want to lea…

I never liked the 48 series or the 50G (I own both) that much. I can never remember how to use them half of the time. I always end up back with my 38 year old HP 15c. That has done me through separate engineering and mathematics degrees and about 30 years worth of jobs.

They just issued new ones as well! (HP 15CE)

Re: DB48X: High Performance Scientific Calculator, Reinvented

#38

Post by hggigg »

ninalanyon wrote: post #30
jwr wrote: post #26

The 48G was a really good calculator, but only after loading additional software. The HP50g that came much later is better in every respect, except possibly for the smaller "ENTER" key (and people used to 48G will have to change some habits and possibly redefine some keys…). Incidentally, many young people (yes, I know how that sounds) do not know how useful a good engineering calculator can be and do not want to lea…

> No, this is not replaced by typing "python" (or "bc", or anything else, really) at your command prompt. Why not? At least I can easily copy the results and the code to a document which avoids transcription errors. Or do you mean that there simply isn't a program that has the functions you use?

You just write the stuff down or translate it to LaTeX.

Incidentally the 50G (and Prime) has a decent CAS built in which seems to get stuck less than some other commercial ones.

Re: DB48X: High Performance Scientific Calculator, Reinvented

#39

Post by hggigg »

7thaccount wrote: post #34
tivert wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Incidentally, many young people (yes, I know how that sounds) do not know how useful a good engineering calculator can be and do not want to learn how to use one. They are missing out. Yes, there is a steep learning curve, but the rewards are significant if you do any amount of calculation in your hobby or work. No, this is not replaced by typing "python" (or "bc", or anything else, really) at your command prompt.…

I'm a calculator nut who has had many fancy TI (like the Voyage 200) and HP calculators (yes RPN) including the SwissMicro reproductions. The ONLY benefit to these tools that I can surmise is basically that they are a physical device for scientists or others in the lab or field and not in front of a computer. For any kind of data work I've seen, Excel, R, Python, Mathematica, or Matlab are all vastly superior. They a…

Some of us (mathematics side) still actually work on paper with calculators. Most of the job is thinking which tooling doesn’t necessarily improve.

Re: DB48X: High Performance Scientific Calculator, Reinvented

#40

Post by jwr »

exe34 wrote: post #36
7thaccount wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a calculator nut who has had many fancy TI (like the Voyage 200) and HP calculators (yes RPN) including the SwissMicro reproductions. The ONLY benefit to these tools that I can surmise is basically that they are a physical device for scientists or others in the lab or field and not in front of a computer. For any kind of data work I've seen, Excel, R, Python, Mathematica, or Matlab are all vastly superior. They a…

yeah after a decade in my job, I have a ton of utility functions in python that I reach for when given a new request to think through something. I doubt a smaller screen where I have to type in stuff and then copy out results would make it any easier.

This thread is making my point for me rather well.
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