It’s still better than the other options. The 35s is decent but has some annoyances, mostly with its display, the inability to backup to a computer, and partially with its programming limitations. I want a smallish calculator that I can bang out some quick calculations on, not have it go to sleep on me, and only need its battery replaced once a year. For complicated stuff, I’d rather go to python or something. HP has also released its next generation calculator at this point, the HP Prime, but it’s also complicated, had more limited RPN at the time, and has a rechargeable battery that doesn’t last ‘forever’. The 50g is a large graphing calculator and is completely overkill for what I need. “Man, I wish I could buy an HP-42S still.”
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I also download a bunch of RPN calculator apps on my phone and find the wonderful Free42, an HP-42S clone. I do some research and see that HP still sells the HP 35s and the HP 50g, along with some business calculators. At this point, I dig RPN and that’s what I want to buy. I finally break down and order some calculators. I still mostly am using my phone as a calculator, far more than is reasonable. I’m now disconnected from all of my old tools due to corporate policy. 2 I also become enamored with the ability to easily access to multiple memories.Ī few years later, I start a new job as a (mechanical) design engineer. But I start to see the usefulness of the stack and stick with it for a while, then I made the move permanent. I didn’t know what this was so I tried it out. Sometime in 2009 there was a release note for PCalc where ‘Optional HP48-style RPN behavior’ was added. I slowly start using it more and realize it’s nice not to have to fire up a program for a quick calculation. I think I read a recommendation on Daring Fireball or And now it’s all this for PCalc and I purchase it for my phone.
![free42 programs import free42 programs import](https://www.ideaspectrum.com/help/2017/uvision3d/ImagesExt/landscaping-software-picture-import-wizard-dialog2.jpg)
With the arrival of smart phones, I find myself using my phone as a calculator periodically. All of my math is in python or Mathematica, or honestly, by hand. I’ve been to graduate school, never having bought another calculator, and done a post doc as well. That was all the exposure I’d had to HP calculators (and RPN) for the first 30 years of my life.įast forward to the late 2000’s.
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I remember one of my class mates had a weird-ass HP graphing calculator that I could never figure out how to work. I think it served primarily to hold books open to the right pages. By the time I got to college, it was mostly useless, particularly in physics courses. I went to high school in the mid ‘90’s and got a TI-81 (I think?) at some point in early high school. I’ve worked as a plasma physicist, a (mechanical) design engineer, and now as something in between 1.
![free42 programs import free42 programs import](https://thomasokken.com/free42/images/export11.jpg)
So first, why the heck do I even need a calculator? How does someone my age end up using a calculator when iPhones, Wolfram|Alpha, and Excel exist? And why would I spend a decent amount of cash on a physical calculator based on a 30-year old design and not buy a much cheaper and more capable modern design? Background It is more of a log of a journey than a review.
![free42 programs import free42 programs import](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/j-FAZX1blfM/maxresdefault.jpg)
This will be a long and rambling post… you have been warned. The Swiss Micros DM42 is a semi-faithful clone of the HP-42S, an RPN calculator HP sold from 1987-1995. I’ve had my Swiss Micros DM42 for about a year now and I thought I’d write some thoughts about it.