I own HP calculators which are better than any currently available calculators.

Have the better hand calculators become obsolete as did Slide Rules 40 or so years ago?

I still use my calculators even though I know how to program a laptop to do anything my calculator can do. The calculator is much handier than a laptop, but perhaps nobody has much use for a high end caclulator.

everyone here in US uses Ti-83 and above...

You still see calculators on the desks next to computers in technical workspaces. They all have programs stashed on them, ready to take in a couple of numbers and kick out an answer while the big lunk is still two mouseclicks from the right screen.

Much handier. And faster. And cheaper, even - the software I would need to duplicate my HP capability on my home desktop runs hundreds of dollars. Even the pseudo-random number generator is better than, say, Excel's.

I own a TI-89 and I use it a lot.

What about a curta?

http://www.vcalc.net/curta_simulator_en.htm

...Have the better hand calculators become obsolete as did Slide Rules 40 or so years ago? ...No, but I do also have a simple one downloaded from MS installed on my computer, I tend to use the software one only when the simple stand-alone one is lost under some papers on the table etc.

In fact, I still occasionally use my 50+ year old slide rule, top of the line when I bought it: a "log log deci trig." Not only is it a convenient set of trig tables but I can raise any base to any power (not that I do than even once a year.) "Obsolete" - my foot! (But it is "well tested.")

If you are not at least occasionally using yours, I think I must report you for choosing a misleading web name. - I thought you were and old guy like me. :cool:

Next thing you will probably revel is that you no longer have an ice pick! You should keep these old useful tools. ;)

I bought the darn Casio...can't figure out how it works...so I am buying Ti-89

Billy T: About 25 years or so ago, my then ex-wife (now deceased) had a building burned down to collect on the insurance. In it were my high school & college yearbooks, all sorts of photos, books no longer in print, miscellaneous other items, and a Sexton's Omnimeter.

The Omnimeter was probably the best slide rule ever manufactured and I have been unable tio replace it. Every once in a while I check eBay and Flea Markets.

It functioned like an ordinary slip Stick, except that it was circular. For some reason it never became popular, but every one who ever used one loved it. Like the HP Stack calculators it was a technically superior design concept, but shunned due to being different from the more common devices.

HP no longer makes high end calculators and the last few times I saw TI calculators on display, they did not seem to be as good as the TI calculators made 10-20 years ago.

Due to posts here, I did a Web search for the TI-89. I was suprised that the specs seemed to indicate that it and other modern TI calculators seem to be more sophticated that those I have seen in various stores recently.

The current high end TI calculators seem to have fewer keyboard functions, but more sophiticated programming capabilities than the HP & TI calculators of 10-20 yeears ago. This is my impression from photos of the keyboards and the written specs, but I am not sure that my impression is correct.

dude TI-89 is up to the job for multivariable calculus, 3d calculus, linear algebra matrixes, variable solutions, all graphs that you can think of....oh boy yes Im getting it

To Dinosaur:

I agree the circular slide rules were more accurate. I had one about 7 inches in diameter so it was about twice as accurate as a linear one. I think this advantage was not worth the greater difficulty of transporting it. (At times my linear one did hang from my belt.)

I give pratice in English to nearly a dozen customers in a local bar (1 to 3 at a time for free beers they buy). Owner calls me 4 or 5 times each week, but I only go when convenient 2 or 3 times. We have fun joking with each other in mixed language, etc. One guy*, come from NE part of Brazil and even though he is well educated, his thought patterns still reflect the superstitions of his origin. He play the very negative sum Brazilian lottery "scientifically" with an HP50g+ calculator (The g refers to the graphic display) - to me a very impresive machine. It cost him about 900R$ which at todays exchange is nearly $500.

He buys booklet listing all prior numbers that have won (Thinks they will not win again, so avoids them.) couple of times each year. He then uses his HP to do various statistical analysis (at home) on this data to note the trends in "lucky" digits. (There might actually be something valid in this if one of the ping pong balls used in TV shows to select winnner is more probable to exit , or if by mistake not all digits have the same number of copies in the big rotating drum).

He uses the HP in the store selling tickets to make more calculations. There are lots of ways to play. By paying more money you can select more than 6 digits. He usually plays 8 but only plays when recent prior weeks had no "all 6 correct" winner. He has won 3 times, minor prizes <$100, once a about $5000 and once enough to pay off his mortage when he hit 5 digits correct. (luck I think, but he does not - it was earned by his hard work of analysis.)

He destroyed a connection in his old HP49g+ which had a more limited set of embeded functions, by pulling the memory card out while memory was active but after he got the newer HP50g+ he used the IR links both have to send about 500 specific application functions into the old one. Things like how beam will bend as fucntion of cross section shape and load etc. - More than anyone could ever use in many application fields, including economics, which I may at least look at. He then gave the old one to me, just before my recent trip to USA, apoliziging for fact that the programable memory did not function and suggesting I could get HP to replace the connector while in US. (His old machine's identical memory card does work in the new machine., so it was not destroyed.)

I played the Lottery once, betting minium 1R$ on numbers 1,2,3,4,5, and 6. (Choices are 1 to 60, none repeated.) MY wife, who always plays, said: "That number will never win." I replied: "It has just as good a chance as yours." (She selects from birthdays etc.) I wasted my 1R$ as she still plays. The agrument that Government keeps half (at least) of what is bet also does not deter her. "If I do not play, then I can not win." is her irrefutable responce. Many years ago, before we met, she did win almost enough to buy a new car, but I suspect that is the most expensive car she has every bought.
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*Once the owner's call was to come and attend two new ladies. It turned out they were prostitutes who worked in a near by "night club." Never explicitely stated, but I think they were hoping for private lessons in exchange for their services. They were interested in Learning English as quite a few of the night club's customers spoke English and if they could, more would like to go upstairs to the private rooms with them. I like living in Brazil - it is like a permanent vacation, always interesting.

I still use my TI-35 solar powered calculator from college. It's not programable or anything, but handles all the basic functions. It got me thru calculus, geometric optics, physiologic optics, etc. I think I bought it back in the eighties and it's still working fine.

The $150 I spent on a TI-89 has been by far one of the best investments I, an aerospace engineering student, have made while in college. It is the most advanced piece of hardware we can take into exams, and the thing will perform operations as complex as forier series plots or symbolic solving of triple or higher integrals, and I can perform the operation with great ease as compared with MATLAB or Mathematica (in my opinion).

However, if you're looking for a cheap PC-based alternative, might I suggest something I found, a free TI-89 emulator...

http://mathematics.mc.maricopa.edu/seims/TI-Emulator.htm

The clock is limited to the calculator's clock by default, but if you want to do a computationally heavy task, you can have the program clock itself to run with the full power of your processor, for my cheapo laptop it indicated around %3000 increased speed, great for forier plots and such. Also saves the calc batteries for heavy operations.

thanks weed_eating_dude

As an 11 year old I was particularly fond of my (now rather battered) HP-38G, especially after I learned how to program it. I remember I could quickly perform the keystrokes necessary to select a particular menu item and then watch as the calculator spent a second or so catching up. I'd have used it more in late highschool if it hadn't been banned on the exams I was preparing for due to its symbolic manipulation capabilities (I used a TI-83+ for those last two years, which I subsequently passed on to my younger sister).

My general-purpose calculating machine at the moment is my HP-49G+. I had to go to some lengths to obtain it since the local stores (both on- and off-line) only sold TI's and Casio's. I can't say I've used it much in the 2 and a half years I've owned it, since my studies are mostly theoretical at the moment and I only occasionally need to actually calculate something. I've yet to get round to learning its programming language and more advanced features, but it's still fun to pick up and play around with sometimes.

...My general-purpose calculating machine at the moment is my HP-49G+. ...If you missed post 10 you should find it interesting as I have slightly damaged one for free. It is also filled with al the HP50g+ extra functions via the IR link. I am courious what they cost in the US. I have the bill of sale from a year or more ago in Brazil (friend gave that to me also as I might need to prove I did not buy in USA when reentering Brazil (Only US$500 total is duty free and I had other things.)

Have the better hand calculators become obsolete as did Slide Rules 40 or so years ago?


I have two slide rules at arms length from where I'm sitting. I've never had to put batteries in them even once in all the years I've had them. :)

It is also filled with al the HP50g+ extra functions via the IR link.
As far as I can tell, HP releases the same ROM for both the 49G+ and 50G, so I'd expect anyone who updates their 49G+ to the latest ROM version should have all the "50G extras".

There are many third party applications and games available for these calculators on the 'net, for example at hpcalc.org (http://www.hpcalc.org/). There's also a cross-platform C compiler (http://hpgcc.org/) available.
I am courious what they cost in the US.
I think mine cost just over $120. I ordered it from amazon.com and arranged for it to be delivered to an American family my sister was visiting at the time. Note that the 49G+ has been discontinued by HP, since the 50G offers an extra battery, a serial port, and a more reliable keyboard at the same price.