The Museum of HP Calculators


This Hewlett-Packard advertisement, originally published in Scientific American, is used by permission. If errors crept in during the scanning process, please contact Dave Hicks

a measure of progress

How to bridge the whole computational gap

Depending on the volume and complexity of your mathematical problems, you might need machine help that runs the gamut from a small desk calculator to a time-shared computer with 16 terminals running simultaneously. Hewlett-Packard feels fortunate that now we can offer you just such a range of computing power.

Our 9100A Computing Calculator, at $4900, is a desk model designed for ease and simplicity of operation, starting with the keyboard. Yet you can perform all the common math, algebra and trig functions on it without learning any special computer language. You simply press the log key, the sin key, the sqrt key and so on to call these functions out of memory. Using different levels of memory, you can build routines to solve rather sophisticated problems, such as computing the attenuation characteristics of electronic filters with hyperbolic functions. And on one wallet-size memory card, you can store two 196-step routines for future use.

For applications requiring greater power and flexibility, HP offers a family of three computers so you can buy the computer most suited to your needs. All of them can handle three high-level computer languages-FORTRAN, ALGOL and Conversational BASIC. The latter is so close to English you can learn it in three to four hours. The smallest computer, the HP 2114A, costs $9950. You can get it with 8000 words of memory and a teleprinter for $15,950. You also get 16-bit words, 2.0 microsecond memory speed, and 8 channels of input/output capability.

But if you have a number of people who need to use a computer at the same time, then for $89,500 you can get the HP 2000A Time-Shared BASIC System. It can handle up to 16 Teletype terminals at once, with each user thinking he has the computer to himself. In this system we use our largest computer, the HP 2116B, with 16,000 words of core memory and a disc memory with 348,000 words of storage. The same simple Conversational BASIC language is used, but here we have included additional safeguards. The system checks each input statement for format and syntax as it is entered. Additionally, the computer echoes the instruction back to the originator. If there's a transmission error, the originator knows immediately. With these features, 16 persons can have simultaneous error-safe computer power to solve 16 problems at once.

For additional information on any one or all of the Hewlett-Packard solutions to computing problems, write for the 9100A Calculator brochure, a more complete discussion of Hewlett-Packard small computers, or a brochure on HP time-shared computer systems.

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