Re: HP35 New Model Message #7 Posted by Les Bell [Sydney] on 3 Aug 2003, 11:40 p.m., in response to message #5 by Troy H
I think that's a reasonable point, but . . .
While schoolkids needs could *mostly* be served by a simple RPN scientific, those who are doing maths are influenced by teachers who want to use a more advanced - especially graphing - calculator as a pedagogical tool. The ones who would most appreciated the orthogonality of an RPN calc are the ones who will be directed by their maths teachers to buy a TI or Casio graphing calc.
These are the ideas that HP flirted with in the 38G ('aplets') and in the Xpander, but which never really got the momentum to knock TI and Casio out of poll position.
An HP45-level machine would be ideal for most schoolwork outside the maths classroom: reducing experimental results in the physics and chemistry classes, figuring out material requirements in the woodwork shop, and so on.
It's those damn mathematicians that have done the damage!
I've tinkered with the Casio calc my son was told to buy for maths classes at his new secondary school, and it's a counter-intuitive mess of arbitrary key combinations when compared with, say, my 41CX. I'm *sure* that a lot of teaching overhead must go into explaining the peculiar keystroke sequences required to get results out of this illogical little nightmare.
Something like the 11C or 32SII would be just about right for the schools market, IMHO.
Best,
--- Les [http://www.lesbell.com.au]
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