HP-12C
Message #1 Posted by Bernardo Vargas on 18 Feb 2004, 6:27 a.m.
As the HP-11C gets so overpriced at e-bay, I decided to forget it and buy me instead a new HP-12C (not exactly the same, but similar) to experience again, at least partially, the great pleasure of working with so a well-designed computing tool. I've been solving some problems on financial mathematics (probability, linear programming, decision analysis, etc.), and my HP-48G (which I don't really like) doesn't help too much. When one has a pile of papers on the desk and needs to compute a table to find the expected execution times of a project's activities, the best one can get is a nice, small, and SIMPLE machine which can be easily and quickly programmed to perform the required computations (not too much, but very repetitive) with just a few keystrokes. The HP-12C (just like the good old and even better HP-11C) was designed exactly to do that. One does not need to go through an infinite series of menus to find the function or program one needs; one does not need to have such a large display with so many (mostly useless) information. What one needs to perform such tasks is something smaller, but actually smarter; at least from this point of view. One teacher once told me: "It's stupid to try to kill flies with a cannon". Absolutely. The HP-11C and 12C are the best fly-killers I've ever used.
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