HP Forum Archive 14

[ Return to Index | Top of Index ]

HP 15C Message #1 Posted by Ed Yousse on 6 Aug 2004, 12:00 p.m. My HP 15C recently came up with a capital "C" in the lower right hand portion of the screen and seems to have slowed down the functioning of the unit. If my memory serves me the "C" designated a complex function but I cannot remember how to make the "C" go away. I have had the unit for 20 years and the manuel is long gone. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Ed

Re: HP 15C Message #2 Posted by Jeff O. on 6 Aug 2004, 12:59 p.m., in response to message #1 by Ed Yousse You must clear flag 8. Press the "g" key, then the "5" key, then the "8" key.

Re: HP 15C Message #3 Posted by Bruce Leslie on 10 Aug 2004, 12:19 a.m., in response to message #2 by Jeff O. Thanks for this Jeff. I have had exactly the same problem. What exactly does flag 8 do? I notice that the trig functions don't work when it is set.

Re: HP 15C Message #4 Posted by Karl Schneider on 10 Aug 2004, 3:13 a.m., in response to message #3 by Bruce Leslie Quote: What exactly does flag 8 do? I notice that the trig functions don't work when it is set. Flag 8, when set, puts the HP-15C in Complex mode, which uses 5 emory registers to create a parallel stack and Last X register for the imaginary parts of complex numbers. Also, an entire set of mathematical functions operates in the complex domain, with complex-valued inputs and outputs: +, -, *, /, sin, cos, tan, arcsin, arccos, arctan, sinh, cosh, tanh, arcsinh, arccosh, arctanh, e^x, ln, log, 10^x, 1/x, y^x, sqrt(x), x^2. abs, ->R, ->P also work a bit differently in Complex mode. The 15C was probably the first handheld calc to provide this kind of built-in functionality, in 1982. Edited: 10 Aug 2004, 3:15 a.m.

Re: HP 15C Message #5 Posted by Jeff O. on 10 Aug 2004, 7:27 a.m., in response to message #3 by Bruce Leslie Quote: I notice that the trig functions don't work when it is set As noted by Karl, setting flag 8 puts the 15C in complex mode. When in complex mode, the trig functions do work. They work purely in radians mode, however, regardless of the setting of the radians flag. So if flag 8 is clear and you are in DEG mode and you enter 0.5 and press sin-1, you will get an answer of 30. If you set flag 8, enter 0.5 and press sin-1, the display will show 0.5236, which is of course 30 degrees in radians mode. Pressing f COS to execute the (i) function will temporarily display the imaginary part of the answer, which is 0. You can also press f -(the minus key) to execute Re<>Im. This swaps the real and imaginary components permanently, unless you swap them back. The above is covered on page 121 of my edition of the manual.

[ Return to Index | Top of Index ]

Go back to the main exhibit hall