HP Forum Archive 14

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hp15c built in constants? Message #1 Posted by bill on 16 Sept 2004, 7:30 p.m. Have 15c - no manual. does it have any built-in physical constants?

Nope! [NT] Message #2 Posted by Karl Schneider on 16 Sept 2004, 9:20 p.m., in response to message #1 by bill

OK, I'll elaborate... Message #3 Posted by Karl Schneider on 18 Sept 2004, 12:14 a.m., in response to message #2 by Karl Schneider To offer a usable library of physical constants on a calculator would require either a menuing multi-line dot-matrix display (e.g, HP-30S, -33S, -48G) or a multitude of keyboard positions with a 7-segment digital display (e.g., TI-36). The HP-15C, with its 7-segment LCD, was too jam-packed with useful functions to use keyboard positions for mere "lookup values". If you needed a few constants for a test, you could store them in some numbered registers. -- KS

Re: hp15c built in constants? Message #4 Posted by hugh steers on 17 Sept 2004, 6:13 a.m., in response to message #1 by bill no, but in any case, they would have changed by now! here's a thing, using old scientific calculations let me to spot the slow changes to physical constants. interesting is the change to avagadro's. NA is slowly being changed, and i think, deliberately. the idea is to eventually replace the physical mass constant and redefine 1g = NA of carbon 12. like this, you have to slowly tweak NA so that no one notices any jump when you switch standards. that's my friday conspiracy theory for you anyway.. Edited: 17 Sept 2004, 6:16 a.m.

Re: hp15c built in constants? Message #5 Posted by Ed Look on 18 Sept 2004, 2:15 a.m., in response to message #4 by hugh steers Nah, nothing so cool. The IUPAC (etc.) folks just get together, stand on a pedestal, point their fingers at the rest of the scientific world, and say, "Now, this constant has this value." Then the publishers, other scientists, teachers, engineers, and calculator physical constant library programmers all have to catch up. (Takes up to a decade! In my head, I'm still using old constants; I know because some table or one of my HP calcs with constants wakes me up from time to time.)

Re: hp15c built in constants? Message #6 Posted by Bill (Smithville, NJ) on 18 Sept 2004, 11:52 a.m., in response to message #4 by hugh steers Hi Hugh, >> no, but in any case, they would have changed by now! Quite True. The easy way is how the State of Indiana tried to handle the problem with PI. From A History of PI at http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Pi_through_the_ages.html ------- Quote ------- In the USA the value of PI gave rise to heated political debate. In the State of Indiana in 1897 the House of Representatives unanimously passed a Bill introducing a new mathematical truth. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana: It has been found that a circular area is to the square on a line equal to the quadrant of the circumference, as the area of an equilateral rectangle is to the square of one side. (Section I, House Bill No. 246, 1897) The Senate of Indiana showed a little more sense and postponed indefinitely the adoption of the Act! --------- End Quote --------- Bill

Re: hp15c built in constants? Message #7 Posted by Steve on 19 Sept 2004, 7:07 p.m., in response to message #6 by Bill (Smithville, NJ) You "rationalists" are boring. I like the "friday conspiracy" approach better!

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