HP Forum Archive 15

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Can I transform a 33S into a 17BII? Message #1 Posted by Tom Steiner on 29 Nov 2005, 9:05 a.m. Made you look with my subject line, didn't I? No, seriously, I have been using a 17BII (not the plus one) for several years. I love the SOLVER functionality and use (only) about half a dozen of the built-in financial functions. Now that my 17BII is slowly getting old, I am wondering what I should do: (a) Buy 2-3 of the 17BII off ebay, or (b) Buy a brand new 33S (with the new display, etc.), and try to program the few financial functions I need into the 33S. Is this feasible? Usable? I am also interested in a scientific calculator, because I appear to be using more and more trigonometry functions. So currently I end up either searching for a 15-year old Casio or firing up Excel. With the 33S I would avoid all of this. PS: I hate the 17BII+ (Plus), 12C, and 12CP (new version) - returned all of them after 1 day.

Re: Can I transform a 33S into a 17BII? Message #2 Posted by Mike H on 29 Nov 2005, 9:28 a.m., in response to message #1 by Tom Steiner The 33s can handle most of the common business and financial calculations. There are specific learning modules for: House payments Property appreciation Affordable payments Required down payment Average sales price Sinking funds Present values Bond prices Trend line analysis Cost estimation using linear regression Percentage and percentage change calculations Download here: Learning Modules (all of them) or visit hp.com to download just the ones you want. The 33s Solver is not as intuitive as the 17BII or 27S because it lacks the soft keys, but I find it works pretty well. Mike

Re: Can I transform a 33S into a 17BII? Message #3 Posted by bill platt on 29 Nov 2005, 10:30 a.m., in response to message #1 by Tom Steiner I agree with Mike. I have both the 33s and the 17bii. The 17bii solver is so cool that I got a 27s so that I could have that solver on a scientific! (but beware, the 27s is old-fashioned algebraic for its regular interface, not RPN.) However, the combination of the solver and the keystroke programming of the 33s makes the 33s even more powerful. You can program the 33s to do *any* financial function and unlike its predecessor the 32sii, it won't run out of memory. You can program the 33s in such a way that it prompts you for each variable--and it will show you the existing value, so if it is good, you hit R/S and move on to the next one. For some financial stuff, you can put it into the "equation list" but for others, you are better off taking advantage of the keystroke programming. But the solver interface of the 17bii and 27s is just too cool, no doubt!

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