HP Forum Archive 19

[ Return to Index | Top of Index ]

HP17b Solver Function Message #1 Posted by Roland Storz on 12 Nov 2009, 10:08 a.m. Hi all, does anybody know whether the functionality of the HP17b Equation Solver is available for the iphone / ipod touch? Both the i41cx+ and the 42s emulation are unquestionably excellent, however, me personelly I do miss the easy to use solver function of the 17b. In my eyes specifically the solver function of the 42s is not that efficient compared to the 17b. Any advice? Cheers, Roland

Re: HP17b Solver Function Message #2 Posted by Dave Britten on 12 Nov 2009, 3:45 p.m., in response to message #1 by Roland Storz I would like having this myself, but I've not seen any 17bii simulators, unfortunately. There were, however, a number of devices produced by HP that feature the same HP Solve: 17b - Probably the cheapest option, but missing L() and G(). (...and RPN!) 17bii - Same as the 17b, with L() and G() added. 17bii+ - Same as the 17bii, but there were some changes that cause L() and G() to behave differently. I'd stay away from this one. 18c - No L(), G(), or looping. 19b/19bii - Includes trig functions, I believe. 22s - Has trig and scientific functions, but no finance, and missing L(), G(), and looping. 27s - Same as 17bii, but no cash flow lists, and it apparently only uses iteration, not algebraic simplification. 95LX - About the same as the 19bii, plus you can back-solve in Lotus 1-2-3. Can be found cheaply from time to time. 100LX - About the same as the 95LX, but some ROM versions have a bug with reading cash-flow lists. 200LX - About the same as the 95LX, but no bugs that I'm aware of. Most feature complete, but can be pricey. OmniGo - Pretty sure it had the same solver, but was missing some features. There was also a Windows (3.1) version for some older models of OmniBook, I believe. You might also consider downloading one of the 48GX emulators for iPhone/iPod. The 48 has an algebraic solver that's somewhat similar to HP Solve, but without L(), G(), and looping.

Re: HP17b Solver Function Message #3 Posted by Don Shepherd on 12 Nov 2009, 4:23 p.m., in response to message #2 by Dave Britten Quote: 17b - Probably the cheapest option, but missing L() and G(). (...and RPN!) Dave, the 17b does have L() and G(). At least mine does. The manual was missing a description of those functions, but they were in the ROM. Quote: 17bii+ - Same as the 17bii, but there were some changes that cause L() and G() to behave differently. I'd stay away from this one. The + has a whole different solver, and it does not work like the solver in the original 17b and bii. See this articlefor a discussion of the differences in these solvers.

Re: HP17b Solver Function Message #4 Posted by Martin Pinckney on 12 Nov 2009, 4:32 p.m., in response to message #3 by Don Shepherd Also, I would point out that the 22s solver is quite different from the others in many ways, not the least of which is having no alpha capability, other than single letter variables.

Re: HP17b Solver Function Message #5 Posted by Dave Britten on 12 Nov 2009, 4:47 p.m., in response to message #4 by Martin Pinckney Yeah, looks like it's more akin to the 32sii, 33s, and 35s solvers, i.e. nothing terribly remarkable.

Re: HP17b Solver Function Message #6 Posted by Bruce Bergman on 12 Nov 2009, 9:59 p.m., in response to message #2 by Dave Britten The 19bii was one of the nicest of this family. As a close second, I would recommend the most recent 17bii+. thanks, bruce

[ Return to Index | Top of Index ]

Go back to the main exhibit hall