The Museum of HP Calculators

HP Forum Archive 19

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Calculators as amusement
Message #1 Posted by designnut on 10 Jan 2011, 5:21 p.m.

I have discovered undocumented calculator actions by trying key manipulations. I have found solutions undreamed of in pure math. I don't use fractions but found their manipulation amusing. Has anyone turned to their calculator as a passtime? sam

      
Re: Calculators as amusement
Message #2 Posted by Michael Meyer on 10 Jan 2011, 5:38 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by designnut

Does obsession count?

      
Re: Calculators as amusement
Message #3 Posted by Namir on 10 Jan 2011, 7:24 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by designnut

Care to share some examples?

            
Re: Calculators as amusement
Message #4 Posted by designnut on 11 Jan 2011, 1:13 a.m.,
in response to message #3 by Namir

Do you know of the undocumented clock in the HP45? I must have shown that to 10 astonished owners.No I didn;t discover it. I did discover that when constants are displayed in the 33s and 35s keying number 1-6 selects the constant and enters it into x. I found the solution to the output resistancer of a resisttive divider by playing witth sequences when Iknew the answer. Thqt opened a wider truth in resistive jubctions. Sam

      
Re: Calculators as amusement
Message #5 Posted by Geir Isene on 10 Jan 2011, 7:28 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by designnut

Quote:
I have discovered undocumented calculator actions by trying key manipulations. I have found solutions undreamed of in pure math. I don't use fractions but found their manipulation amusing. Has anyone turned to their calculator as a passtime? sam

Has anyone? I do it all the time.

      
Re: Calculators as amusement
Message #6 Posted by db (martinez, ca.) on 10 Jan 2011, 7:43 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by designnut

NO!
NEVER

OF COURSE NOT



-sent from a river in Egypt
      
Re: Calculators as amusement
Message #7 Posted by Crawl on 10 Jan 2011, 8:32 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by designnut

One time I used fractions on a calculator and it made me travel through time.

      
Re: Calculators as amusement
Message #8 Posted by Palmer O. Hanson, Jr. on 10 Jan 2011, 11:27 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by designnut

Quote:
I have discovered undocumented calculator actions by trying key manipulations.
I haven't done any of that with HP machines. Back in the early 1980's I was very active with that sort of thing with the TI-57, TI-59 and TI-66.

When the TI-66 came out page F-3 of the manual stated "There are no HIR commands or other hidden features on the TI-66 that you may have accessed on the TI-58/58C/59 through illegal key sequences." The first issue of TI PPC Notes published after the release of the TI-66 included some results with illegal sequences.

            
Re: Calculators as amusement
Message #9 Posted by Crawl on 11 Jan 2011, 6:48 a.m.,
in response to message #8 by Palmer O. Hanson, Jr.

Okay, seriously, I did discover how to do some limited programming on some Casio models (115ms and es, I think), which is not documented in the manual.

It's very limited because there's no conditional branching, and looping isn't automatic. But I've gotten use out of it for summing series, or using Newton's method in two dimensions.

                  
Re: Calculators as amusement
Message #10 Posted by Paul Gaster on 11 Jan 2011, 8:57 a.m.,
in response to message #9 by Crawl

I would be interested in hearing more about what can be done with the FX-115 models if you could share. What I would really like is to be able to somehow enter the TVM equation into the FX-115ES and solve for a variable, like on the 33S or 35S.

                        
Re: Calculators as amusement
Message #11 Posted by Crawl on 11 Jan 2011, 12:25 p.m.,
in response to message #10 by Paul Gaster

Boy, I don't know. If you had a specific problem in mind, I could see if the 115 could solve it.

But like I said, there's no branching, so you wouldn't be able to choose what variable to solve for from a single multi-purpose program. There's also no long term program storage, which would also defeat the purpose of something like that.

Then some of the variables could be solved for simply by using the calculator's built in solver, I think.

So, yeah, I think it really depends on what you specifically want to do.

                        
Re: Calculators as amusement
Message #12 Posted by Ron Ross on 11 Jan 2011, 8:08 p.m.,
in response to message #10 by Paul Gaster

That should be easily possible as the FX115 has a solver with six variables. The downside is that this calculator loses this function the minute it is turned off. Therefore not a machine you want to enter complex work on.

                              
Re: Calculators as amusement
Message #13 Posted by Paul Gaster on 12 Jan 2011, 11:03 a.m.,
in response to message #12 by Ron Ross

I was just thinking along the lines of the FE and PE test that I hear usually have some TVM questions. With a 33S or 35S you can input the TVM equation and be ready to go. I think I also read somewhere that the materials provided on test day have equations and TVM tables that can be used. I did pass the FE about 15 years ago, but I don't remember much and I am sure things have changed. So it seems you can use the tables, have a programmed HP, or use the solver in the FX-115ES. If you have an FX-115ES now I know you can use that solver, but maybe the TVM tables are faster.

Overall my mind just got off on a tangent. I really like the FX-115ES and would like to know more about it. The HP offerings first need some programming to even match the FX-115ES in features, but of course with programming and equation storage you can eventually do more with an HP. The FX-115ES is a great calculator though, especially considering the low cost.

            
Re: Calculators as amusement
Message #14 Posted by ClausB on 11 Jan 2011, 12:25 p.m.,
in response to message #8 by Palmer O. Hanson, Jr.

Back then I had not seen TI PPC Notes but I heard rumors about hidden keycodes. Now I enjoy reading the old issues on-line (as well as 65 Notes and 52 Notes).

I got into the spirit a few decades late and posted some PPC Notes style articles on Viktor's site. Look on the bottom of this page:

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