Re: 50G--End of the HP calculator era? Say it aint so, Joe! Message #10 Posted by Timo on 6 Mar 2012, 3:41 a.m., in response to message #9 by Matt Agajanian
Quote:
So, yes, the under 40 crowd is not appeased by the toys we grew up with such as HP calculators (even the ones with LED displays)
I would not generalize that, Matt...
I for myself are well below 40 years old and still use an HP 48 GX in office every day - and not only as a high level "four-banger". It was also my trusty fellow in countless university exams and projects.
Only recently I used it to solve a nonlinear system of equations for a short stress report that I needed to prepare. That, for example, is much easier on a calculator featuring something like the Multiple Equation Solver of the 48 GX. Excel instead can only accept assignments but not equations making this task much more complex. Of course there are other great tools like Mathcad, Maple, etc. but they are expensive (even for most small companies) and really not required for such tasks.
So bottom line for me:
There is still good use to be made of powerful calculators, even today. They are powerful enough to solve rather complex tasks and handy enough to have them around everywhere.
However, I agree that calculators do not have the same stand in engineering today than a few years ago. Not even in college where we still used them intensively.
Regards,
Timo
Edited: 6 Mar 2012, 5:09 a.m.
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