Re: HP 50g info Message #4 Posted by Joe Horn on 20 Oct 2013, 10:12 p.m., in response to message #1 by Jan
IMHO, you'll find the 50g a more than worthy upgrade from the 48GX.
Quote: 1) How does the speed of the 50g compare to that of the 48G(X)?
It's more than twice as fast for ordinary User RPL programs, and MUCH faster than that for ordinary keyboard operations, since the entire "outer loop" (stack-oriented user interface) was rewritten for speed. Once you get used to using the 50g, the 48GX will feel agonizingly slow, especially editing RPL programs, which is fast and easy on the 50g.
Quote: 2) Are complex numbers handled in the same elegant way as on the 48 series? That is, does the 50g automatically return a complex (or imaginary) answer when a function yields such an answer for a specific argument, without the requirement of being in some "complex mode" like the 15C (example: sqrt(-1) yielding the number i and not an error by default).
Yes and no. The 50g's "default" modes include Algebraic, Real, and Exact, all of which are different from the 48GX. But once you toggle these modes to the "correct" setting, they stay that way. After turning on RPN mode (it takes 3 keystrokes), complex mode (1 shifted keystroke) and approximate mode (1 shifted keystroke), -1 sqrt returns (0,1) as you'd expect, and will continue to do so until you change modes again. Note: All three modes are visibly indicated in the display, so you don't have to wonder what mode you're in.
Quote: 3) Is the 50g programmable in RPL in the same way as the 48G?
Yes and more! The User RPL program editor has the same look and feel, BUT it's a zillion times faster, and has extra features like search, and search-and-replace. Also, unlike the 48GX, the 50g has a complete built-in System RPL program development system, so you can write RPL programs that run much faster than User RPL, and do things that User RPL can't do.
Warning: There are many other differences between the 48GX and 50g. If there are any 48GX features that you can't live without, be sure to ask about them here before getting a 50g. But the 50g can be thought of as a 48GX on steroids, not a complete re-think of RPL; the large 48GX feature set is almost entirely a subset of the much larger 50g feature set. For what it's worth, I moved from the 48GX up to the 50g many moons ago, and have been very happy with it.
Hope that helps!
-Joe-
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