Articles or book(s) about the functions behind a scientific calculator
10-20-2017, 06:53 PM (This post was last modified: 10-20-2017 06:55 PM by pier4r.)
Post: #1
 pier4r Senior Member Posts: 1,459 Joined: Nov 2014
Articles or book(s) about the functions behind a scientific calculator
Since I am packing some information in the hp calc torrent I started to read more properly some of the contents (not only skimming them).

The article about the SOLVE function of the 34C is really neat ( hp journal 1980.08). From this article, aside from computing the following

$$\int_{0}^{1} \frac{du}{1 - u^{64}}$$

( that is taking ages on the sharp el506w, with n=10000 so a single step is [1-0]/10000 . I want to compare it with the 200 seconds mentioned for the 34C );
I was saying, aside from computing the formula above, a question popped in my head: whether do articles or books that explains the algorithms behind an entire scientific calculator exists. (a scientific calculator is enough, a graphing/programmable may be overkill)

I know that one could connect the math theory of functions to those actually implemented in a scientific calculator, plus numerical algorithms are explained somewhere in some journals.
Nevertheless the choices about the math functions to pack in a calculator, with limited resources, may contain subtle and neat observations that would be interesting to know. Exactly like the article in the mentioned hp journal.

I am asking about a book because the source code of the algorithms may be not that readable, unless there are plenty of comments.
Furthermore if the source coude would be enough, I am not sure about the code of Hp, casio, sharp, ti scientific calculators; but the wp31 or wp34 would help I guess, since their code is open as far as I know.

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10-21-2017, 07:35 AM (This post was last modified: 10-21-2017 07:37 AM by Dan.)
Post: #2
 Dan Member Posts: 67 Joined: Jan 2017
RE: Articles or book(s) about the functions behind a scientific calculator
I too was looking for such a book but could not find one. I referred to the attached articles to code in assembly CORDIC algorithms for the scientific functions on the AriCalculator. Overall they work quite well but there is room for improvement, particularly for the trig functions. See my post at the end of page 3 for some calculation results:

http://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-7773-page-3.html

Attached File(s)
HP.pdf (Size: 2.58 MB / Downloads: 47)
TI.docx (Size: 19.72 KB / Downloads: 22)
10-21-2017, 08:21 AM
Post: #3
 pier4r Senior Member Posts: 1,459 Joined: Nov 2014
RE: Articles or book(s) about the functions behind a scientific calculator
Thanks for sharing and thanks for linking the thread. It is exactly on the point.

Impressive how a slight change in interest changes the value of what we perceive. Some days ago I would have valued the linked thread interesting, but not in the direction that I wanted to follow, and now instead I find it mentioning a lot of things I would like to read/check.

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10-21-2017, 12:22 PM
Post: #4
 Craig Bladow Member Posts: 144 Joined: Apr 2016
RE: Articles or book(s) about the functions behind a scientific calculator
I found this book last year, the examples given run on a TI calculator but that is not necessary to understand the algorithms. "Inside Your Calculator, From Simple Programs to Significant Insights" by Gerald R. Rising, published by WILEY, ISBN 978-0-470-11401-8. It covers many algorithms, including CORDIC.

Check out NQ41!
10-21-2017, 01:00 PM (This post was last modified: 10-23-2017 10:50 AM by pier4r.)
Post: #5
 pier4r Senior Member Posts: 1,459 Joined: Nov 2014
RE: Articles or book(s) about the functions behind a scientific calculator
(10-21-2017 07:35 AM)Dan Wrote:  -cut-

checked the HP.pdf

you find also the articles of william kahan quite informative. See: hp journal December 1979 and Hp journal August 1980

Craig, thanks for your input. I check!

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10-23-2017, 09:38 AM
Post: #6
 Vincent Junior Member Posts: 4 Joined: Oct 2015
RE: Articles or book(s) about the functions behind a scientific calculator
Hello,

I guess that the great "Mathematics written in sand" from W. kahan should also be checked.

https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~wkahan/MathSand.pdf

Regards

Vincent
10-23-2017, 10:51 AM (This post was last modified: 10-25-2017 06:56 PM by pier4r.)
Post: #7
 pier4r Senior Member Posts: 1,459 Joined: Nov 2014
RE: Articles or book(s) about the functions behind a scientific calculator
Yup, integrated already in the hp calc collection . Thanks for the input!

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10-23-2017, 01:04 PM
Post: #8
 rncgray Junior Member Posts: 24 Joined: Dec 2013
RE: Articles or book(s) about the functions behind a scientific calculator
At the risk of starting another minor flame war might I point out that Gerald Rising's book, mentioned above, is available on Libgen.
10-23-2017, 04:38 PM
Post: #9
 Thomas Okken On Vacation Posts: 490 Joined: Feb 2014
RE: Articles or book(s) about the functions behind a scientific calculator
(10-23-2017 01:04 PM)rncgray Wrote:  At the risk of starting another minor flame war might I point out that Gerald Rising's book, mentioned above, is available on Libgen.

On Rising's own web page, I see no indication that his book is in the public domain, which would suggest any copy in Libgen is illegal.
10-24-2017, 09:24 AM (This post was last modified: 10-24-2017 09:24 AM by Dan.)
Post: #10
 Dan Member Posts: 67 Joined: Jan 2017
RE: Articles or book(s) about the functions behind a scientific calculator
(10-23-2017 01:04 PM)rncgray Wrote:  At the risk of starting another minor flame war might I point out that Gerald Rising's book, mentioned above, is available on Libgen.

Wow. The Encyclopedia Galactica is finally here.
10-25-2017, 06:55 PM
Post: #11
 pier4r Senior Member Posts: 1,459 Joined: Nov 2014
RE: Articles or book(s) about the functions behind a scientific calculator
HP Journal May 1983, when talking about the 15C, gives quite some inputs too.

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