Re: Not HP but I want one Message #8 Posted by spb on 30 July 2011, 6:59 a.m., in response to message #1 by Paul Dale
Quote:
Maybe the 34S should have a "wrong" mode added :-)
The Soviet-era Elektronika MK-54 had an `Error' button.
The Elektronika MK-52 (not 54) is a fairly well-known calculator; it was used as a backup onboard the Soyuz missions. It was replaced by the MK-61, which was designed to be functionally identical to the MK-52 but have a different form factor (the 61 being a Pioneer to the 52's Voyager).
Similarly, the MK-54 was designed to be functionally equivalent to the earlier B3-34, which was a hugely popular early Soviet programmable. But for some reason or other---presumably to save manufacturing costs---the MK-54 used exactly the same body as the MK-61. This might make sense until you realise that the MK-61, like the MK-52, has two shift keys while the B3-34 has only one.
So the MK-54 ends up with a shift key it literally has no use for. As a result, using it as a prefix before any other function yields an immediate `Error'; an error button.
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