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Your 41 did what?

Posted by Jim Creybohm on 23 June 2001, 11:22 p.m.

While studying Petroleum Engineering in the early 80's, I became quite adept at programming my 41CX. I garnered a lot of favours by writing up little routines for people heading into a thermodynamics exam.

Anyway, one day my friend left his calculator on the table while he went to get his lunch. Knowing that he was nervous about his Physical Chemistry exam later that same afternoon, I decided to add a bit of levity to his day by writing a small program on his calculator.

OK, here is a basic framework; SF11 (start the program when the calculator is turned on), write a rude message,(7 letters, 2 words, you figure it out), AVIEW, and then XEQ OFF.

I may have overestimated my friends ability to work his 41, as I learned later that he only knew enough to use the alpha register to save some P-Chem equations. When he powered his calculator on in the exam, it beeped, wrote a rude message, and turned off! Panic struck, he did an ON and CLX at the same time (the only way he knew to stop the program). Of course, this resulted in a MEMORY LOST. He failed the exam, no doubt due in part to emotional stress.

After learning the consequences of my errant programming exercise, I feigned astonishment that some uncaring soul would dare write such a message on his calculator especially when he was heading into an exam!

Well, I ultimately 'fessed up after my friend passed P-Chem. (thank god, he may have throttled me had he have had to repeat). We still have a laugh about it, and he and I both still have our 41's. Funny how you can have a fondness for a calculator...

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