Problem with HP 17bii+

[Dave Hicks]

For amusement I tried a few other calculators. The RPN models always took the percentage of the preceding number in the stack. So, (clear stack) 11% -> 0 as does 4% since we’re taking fractions of zero.

The RPL machines did so as well, but with one distinction: If you start with an empty stack and enter 11%, you get the error message “Too few arguments”. So, same behavior but with an error message that would have probably alerted you that % didn’t do what you assumed. (ie: it is not a divide by 100 button.)

The only non-HP algebraic calculator I had handy was the Windows calculator (in standard mode) and I found it to be confusing.

Invoke calculator (so it’s cleared): 11% -> 0 (not too shocking but then continue on…)

5+3 = (displays 8, now press) 11% -> .88. (which is 11% of 8)

5*3 = (displays 15, now press) 11% -> .11 (which is 11% converted to decimal)

So, it has 3 behaviors of the % key??? I tried this on both Windows 10 and 11.