The Magic behind V'Ger...The HPs Voyagers

[Gerson W. Barbosa]

(04-25-2014 02:57 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(04-25-2014 02:19 PM)Gerson W. Barbosa Wrote:  There's more:

HP-16C.. 2403A02548. 3.1415
HP-15C.. 2343B75099. 3.1415
HP-15C.. 2905B29505. 3.134
HP-12C.. CN04808261. 3.1345
HP-11C.. 2540B16771. 3.1345
HP-12C+. CNA83816873 3.133
HP-15CLE CNA13207R7. 3.1405

Gerson: Your mathematical (and other, related) observations continue to amaze and amuse me. Thanks for that!

I'm not sure if I've ever measured any of my calculators to 5 decimal places. No, strike that. I'm sure.

Except for the 11C outlier, it appears the Voyagers were shrinking over the years. No doubt when the 15CLE came back, the orginal dimensions were lost, and this was approximately the right size. Probably doubted you had a micrometer ready.

It appears the official dimensions are 5 x 3 1/8 x 5/8 inches, judging from this reference:

A look inside Hewlett-Packard's HP-11C, by Howard W. Markstein

It is possible, however, that this difference (approximately 25 thousandths of an inch) is due to the tolerance in the making process and thermal expansion (December, when those measurements were taken, is a particularly hot month here - about 90 °F)

Philippe Cairic has noticed the Pioneers have about the same width:

http://www.hpmuseum.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/...ead=235800 (Message #11)

Best regards,

Gerson.

P.S.: In this cold afternoon (17 °C = 62.6 °F :-) I get 3.1390 mm and 3.1375 mm for the HP-16C and HP-15C LE, respectively, using the same tool.