HP 50G for Maths (My experiences)

[edryer]

Having collected Calculators for many years, and never doing more than simple arithmetic on them (just enjoying playing about on them, didn't have any numerical skills only some basic Stats knowledge from University) I finally managed to start studying Math... and have progressed through High School Algebra, Trig and Geometry, and then early College level Vectors and Matrices, all at simple levels (calculating Eigenvalues are about the limits of my abilities).

This wasn't so much a choice (although I have ended up enjoying it immensely) as a necessity to improve my skills in Machine Learning as to attempt to compete in Kaggle, an online Machine Learning platform.

It is now I truly actually appreciate the power of the HP 50G. It has actually been a superb companion through my Linear Algebra studies - the entire platform seems optimized to work as a number cruncher - have set up custom menus (IDN,DET,INV,DOT,LU etc) and have written a few programs as well as customized the keyboard layout (esp love SWAP on the right arrow key).

I also particularly appreciate the multiple ways Vectors (but mostly) Matrices can be entered (straight from the keyboard simply using [] and values (no other keys just separated by spaces!), whoever in HP thought of this keyboard shortcut deserves a medal (I learnt this from the 48S manual so I guess that person has possible retired by now).

This Calculator truly is superb, and although I knew RPN before (from playing on my old HP's) can now actually appreciate its power in performing chains of computation, am now a confirmed believer.