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Does the HP-35S need a 'guide for dummies' how-to guide?
03-09-2015, 05:08 PM
Post: #15
RE: Does the HP-35S need a 'guide for dummies' how-to guide?
Thanks Mark. You have posed some interesting questions.

First, let me say upfront that I am not an engineer. I am a retired computer programmer who became a middle school math volunteer-teacher. So I am not at all qualified to discuss the calculating needs of engineers. But I think we are in the midst of another technological revolution that will have major impacts on calculators.

It seems to me that a newly-minted engineer coming out of college today is part of the i-generation. He or she undoubtedly has a smart phone with all kinds of apps on it, some of which are not games, hopefully. At some point--and I'm not saying we have reached that point yet--this engineer will probably have to decide which engineering app do I want for my tablet or smart phone or application for my PC, rather than which scientific calculator do I want to buy and use. Nobody used slide rules after the HP-35 came out. Nobody used typewriters after PC's and word processing came out (yes, I am aware that you can still find a few, mostly in old attorney's offices). I really think the calculator is a dinosaur just waiting to become extinct.

I doubt that many engineering students today even know what RPN stands for, and even if they did I doubt that they would view it as something they should learn and know, something that would help them in their career. It is a relic of the past, practiced today only among senior citizens like us on this forum and a few youngsters who have discovered it and like it. But for the mainstream, I think it is dead. Same with RPL.

Of course, I may be wrong!
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RE: Does the HP-35S need a 'guide for dummies' how-to guide? - Don Shepherd - 03-09-2015 05:08 PM



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