HP 50G: Long Reals Run Faster than Reals?

[Han]

DavidM is correct. Even before the HP48 series (I know as far back as the HP42S), real-number operations were always done after promotion to extended reals. The internal algorithms were/are all done in extended real format and "packed" upon completion. Thus, even a pure SysRPL program that uses regular reals as opposed to extended reals will eventually accumulate enough conversion overhead that it becomes significantly noticeable.

You can check for yourself by simply decompiling one of the SysRPL words that deal with real-number operations using Jazz or the built-in disassembler.