HP35s Revisited Trig Quandary Bug # 2

[MarkHaysHarris777]

(02-17-2015 12:03 AM)Paul Dale Wrote:  Now consider the 42S which gets twelve correct digits, in a much older calculator with fewer resources or the 15C which gets ten correctly rounded digits with even less.

Quite true. Now, I have a question (and I'm not busting anyone in the chops, nor am I being trite. Would it be fair, in your estimation, for me to call the WP34s a 'trig dud,' because, in comparison, it is not able to calculate transcendental values as nearly accurately as pdeclib on my Droid phone?

Its not a fair comparison.

Now I have another question for you 'specifically,' and the other developers, of WP34s. Is it not time, considering the fact that memory is relatively cheap and available, that we would permit the user to not only select the number of digits they will display, but also allow the user to configure the number of digits used internally for intermediate result calculation? In other words, why do we not give the user the ability to configure arbitrary decimal arithmetic? If I want to calculate transcendentals to 30 digits, great. If the next person wants 42 digits, fabulous. If all we need is 12 digits, that's fine too. How difficult would it be to make the internal accuracy a matter of user configurability?

PS... if a person wants to calculate cosines of values close to pi/2, then they really need to 'double' the number of internal digits they want... if they want 12 they better configure 24-30... and so on.

Cheers,
marcus