on the RPN mentioning sharp pc-1211, v.albillo, el-506w and recurring topics

[toml_12953]

(12-03-2017 06:54 PM)pier4r Wrote:  I read several passionate post about the advantages of RPN in this and other forums, but the arguments were never that solid for me. At the end those could be summarized by "Engineers compose the formula on the fly while typing, especially on the field, so RPN is more versatile for the job".

The only strong argument pro RPN that I ever read (over and over) is pragmatical.
RPN simplifies the work that the calculator has to do in interpreting the input compared to an algebraic entry (see n6). Therefore less complexity, less circuits and so on. This is especially true for earlier calculators, although I read of real problem solving feats, see n5.

I actually like both! Algebraic is the way I'd write the expression but RPN is the way I'd manually solve the expression. Write down an expression in algebraic. Now manually solve it. I'll bet you use RPN and use PMDAS to solve within parentheses calculating the inner parentheses first then combining the sub-expressions to work outward.

Example: Solve

(4+7) * (6+2)
----------------
(3+5) * (9+3)

You'd probably calculate 4+7 and 6+2 then multiply them to get 88. Then you'd calculate 3+5 and 9+3 and multiply them to get 96. Finally, you'd do the division and get 0.9167...

This is the same way you'd solve the expression using an RPN calculator.