Tag: Hp 35s Calculator

HP 35s Calculator Annoyances III

I keep saying how much of a fan I am of the RPN mode, and have used it on and off since high school. But times have changed, and HP needs to find a way to manipluate the logic of repeated calculations to make RPN still come out on top, but I feel discouraged, and feel there is no turning back.

I’ll tell you why. For one thing, you can’t enter any calculation in a mode involving stacks and operators, which is at the heart of RPN logic, and expect it to repeat without some way of remembering each operator and number you pressed. And the only way to do that is to really learn how to program this calculator, then preferably bind the program to a key. So, this is really not a calculator for sissies. At least, not unless you stay in algebra mode.

There was one more thing that I don’t think I’ve mentioned: viewing numbers in scientific notation sometimes requires you to use the scroll feature. This is because it will show you as many as 12 digits, pushing the power of 10 exponent off the immediate display.You need the left arrow to see what you missed.

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More on the HP 35s Calculator

I have kept some notes as I was performing an stats operation on a list of numbers. Most of the time the interface on most calculators is intuitive enough that you don’t really need the manual to do things like stats or common operations on the scientific calculator. The Sharp calculator has data entry for stats refined to the point where you can return to any list member and correct the entry.

Stats on the HP35s is of the “old school” variety, with an important change: the calculator is always in single variable stats mode. Hitting the “Sigma+” key on the bottom of the keypad is enough to begin your entry, and this means you can interrupt your data entry at any point and to any other calculation that you need to do. This is true in both RPN and Algebra mode.

One annoying feature I found is that if you have a syntax error, there is no “clear error” or “clear” button that will instantly remedy it. All attempts to clear the display have to be done through a “clear” button that is made as a second function to the backspace key (the backspace key is the other way to clear your error, one character at a time, using the arrow keys to help you). To clear everything (“clear/all”) requires you to go through 2 layers of menus.

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