You Ask, I Answer.

My first go-around at a Q&A.   Thank you to those who have left questions and comments.  So let's get started:


Q:
Pierre Goasguen:
Hello Eddie ! I have known your blog because I bought a HP-Prime essentially for my pleasure, not for studies or engineer work. In France, during the 80', there was big interest for calculators like Ti57/8/9, HP , etc... And... I bought this hp-prime to know how calculator is now. And your posts are very interesting to learn about it. So, I hope that you continue to post algorithms, comments, etc. I like very much this. Thank's a lot Eddie.
Pierre 

A:
Pierre, thank you very much and yes, I do plan to continue to post algorithms.  I find a of joy working with calculators and creating algorithms.  

Q:

Road:

Hi Eddie, you have an awesome blog. I found it about 6 months ago and have been a regular visitor ever since. Do you have any plans/desires to some more advanced HP Prime tutorials?

-road 

A:

Road, thank you for the suggestion, it sounds like a great idea.  I am working on a tutorial series for the Spreadsheet App which I plan to start posting by early October.  If you have any specific suggestions, feel free to comment.  

Q:

Unknown:

Eddie,

I have so many questions, but I'll hold down to just a few:

What are your favorite calculators and what makes them special to you?

How many calculators do you own and have you got a preference for machines from a particular era?

A:

Currently, my favorite calculators are the HP Prime and TI-84 Plus CE.  The HP Prime because it has a little bit of everything:  graphing, CAS, a touch screen, rechargeable battery, and the ability to work in full color.  The TI-84 Plus CE because of its ease of use, rechargeable battery, and at least in the United States, almost everyone has some version of a TI-84.  I also like TI’s connectivity software.  

My favorite collectible calculator is the HP 42S.  I traded one of my HP 50g calculators with a good friend.  

At last count I have close to 110 calculators, the latest being a TI-34 II that I bought from a local swap meet a few weeks ago.   I have been collecting calculators since 1990 (7th/8th grade).  I don’t have a lot of 1970's calculators but sometimes I wish I was college age during that time instead of a newborn.  The other era, I would have to say now.  The ability of calculators grew over the last four decades.  One positive of the smart phone/tablet is that more people are participating in creating calculator apps.  

Q:

Kleo S:

Hi Eddie, your blog is awesome. I visit your blog almost everyday since 2013. I have bought TI-84 CE-T a month ago and I found it lacks the "product" function (I do not understand why, especially when the summation is available). I decided to create a small program, unfortunately I am familiar with Casio calcs and not with TI. Can you help me with this?

For Casio and i/3 the program is:

SetDecimal

ClrText

1->pr

Input b

For 1->i To b Step 1

pr*i/3->pr

Next

Print pr 

A:

Kleo, of the top of the head, the program on the TI-84 would probably look like this:

: ClrHome

: 1 → P

: Input B

: For(I,1,B)   (the fourth argument of For is step, but the default is 1)

: P*I/3→P

: End   (End is the global “end” marker for loops on the TI-84.)

: Disp P    

* The TI-84 doesn’t have an exact/approximate mode, but has a convert to fraction function.  (>Frac) 

Q:

Harry Pandolfino:

You should publish your comments, reviews and programs in an ebook. You make playing with calculators fun. 

A:

Harry, thank you so much!  I have so much fun with calculators and glad to see others enjoy them too.  I am considering writing an ebook; it is a matter of fitting this in the schedule.  

Thank you everyone.  Let's do this again sometime!

Eddie

This blog is property of Edward Shore. 2015.