Yep, Martin remember us at Motorola? Engineering had the only computer in
the place; definitely RPN. It was HP, of course; it'd take several hours
to run a site intermodulation program. The other few calculators around
were Bomar Brain 4 bangers. In those days I bought one of the first TI
algebraic models that came out. I've owned lots of TI's since then
including one with the "gum stick wrapper" programmer. I've tried both RPN
and algebraic - I still prefer algebraic.

Bob Swinney

"Martin H. Eastburn" wrote in message
...
Nope - 4 bangers were out all over the place doing non-RPG. Engineers
used RPG,
business types used algebraic. Some were caught between because schools
began
to program people. I use both myself - time and a place and keeps my mind
able
in both in case I have to use one somewhere away from home...

Martin
Martin Eastburn
@ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net
NRA LOH, NRA Life
NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder



Robert Swinney wrote:
Karl sez:
" To me, this is like saying I'd rather drive my car in reverse on the

freeway. Does HP still use that RPN logic? What on earth is the reason
for it and WHY would anyone like it? ( I know - I'm just troolling)"


My guess is that in the early design days it was not economically
feasible to produce chips to support direct algebraic entry. Thus, RPN
was developed as a crutch, more or less, to facilitate HP's entry into
the calculator market. We were taught by HP (General Bullmoose ? ) to
manipulate a "stack" in order to accommodate their klunky entry system.
And so, RPN became the de facto standard. Besides, it had great appeal
for those that would have us believe "computer math" was beyond the reach
of ordinary intelligence. Like, "Hey, if you ain't smart enough to learn
to do backwards arithmetic, you got no business with a calculator
anyway."

Bob Swinney





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