Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!agate!darkstar!ucscb.UCSC.EDU!funkstr
From: funkstr@ucscb.ucsc.edu (Larry Hastings)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Howzabout _proper_ fractions on the HP 48sx?
Keywords: not necessary, but it's getting under my skin
Message-ID: <10469@darkstar.ucsc.edu>
Date: 30 Dec 90 06:30:55 GMT
Sender: usenet@darkstar.ucsc.edu
Distribution: usa
Organization: Knowledge Dynamics Corporation
Lines: 30


Now that I have this neat new HP 48sx, I've been exploring all the wild and
wonderous things it can do.  One which I noted was that it will turn any
number into a best-approximation fraction (or just about) using the ->Q
command.  However, if the original number was greater than 1 (or less than -1)
the fraction it generates is _always_ improper.  This is slightly annoying,
as my $25 calculator will do this just fine.  (Well, if the number was
originally entered as a fraction... but _still_.)

This looks to be a "simple matter of programming", but the fact is this is
my first exposure to HP handheld computing, and I know nothing about
programming it.  I _was_ going to make it my learning experience at programming
the HP 48sx, but now realize that I'm in over my head.  Would anyone out there
care to take a crack at writing this for me?  (And, if possible, commenting
it so I can understand what you did?)

Also, could someone explain:
	1) what ->ASC is and why I need it (I do a lot of up/downloading
	   to/from my HP 48sx and haven't needed it yet, it seems)
	2) how to conveniently use the "UP" command that someone wrote (the
	   one that lets you go "up" the built-in menus) -- typing in
	   "alpha-U-P-enter" is cumbersome, and putting it on the user keyboard
	   is more keystrokes ("leftshift-alpha-KEY-leftshift-alpha"), and
	   putting it on the CST menu would defeat the purpose
--
larry hastings, the galactic funkster, funkstr@ucscb.ucsc.edu

I don't speak for Knowledge Dynamics or UC Santa Cruz, nor do they speak for me

"Roar, I say, ROAR!" --Foghorn Leghorn (as a fire-breathing dragon), Tiny Toons