Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!hp-pcd!hpcvra.cv.hp.com!rnews!hpcvbbs!akcs.joehorn From: akcs.joehorn@hpcvbbs.UUCP (Joseph K. Horn) Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds Subject: Re: Re: HP-32S II Curiosity Keywords: fractions,bug,HP-32 Message-ID: <281794a9:2620.5comp.sys.handhelds;1@hpcvbbs.UUCP> Date: 26 Apr 91 03:40:10 GMT References: <51123@apple.Apple.COM> <2813f262:2620.4comp.sys.handhelds;1@hpcvbb Lines: 75 Edwin Garcia writes: > Performing arithmetic on fractional numbers and interconverting > between fractionals and decimals is not novel to Hewlett-Packard; the > idea had existed for many years and was implemented a long time ago > on TI, Sharp, and Casio calculators. --- "It's twoo! It's twoo!" [Tweety Bird] You are correct; the IDEA of calculator fractions is surely nothing new. I've used the Casio fraction key for years, poor as it is... > I merely found it somewhat amusing that there appeared to be a slight > bit of excitement over the introduction of this feature on Hewlett- > Packard calculators. --- "Non sequitur; your data is uncoordinated." [Nomad] The HP 32SII's fraction package deserves all the excitement it receives, and more. Here's why: THERE'S NOTHING ELSE LIKE IT. The HP 48 is the only other calculator in the world which will convert a decimal result (say, log 5) to fractional form, with user-settable precision. (Casio etc only convert fractions to decimals, not vice versa). AND the HP 32SII is the ONLY calculator which converts decimal-to- fraction with a user-settable maximum denominator (you don't want anything smaller than 100ths? no problem). It's also ALONE in being able to "fix" the denominator permanently to any given value (you want 16ths? you get 16ths, even if it's 6/16). And it ALONE has a "factors of denominator" mode in which the 32SII always displays the user-defined denominator OR a proper factor thereof (so 6/16 shows as 3/8). AND the user-input of fractions doesn't require some peculiar key like everybody else uses; for the FIRST TIME EVER, the decimal point key has two uses: one press means "point", but two presses means "fraction" (so 1+2/3 is entered as 1.2.3). As if that weren't enough, they even allowed you to use this simple syntax IN PROGRAMS! (Key 6.7.8 in program mode, and 6.875 gets entered as an RPN program line!) > In my opinion HP should have added this feature a long time ago, and > frankly I am puzzled as to why it is being added only now. --- "If something's worth doing, it's worth overdoing." [R.J. Nelson] You know HP; they don't duplicate other companies' work. They build novel solutions. The fraction package in the HP 32SII is something NEW. It is only being added now because Rome was not built in a day. > Come now, old chap, we must give proper credit to the efforts of our > worthy rivals, even though they still use that bloody algebraic > operating system! :-) --- "The calculator that has no equal." [Hewlett Packard] Edwin, I cannot consider TI etc "worthy rivals" of HP calculators. Are Timex watches "worthy rivals" of HP's Cesium Beam atomic clocks? Are Radio Shack's voltmeters worthy rivals of HP's signal analyzers? Are tape measures worthy rivals of HP's Laser Position Transducers? Is litmus paper a worthy rival of HP's Chromatographs? Is a doctor's rubber hammer a worthy rival of HP's Ultrasound Imaging systems? :-) Certainly Timex, Radio Shack et al deserve and enjoy some market share, as do TI, Sharp and Casio. Just because they are not in HP's league doesn't mean that they suck. But "worthy rivals" of HP??? Naaaa! -- Joseph K. Horn -- Peripheral Vision, Ltd. -- "The opinions expressed by the host of this show are not necessarily those of this station. But they ought to be." [Rush Limbaugh]