Re: Sliderules, Logs, and Prodigies

[The Deviant <deviant@pooh-corner.com>]

On Wed, 6 Nov 1996, Timothy C. May wrote:

> At 2:44 PM -0800 11/5/96, Sean Roach wrote:
> 
> >If I remember my history right, the order that math was done often depended
> >on the model of calculator it was done on.  I remember being warned as late
> >as 1991 how some calculators may still still add before they multiply, and
> >to use those parenthesis for good measure, just to be safe.
> 
> Well, it ain't _history_ only--it's also current. Some of us use RPN
> (Reverse Polish Notation) calculators exclusively. (Even my screen
> calculator I use on my Mac is an RPN one.)
> 

Yes, many calculators still have the add/multiply error also.  Most of the
newer generation (the one which I wish I didn't have to be a part of)
doesn't know what RPN is, much less how to use it.

A friend of mine found his father's RPN HP (don't know which model) from
college a week or two ago, and you'd never beleive how long it took me to
convince him that "RPN" really does stand for "Reverse Polish Notation".
As for slide rules, I think I'm the only person at my school who knows
what a slide rule _is_, much less how to use one ;)

 --Deviant
Insufficient facts always invite danger.
                -- Spock, "Space Seed", stardate 3141.9