For Fans of the old HP RPN Calculators

I still have a 34c, 41cv, 12c, and the 15. Most i got in the early 80's In college. Rpn is the only way to go.
 
I'm a financial planner and the HP12C is an essential tool for me. I even have an HP12C emulator on my phone.
 
Have, and use, my 48SX. A few years ago I applied for a job where they put a bunch of us through aptitude tests. We were allowed to bring a calculator. One of the other guys had a 48. Neither of us got the job but we're good friends now. Sad, sad, sad.
 
Had to borrow one of these from a buddy once because I forgot mine. Still going through therapy....


Glad to see some of the old dudes are still appreciated by HP....
 
hp 12c forever...can't do quick cash flow calcs without it...

if i wasn't a finance guy, i'd be using that 15c and feel the same way.
 
1984 appears to be a fine vintage for HP-15c. Bought mine my freshman year of college and use it at home (too valuable to risk losing at the office).

Glad to see they put a limited edition back on the market.
 
in soviet Russia notation reverses you ))) I had this back in middle eighties:
&

it was programmable too
 
I always like the mixed Roman and Cyrillic, mostly I see it in technical Russian, like this calculator.

Is that ey-bee-tee or ah-veh-teh? :)
 
Got my HP15C LE the other day. Solid feel to it, clear display with no flaws. It came in a nice presentation box with a CD that has emulator software you can put on your PC (I think).

Passed the self test. From internet reviews, there have been some complaints about the keys, with some keys being nonfunctional. One complaint was that the "f" and "g" alternate function keys were wobbly and rattle when shaken. The f and g keys on mine were also a bit wobbly, and in fact rattled when shaken. However, it has no effect on key operation. So, since it functions great, this is just nit picking as far as I'm concerned. The key builds may have been more solid back then, but I really see no point in being anal about what is essentially a solid product. All the other keys are secure. The keyboard layout worked great, tactile feeling was that all the keys including f and g push solid and with authority. There is a rougher texture in contrast to a smooth finish on each key, but I have no problems with this. This finish looks great to me.

It has a simple leather slip on case with crude (to me) interior seams which don't position the calculator well when inserted. It appears to break in well, so it appears to be fitting better with use.

All in all, I am happy with the purchase. Based on the manufacture number on the back of the calculator and the HP commercial website, they probably will be producing more and should only get better with their QA. Mine is numbered at about 05nnn and so the space before that implies to me that they can hypothetically produce 99,999 units (any manufacturing engineers or specialists who might know if one can safely infer the maximum or final number of units that will be manufactured based on markings?). Get one if you can and happy calculating!
 
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Before the days of spread sheets I used a 12c for interest calculations almost every day.....I still have mine.......I don't think I could remember how to use it today:foot:
 
It isn't an inherited ability, it is practice practice practice. I have had jobs that involved lots of numbers and routinely added columns of two or three digit numbers going down the column in one pass. One job, we had to add up and average columns of hours and minutes. I did the adding and averaging in my head faster than the others did with pocket calculators.
 
Esav is right. It takes practice. I used to work with a couple of very smart chem engineers. They were always crunching numbers in their heads. I practiced and practiced, it did pay off. Wasn't as good as they were, but at least now I can estimate numbers in my head.

My 13 year old is pretty good at it now. We were out shopping the other day. We were seeing who could calculate the unit prices on honey faster. Some lady who was looking at some stuff next to us was shocked that my kid could figure out the stuff in his head so quickly. It sure made my day!

Ric
 
Gauss was a renowned mathematician. He couldn't stop doing numbers, like counting the steps he took walking. It is practice, it is also being so conscious of the numbers around us that they become familiar. One of the great physicists never had to look up constants like pi or e because he used them so often he had memorized them without meaning to.

Same thing a professional driver does on a familiar road, not only watching the condition of the road, but being conscious of whether traffic is lighter or heavier or more erratic than usual.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
One of the great physicists never had to look up constants like pi or e because he used them so often he had memorized them without meaning to.
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Sadly, those numbers plus the logs (base 10 and base e) of numbers 1-10 and a few others stay with me.

The skill I learned from my father and use regularly is guesstimating. In the days of logs and slide rules it was handy to have an idea of the answer to the nearest power of ten so some pre-calculation kept me out of trouble. Dad used to ask all sorts of questions which we woudl work out from first principles and sketch knowledge. "What's the density of a ship, or a bus?, what does the moon weigh? and so on"

Fun.
 
One skill that is disappearing is the ability to estimate. Very often, I don't need to know a result to six decimal places; one will do. So, while some kid is busy entering all those digits into a spreadsheet, I would look at it for a moment and say, about 143 1/2. Five minutes later, the kid would announce 143.412745! Ok. But... ah... this voltmeter hasn't been caled in... ah... what does it say here?.... six years. I doubt it's giving microvolt-accurate readings anyway.

The other value of a quick estimate comes when you do need the answer to six places and the kid announces 173.412745. Ummm... check your numbers. I suspect you made a type-o. The answer should be closer to 143. When you reduce numbers to keystrokes, that can happen.
 
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