At 8:19 PM -0500 11/8/96, David Lesher / hated by RBOC's in 5 states wrote:
As a HP-35 buyer when they first appeared in '72, I sonn found it simple to explain RPN by using a basic rule of good composition: avoid passive voice.
The "+" key is not, of course "plus" rather it is the active voice term "add" and such.. And all commands are "active voice" unlike a TI where some were...
Of course, I soon found far too many people had no grasp of active vs. passive voice........
Agreed. I think I adapted to RPN so quickly (less than 30 minutes at the university bookstore, which had H-P 35s on display) because of this. The problem "((5 + 7) * 4) / 3)" is easily understood as: 5 enter 7 add 4 multiply 3 divide Once one groks RPN, it clearly is a speed win over entering parentheses and that stuff. For any of you who are doubters, RPN usually produces far fewer errors in identical calculations than Algebraic produces (the user errors, not the hardware). I found RPN ideal for exploratory calculations, where the stack orientation was just so "natural." This is not RPNpunks, but it seems that many of the younger subscribers here really have not been exposed to RPN calculators. It's really worth the $40 or so to buy the cheapest H-P calculator that has RPN. (Be careful--not all H-P calculators are RPN these days. They bowed to market pressure several years ago and introduced algebraic entry on their low-end models.) --Tim May "The government announcement is disastrous," said Jim Bidzos,.."We warned IBM that the National Security Agency would try to twist their technology." [NYT, 1996-10-02] We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."