11 Nov
2005
11 Nov
'05
12:05 a.m.
On Nov 10 2005, 20:13, Tony Duell wrote:
> So I guess it works. This thing seems to be made
in the same way
that the
> Sinclair LED wristwatch I once had was--CHEAP is
the biggest
consideration.
Exactly. And don't care if it works properly, or if it's convenient
to
use. Remember Sinclair once sold a scientific
calculator that gave
you 3
accureate significant figures if you were lucky!
That would be the one that took longer to calculate the sine of an
angle than it took to open Chambers 6-figure tables and look it up, as
I was reminded at our recent Open Day (we had a few such things on
display along with real computers, micros, and calculators).
Having said that, I was quite upset when my Sinclair Cambridge Memory
calculator began to misbehave a couple of years ago, and eventually
died altogether. It was a nicer shape and size than any other simple
calculator I've owned, great for one-handed operation. I have an
"ordinary" Sinclair Cambridge, and a Scientific as well, but they're
not as nice to use. The memory version seems to be relatively rare,
and the last two I saw on eBay went for moe than I'd consider sensible.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
11 Nov
11 Nov
1:09 a.m.
On Nov 10 2005, 20:13, Tony Duell wrote:
That's the one. A totally useless 2-level stack RPN thing (!).
> So I guess it works. This thing seems to be
made in the same way
that the
> Sinclair LED wristwatch I once had
was--CHEAP is the biggest
consideration.
Exactly. And don't care if it works properly, or if it's convenient
to
use. Remember Sinclair once sold a scientific
calculator that gave
you 3
accureate significant figures if you were lucky!
That would be the one that took longer to calculate the sine of an
angle than it took to open Chambers 6-figure tables and look it up, as I was reminded at our recent Open Day (we had a few
such things on
display along with real computers, micros, and calculators).
Having said that, I was quite upset when my Sinclair Cambridge Memory
calculator began to misbehave a couple of years ago, and eventually
Somewhere I haev a Cambridge Univerasl. Same case, 9V battery (with the
'power bulge' on the battery cover so you can't put it down on the
table...). It gives random wrong answers, whether that's a fault or by
design I don't know.
died altogether. It was a nicer shape and size than
any other simple
calculator I've owned, great for one-handed operation. I have an
I find the best machines to use 1-handed are the HP Woodstock series
(HP2x). The HP21 is very common second-hand, has essentailly the same
features as the Sinclair Scientific, but they're useable.
Of course I won't even consider a calculator for serious use if it's not
RPN/RPL.
-tony
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