Forgot to add this link in my earlier mail. Interesting to go through in
your free time!
http://www.hpmuseum.org/rpn.htm
-Ramesh
| -----Original Message-----
| From: Panuganty, Ramesh
| Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2002 12:39 PM
| To: 'debian-user@lists.debian.org'
| Subject: FW: kcalc math bug?
|
|
| I have another interesting observation:
|
| the UNIX calculators don't give a choice, but the windows
| Calculator gives an option to select "Scientific" or "Standard" mode.
|
| In scientific mode,
| I got, 1+2*3=7
|
| In standard mode,
| I got, 1+2*3=9
|
| May be kcalc defaults to the scientific mode!
|
| | > _Any_ calculator that isn't a piece of crap will follow the
| | standard
| | > precedence rules. Those rules _must_ be obeyed otherwise the real
| | > numbers that everyone loves so much would not even form a
| | field [this
| | > will probably not mean anything to you but...]
| | >
| | > If you want 1*2+5*50 to be equal to 350 then enter is as
| | > (1*2+5)*50=7*50=350
| | >
| | > AFAIK, a $5 calculator will follow precedence..
| | >
| | > I hope you realize your error by now..
| |
| | Well, let's see. I have two cheap calculators right here, one
| | a nearly 20-year old Casio FX-115 scientific calculator, and
| | the other a fairly new Texas Instruments TI-1795SV
| | (four-function with memory). Both are infix, not RPN.
| |
| | Casio: 1+2*3=7
| | TI: 1+2*3=9
| |
| | I suspect that "scientific" vs. "four-function" is the
| | distinction here. The scientific calculator has parenthesis
| | buttons to facilitate entering complex expressions, while the
| | four-function does not.
| |
| | Your math-theory objection is really irrelevant to all this.
| | For a four-function calculator used for simple accounting
| | tasks, you don't want it to get too clever with the numbers
| | you're entering, because mostly you're working your way down
| | a column entering numbers in a sequence. You need a running
| | total after each one, which would make no sense if the
| | calculator was waiting for you to finish so it could go back
| | and apply precedence rules.
| |
| | Craig
|
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