RPN
Robert Fickling
I've been reading this newsgroup for a couple of weeks. The HP48
calculators seem like the way to go, but I don't know reverse
Polish notation. I've looked on the Net and at bookstores for
information on RPN and haven't found anything helpful.
I hate to buy a HP48 just to discover that RPN is harder than
Assembly language. If you know of any books, paper, etc. on RPN
please let me know.
Thanks.
--
Robert Fickling
email: fic...@ccnet.com, b.fi...@fcsa.org
Good shooting information on the-
Fifty Caliber Shooters Association homepage: http://www.fcsa.org/
Pete
On most calculators, you would enter i.e. "2" "+" "3", and then press the
"=" key. However, the HP's stack allows you to perform calculations as
you would on paper: i.e. "2" enter "3" enter "+". If you prefer, you
could use the ' delimters provided, and type '2+3' then press EVAL. The
reason for this logic is due to the interactive stack. If you are
dealing with multiple equations, intergers, etc. You would enter all
operations onto the stack first, then you could pick choose and modify
each operator (interger, expression, program whatever) and then perform
the operations at the stack level #1. If your goof up, you then have
last argument and undo features. As you progress, you can learn to type
programs to handle your repetitve mundane operations. Your best bet
would be to find a fried who has an HP and allow him or her to
demonstrate, (or borrow their manual and read the appropriate sections).
It took me about 5 minutes to get the hang of the basics. Hope this
helps.
Sincerely, Pete.
David Z. Maze
Robert Fickling <fic...@ccnet.com> wrote:
>
> I've been reading this newsgroup for a couple of weeks. The HP48
> calculators seem like the way to go, but I don't know reverse
> Polish notation. I've looked on the Net and at bookstores for
> information on RPN and haven't found anything helpful.
> I hate to buy a HP48 just to discover that RPN is harder than
> Assembly language. If you know of any books, paper, etc. on RPN
> please let me know.
> Thanks.
Probably the best source of information is the manual from any HP
calculator. EduCalc sells them separately from the calculators, if
you're really interested. The HP-48 manuals tend to be fairly clear
and comprehensive; if you buy the calculator and work through the
examples in the smaller "here's everything your calculator can do"
manual you should be able to use it pretty easily.
_____________________________
/ \ "We can write all we know in 4 lines."
| David Maze | -- Ray Ashoori, MIT Physics Professor
| dm...@mit.edu | 1 + 1 = 3 6 * 9 = 42
| http://donut.mit.edu/dmaze/ | IHTFP 17 Yellow Pigs
\_____________________________/ ...the Institute is your friend...
Robert Fickling
In article <593n90$9...@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU>,
David Z. Maze <dm...@donut.mit.edu> wrote:
>Probably the best source of information is the manual from any HP
>calculator.
{ a lot of stuff had to be removed here}
I looks like my mailer won't allow me to quote much of the earlier
message about learning RPN. :-( Oh well...
Thanks David and thanks to everybody that send email!
This is most helpful newsgroup that I've ever posted to. I got so
much email on RPN that I can't reply to each message. The email
has convinced me to buy the HP48GX, instead of the TI92.
Happy holidays.
--
Robert Fickling
email: fic...@ccnet.com
Gonzalo Suarez H.
Robert Fickling (fic...@ccnet.com) wrote:
:
: I've been reading this newsgroup for a couple of weeks. The HP48
: calculators seem like the way to go, but I don't know reverse
: Polish notation. I've looked on the Net and at bookstores for
: information on RPN and haven't found anything helpful.
: I hate to buy a HP48 just to discover that RPN is harder than
: Assembly language. If you know of any books, paper, etc. on RPN
: please let me know.
: Thanks.
: --
: Robert Fickling
: email: fic...@ccnet.com, b.fi...@fcsa.org
: Good shooting information on the-
: Fifty Caliber Shooters Association homepage: http://www.fcsa.org/
i need the same :_-(
:x
Pete
Check out the rplman.doc on the Horn disc #4. You can find the horn
discs at the HP website.
John H Meyers
In article <591dc2$4...@ccnet3.ccnet.com>,
fic...@ccnet.com (Robert Fickling) writes:
> The HP48 calculators seem like the way to go, but I don't know [RPN].
> I hate to buy a HP48 just to discover that RPN is harder than Assembly...
The hard part about RPN is spelling the name of the Pole who invented it;
even this was made simple by calling it "Reverse Polish Notation"
instead of "Lucasiewicz"(?) notation, denying Dr. What's-his-name his
rightful glory just because of English folk's "spelling discrimination."
Anyway, it can't be all that hard, since in earlier days,
from the time of hand-cranked mechanical calculators to the last days
before the appearance on electronic keypads of a strange new key
labeled only as "=", *all* calculators were in fact RPN-style!
Which means, that to add 4 to something, you set (or key in) the 4,
then press the "Add" or "+" key (or turn the crank); to subtract 4,
you set (or key in) 4, and then press the "Sub" or "-" key, etc.
Until some brash folks in Texas decided to help people waste time by
pressing more keys than really necessary, no one had ever been so dumb
as to expect you to tell an adding machine way ahead of time that you
were *going* to have it add (or subtract) the next number you were
*about* to enter, but of course you couldn't do it yet, because
you hadn't yet supplied the next number! Well, lots of extra
transistors had to be added to those calculators to remember
what was going to be done later but couldn't be done yet,
and then more strange keys marked with heiroglyphics like "(" and ")"
had to be added to get even more complicated gizmos to save up and
remember even more numbers that they couldn't process yet because you
hadn't yet told them more new numbers, and so on. Why, it was practically
akin to dipping your brush in the paint before you even nailed up the
two-by-fours that your drywall was going to hang on; just plumb stupid,
if you ask anybody with common sense, no?
Well, those good 'ol boys down in Texas had nothin' better to do with
time, since they just sat there watching the oil gush out and needed
something for their thumbs to twiddle, but the cool dudes at HP just
stood their ground and kept it plain and simple; yes sir, you first enter
those numbers which you are actually *ready* to use into the calculator,
right where you can keep an eye on 'em, and then you press some key
which actually uses them *now*, not tomorrow, and that's it!
In order to sell calculators to Texans, however, HP developed a ploy whereby
they can even be made to display the results of simple RPN in good old
Texas style, even though they actually compute in more efficient RPN;
you always know when this 'city slicker' mode is in effect by the fact that
the phoney stuff is 'quoted like this' in the display.
There are no books about RPN, because RPN is just plain common sense,
and everyone knows that no one has ever made a book containing just
plain common sense, because no one needs to read a book to have it :)
"My Gran'pa down in Texas, can't even write his name;
he signs his checks with X's -- but they cash 'em just the same!"
-----------------------------------------------------------
With best wishes from: John H Meyers ( jhme...@mum.edu )
Marcelo Rodrigues
In <59dcb4$9...@news.iastate.edu>, jhme...@miu.edu (John H Meyers) writes:
:In article <591dc2$4...@ccnet3.ccnet.com>,
I enjoyed reading the above . On a more serious note,
in regards to the penultimate paragraph, there is an excellent
book on RPN that is very little known but well worth
reading if you really want to become an expert in RPN. It is:
AUTHOR Ball, John A., 1935-
TITLE Algorithms for RPN calculators / John A. Ball.
IMPRINT New York : Wiley, c1978.
DESCRIPT xii, 330 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
NOTE "A Wiley-Interscience publication."
Includes index.
Bibliography: p. 315-318.
ISN/MUSIC # 0471030708.
SUBJECT Calculators.
Algorithms.
ALT TITLE RPN calculators.