Calculators
 

I purchased this calculator back in 75 while working and trying to use my GI bill to study civil engineering The add is from nu awlins paper of 3/24/75. Anyway no engineer for Chevron oil ever could work, use it. Think I still have it. Same add had one for housewife. $18.95 and one for the Financier, price breakthough for only $99.95

I got this one in college.

wow.

I remember my dad buying me a calculator for school (high school). Even though we had log books, we had to get calcs that did sign and cosign etc. The most useful part of that calculator, for me, was that it came in a black leatherette sleeve, which if you wrote on it in black ink, only showed the writing when you tilted it. Great for taking the basic crib sheet of equations into an exam.

When the TI programmables came out, for something like $800, Westinghouse worked a deal for their engineers to be able to buy them for about $500.
A year later they were like $150. [nelson]haha

Well. I realy wasn't talking about the ones we have 32 years later. I had a Sharp EL-506A back in 80s and it was just what I needed for me. I now have a Sharp EL-501W and I don't have a clue.
:biggrin:

bb - I think my dad has that same one! I swear it looks just like it and he uses the damn thing today - I still don't know anyone else who figured out how.

The calculator I am most dependent on is the Sharp EL-512. Ten memory registers. Can store four programs. Very powerful when the programs can read from and store into those ten memory locations AND when the program can stop to await manual data.

Don't know if any calculator (other than graphing types) can be programmed. Those graphing calculators are on the order of $100. A useful programmable calculator can easily be sold for $40 at good profit. But I don't know if anyone makes one equivalent to this early 1980 calculator.

I still have my HP-15C. I've been tempted to buy an HP-41 just to have one.

I started out learning how to use a slide rule. My first calculator not only added and subtracted, it multiplied AND divided! Wow.

HM -- I have that same calculator at work and use it almost every day. 99% of the time I just use the standard functions that you can find on a $9 calculator, but I also use it for unit conversions.