The official Swissmicros 2-line firmware dropped on the Winter Solstice as an early Christmas present. It also has a nice set of constants and conversions.
Nice!
dm319
joined 7 months ago
I'd been toying with the idea of what RPN calculator a kid could use at school here in the UK. I thought the sticking point would be that most RPNs are programmable, but turns out that isn't an explicit exclusion on the JCQ calculator guidance for GCSE and A-level exams. They can also use graphic calculators. There is a hard no on CAS. The HP-15c seemed the least likely to cause issues with invigilators, so went for this. We'll have to see if it works out though.
The HP-65 was not only HP's first programmable scientific, but it could also read and write magnetic cards. There were several 'pac's of cards allowing it to tackle financial, astronomical, aviation, electrical and other speciality field calculations. The buttons were double shot and have a lovely tactile click. The red LED screen is remarkably crisp and easy to read.
These are the tests which can give you quite a good profile and accuracy rating for your financial calculator. Any more contributions and confirmation are very much appreciated and I will update the swissmicros page (though I may need to move it off there at some point).
| # | Ref | N | I%YR | PV | PMT | FV | P/YR | Mode |
|----|------------|--------------|-----------|----------|--------------|-----------|------|-------|
| 1 | DM | 38 x 12 | 5.25% | 270'000 | ? | 0 | 12 | end |
| 1b | DM | 38 x 12 | ? | 270'000 | -14'584/12 | 0 | 12 | end |
| 2 | SlideRule | 360 | 15% → 12% | 100'000 | ?-? | 0 | 12 | end |
| 3 | Kahan 1983 | 60x60x24x365 | 10% | 0 | -0.01 | ? | =N | end |
| 4 | DM | 480 | 0 → ? | 100'000 | ?→ PMT | 0 | 12 | end |
| 5 | Dieter | 10 | ? | 50 | -30 | 400 | 1 | end |
| 6 | Dieter | 10 | ? | 50 | -30 | 80 | 1 | end |
| 7 | A Chan | 10 | ? | -100 | 10 | 1e-10 | 12 | end |
| 8 | Miguel | 32 | ? | -999'999 | 0 | 1e6 | 1 | end |
| 9 | DM | ? | 25 | 100000 | -2083.333334 | 0 | 12 | end |
| 10 | DM | ? | 25 | 100000 | -2040.816327 | 0 | 12 | begin |
| 11 | robve | 60x24x365 | 1/6% → ? | 0 | -0.01 | ?→ FV | =N | end |
| 12 | robve | 40 | ? → I%YR | 900 | -400 | -1000 → ? | 1 | begin |
2: https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-20707.html
3: https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-1012.html
5, 6: https://www.hpmuseum.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/hpmuseum/archv021.cgi?read=234439
7: https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-18359-post-161549.html#pid161549
8: https://www.hpmuseum.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/hpmuseum/archv017.cgi?read=120592
11, 12: https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-16565-page-2.html
Puzzle 2 is from here, and needs you to calculate PMT given n = 360, I%YR = 15%, PV = 100'000, FV = 0, then calculate PMT, but with I%YR = 12%. Subtract the two results, and put that back into PMT, then change n = 36 and I%YR = 15% again, and calculate PV.
Puzzle 3: you may need to divide I%PY by N depending on how your calculator handles i vs I%YR and what the limit is on P/YR.
Puzzle 4 needs you to calculate PMT first given I%YR = 0, then re-input this back into PMT and calculate I%YR. On the HP-12c this is best done by pressing x<>y twice before putting back into PMT.
Puzzle 11: calculate for FV first, re-input back to FV and compute I%YR.
Puzzle 12: calculate for i first, re-input back into i and compute FV.
The other puzzles are just a solve for '?'.
They can be a bit confusing, so I also did a couple of videos here and here solving them on a DM-42 and HP-12c.
A random shot of my calculator 5000 miles from home while I enjoy a beer near the Pacific. We had been discussing how much water was on earth and what size of a ball it would make. I have no affiliation with the brewing company so apologies for the product placement.
Just to clarify - means two taps of the esc key in succession will clear highlighting (ps I'm curious how other people do it!).
nmap <esc><esc> :noh<return>
Yes, I also have caps mapped to esc, but done in keyboard firmware so that holding it functions as ctrl.
In neovim I have two escapes mapped to :noh
I tried to play this on an original IBM PC. Without a mouse and only 4 colours. It went badly.
HP's most accurate financial calculator, oddly enough, and despite only returning the ceiling of solve-for-n.
Please don't tell me what I need to learn about before arguing, especially if your point doesn't directly address mine. The two views are:
- A different system will result in a better service
- More resources will result in a better service
I know which of those two I would investigate first.
Also an observation about language and how we frame things - "strategic excess" of the German system == "inefficiency" in the NHS. I'm not arguing one way or another here, but the way we use language can greatly affect the public discourse on the subject.
Had a quick look on Wikipedia - Germany spends $8011/capita versus $5493 in the UK, a 45.8% higher amount. Rather than suggest we pass our money through a profit-focussed middleman, like we do for car insurance, why don't we try matching our spending first?
The global problem is that healthcare is costing significantly more as medicine progresses. Almost every Western health system is spending more as a % of GDP each year. The reason is that we are getting much better at treating what were previously very poor prognosis conditions. It wasn't that long ago we had one not very effective treatment for multiple myeloma. If that didn't work, there wasn't much left to do. These days with have around 10+ regimens, and patients are living for much longer and going through 3, 4, 5+ types of treatment before nothing further can be done. These treatments cost up to £50k/month. But they also cost more from your doctor - who now needs to be a superspecialist and spend more time working out exactly how best to sequence your treatment, and you also need more specialist nurse involvement, and more time from day unit nurses to deliver the treatment.
I really don't believe private is the answer. Someone here mentioned Germany has a private system. A quick look on wikipedia shows we spent $4188-5493/capita from 2018-2022, Germany spent $6290-8011 for the same time period - they spend 45.8% more than the UK. I would rather we first try matching our spending with a system we wish to emulate rather than privatise first.
First post on Lemmy, and i see you like pens too :)
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Oh wow, the whole thread is just people suggesting alternatives!! OP - enjoy your neovim and don't listen to the rest. It's a terrific editor and will be around for many decades more.