Here’s what happened in Campfire when I found out Noah, our stats guy, uses a calculator that came out in 1981:
Related: Reverse Polish notation [Wikipedia]
About Matt Linderman
Now: The creator of Vooza, "the Spinal Tap of startups." Previously: Employee #1 at 37signals and co-author of the books Rework and Getting Real.Read all of Matt Linderman’s posts, and follow Matt Linderman on Twitter.
Matt Linderman wrote this on Feb 03 2011 There are 52 comments.
Fred Schechter 03 Feb 11
Yep yep! Similarly engineers (late 80’s through mid 90’s) swear by the HP 48g (also rocking RPN ). There’s a great android app I’ve been running that emulates it perfectly (now if I can only find that Pheonix game I used to play in my engineering econ class (failed) I’ll be set!). Classic, robust, straightforward.
Anonymous 03 Feb 11
My boss uses the same HP, and its an endless source of mockery.
Eric Hayes 03 Feb 11
There’s a tool called ‘dc’ that will do RPN from the command line:
$ dc 1 1 + p => 2
‘p’ prints the stack. By default it’s all integers, to set decimal precision type a number and ‘k’:
$ dc 2k 2 1.5 / p => 1.33
dc is available in OS X by default, seems to be in Linux too.
Clodéric 03 Feb 11
Come on you guys can’t possibly be the 37 signals I idolize and don’t know reverse polish notation :D !
Yannis 03 Feb 11
I made all my studies with the same calculator (not exactly, I have the 11C, not the 12C, lucky you!) . Fantastic machine!
Eric Hayes 03 Feb 11
Oops. Expected that to format differently. Put returns in between numbers and operators:
$ dc
1
1
+
p
=> 2
Eric Hayes 03 Feb 11
… and to quit type ‘q’
Larry Gebhardt 03 Feb 11
I had an HP 15C for a while, which I wish I still had. Currently my calculator of choice for the last 22 years has been the HP 28S . I have trouble using non RPM calculators.
The calculator in OS X has an RPN mode, but it has some quirks I don’t care for. So the old HP is never far from my hand.
Bruce Dillahunty 03 Feb 11
Oh, for another HP 16C (the scientific version of the 12C in your picture)... great, great device.
You don’t know what you’re missing if you don’t use RPN . Never would have gotten through school without that calculator.
manuel 03 Feb 11
I sure you know that it is Lisp but backward
Jacob 03 Feb 11
@37signals
Since you bash higher education programs like Computer Science so much … might be worthwhile for you to know that you learn about Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) in your first programming class.
RPN is significantly easier and also more efficient to implement in hardware than a typical 4-function calculator. So much so, a new engineer can typically implement it in hardware with a breadboard and graphics layer in a long afternoon. It’s common to have this as one of your first programming assignments.
It might be the original “Getting Real”
Pete Bowen 03 Feb 11
These are great. I’ve got 2 of them – the engineering one and the financial one.
Had them since my student days (I’m 40 now) and love them.
Shane Mingins 03 Feb 11
I have the exact model in my desk draw … it is awesome! Used to use it to calculate the price of bills and bonds back in the day :-)
Pat Fowler 03 Feb 11
I recall trying to use my dad’s 12c for homework in middle school and getting all sorts of frustrated. Gave him no end of s**t for it.
Fast forward a couple of years to HS and I learned the glory of RPN on my 48g. Soon upgraded to the 48gx for the extra memory (and the expanson slot!).
While moving last week my girlfriend tried to throw away “this old piece of junk” and I came running across the room to stop her!
DR 03 Feb 11
I was introduced to the HP 12C in a finance class…it’s all I use now. RPN feels so natural once you get used to it.
Nate 03 Feb 11
HP 48g is the best. And still is, even though it’s like 20 years old.
Not only does RPN rock. But I took this calculator that was 20 years old and easily turned it into a universal remote control when my wife and I lost our remote for an ancient TV set.
Adam Behringer 03 Feb 11
Love that last line “RPN EVER 4 .”
Can I get that on a t-shirt?
ML 03 Feb 11
might be worthwhile for you to know that you learn about Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) in your first programming class.
FYI , the two of us foreign to RPN are both non-programmers. The rest of those in the chat knew all about it.
Scott Burson 03 Feb 11
@Larry Gebhardt: Go to http://www.rlmtools.com/—there you will find full-blown simulators for several HP calculators that run on OS X .
Joe Wolin 03 Feb 11
If you want an HP-Like calculator check out eCalc.
http://www.ecalc.com/
We put RPN mode on eCalc. Just click on the ALG menu button on the top right.
When we started with the project, I was a die-hard RPN guy. However, buy the end I was converted over to using algebraic. There’s a little tear in the corner of my eye right now.
kabdib 03 Feb 11
I used an HP calculator in high school (in the late 70s).
Classmates would occasionally ask to borrow my calculator. Without fail, there would be a minute or two of fumbling around, then they would hand it back to me. “Where’s the equals key?”
So RPN is a nice anti-theft feature, too. :-)
Sean 03 Feb 11
This is what actuaries use to calculate mortality tables and what finance geeks use for interest theory calcs. I used to do both and this one one of the first apps I downloaded for my iphone. I use it all the time, and now I’m a designer/developer.
Todd S. 03 Feb 11
I still use mine to this day (photo below). It was my father’s and he passed it on to me.
http://instagr.am/p/BX46J/
Walt 03 Feb 11
The 16C was my own particular flavor of hotness back in the day. Looks just like the 12C but does all this:
“The HP-16C is a computer programmer’s calculator, designed to assist in debugging. It can display numbers in hexadecimal, decimal, octal, and binary and convert numbers from one base to the other. To accommodate long binary numbers, the display can be ‘windowed’ by shifting it left and right. For consistency with the computer the programmer is working with, the word size can be set to different values from 1 to 64 bits. Binary-arithmetic operations can be performed as unsigned, 1’s complement, or 2’s complement operations. This allows the calculator to emulate the programmer’s computer. A number of specialized functions are provided to assist the programmer, including left- and right shifting, masking, and bitwise logical operations.”
SCHWING !
pixelmixture 03 Feb 11
m48 for the iphone is a great HP48 emulator … the best RPN calc ever
JenniferG 03 Feb 11
I still have and use the 11C I got in 1987 when I started my first engineering job. We have three of these in my family: I have one, my engineer dad has one, and there’s one in my parents’ junk drawer in case you have the urge to calculate the cosine or natural log of something at home.
RPN EVER 4 !
Don Marti 03 Feb 11
RealCalc has RPN mode and will show several entries on the stack simultaneously. Good calculator app.
Chriztian Steinmeier 03 Feb 11
I like the fact that it’s set to one point twenty-one jigawatt !!! – someone trying to say they went back in time for it?
Hannes 03 Feb 11
RPS EVER 4
http://xkcd.com/645/
Michael 03 Feb 11
My dad still uses that calculator, and he’s a badass. So, there.
Drew 03 Feb 11
I still have an HP 11C (the scientific twin the the 12C) that I’ve had for at least a quarter century. The same could never have happened for the three previous TI scientifics, none of which lasted through collage. I still use it often. RPN took a bit to get at first, but once you see it’s a stack machine, it feels just right. And it’s way easier than arithmatic input. While HP started making a few RPN scientifics again, it bugs me that they while they still sell the 12C they don’t seem to want to bring back the 11C. (same design, a few different keycaps and different firmware so you get trig functions instead of interest calculations and so forth). Despite the solid construction, I’m still afraid I might not out live my 11C.
TJ 03 Feb 11
geeks. :)
Tom K 03 Feb 11
The default OSX “Calculator” has RPN support as well, just press cmd-R. Handy to know if you forget your 12C.
Tim 03 Feb 11
Brain explosion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_Polish_notation
Anonymous Coward 04 Feb 11
Hp has been trying to get rid of it for years – but to much backlash from diehards
Tane Tachyon 04 Feb 11
I still use this one that I’ve had since 1981 myself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_FX-702P
Bruce McTigue 04 Feb 11
I still have my HP41CV . Greatest calculator ever created in my opinion. I hate using a regular calculator. Had to grab the RPN Calculus App for my iPad.
Sharing Matters 04 Feb 11
I used to have such calculator at home and never knew how to use it. I thought it was broken, or something :) It looks like you picked the right guy for the job.
Brijendra Dharampuria 04 Feb 11
I used to same calculator when I was in middle school but not can say would had same functionality like this. Even now my smart phone has taken place of calculator for calculation.
Mike 04 Feb 11
I had the HP 11C , this brings back memories. It got me thru senior year in high school, undergraduate and grad school. Great stuff!
Michael Gowin 04 Feb 11
RPN is elegant and efficient.
I bought a HP15C when I started engineering school in 1987. Not long after, HP introduced the 28C and 28S—the latter of which everyone had to have. I still have the 28S (with a broken battery door), sold the 15C a few years ago for a very nice price, bought a 12C when I started my MBA a number of years back. The 12C is my go-to calculator.
As Scott Burson mentioned above, RLM makes excellent HP calculator simulators. I use the 12C for my iPhone and the 12C and 10bII for OSX .
http://www.rlmtools.com/
Rodrigo Ferreira 04 Feb 11
Just a side note: my father has a 12C and what amazes me is its durability (decades of use and still operational). Most equipment today last a few years. In the old times these products were designed to last…
eric long 04 Feb 11
Here’s a good story about it
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1996/12/09/219338/index.htm
Scott 04 Feb 11
What’s next? Dvorak keyboard?
Michael 05 Feb 11
The HP-12C is, was, and continues to be the default financial calculator in the English-speaking world, and perhaps the entire world.
It’s routine for financial certification exams to specify that users are allowed to bring a HP-12C and no other model of calculator, and for instructional materials to assume the learner has an HP-12C.
It is a standard. For better or worse.
Matt Kosterman 06 Feb 11
RPN is awesome!
Andreas Lanjerud 06 Feb 11
I had the exact same one during my student days. It’s awesome! And it was quite popular here in Sweden even after the introduction of Casios graph drawing models. Probably stored away in a box somewhere at my parents. I should go look for it and bring it back to its glory days.
Tony 07 Feb 11
I use my 12c for hours on end each day. Chicks did a CPA with the 25th Anniversary Platinum model…
http://www.shopping.hp.com/product/calculator/Financial/1/storefronts/F2231AA%2523ABA
Peter 07 Feb 11
Love RPN
The t-shirt/hat collection ;-)
Anonymous Coward 07 Feb 11
@Eric Hayes Thanks for the information about dc, it has a better feeling than Mac OSX Calculator.
I didn’t know about RPN . Somehow it reminds me of Why’s Potion language (“Odelay!” print.).
Guilherme 08 Feb 11
If you are curious about this calculator, there is an emulator implemented in JavaScript here:
http://epx.com.br/ctb/hp12c.php
pjm 09 Feb 11
Throw another hat on the HP11C pile: bought in 1982 as part of a brief fling with engineering, it lasted on the original set of batteries for more than 20 years. A truly fantastic piece of hardware.
(RPN is the only way to do anything requiring even moderately complex bracketing using a calculator. Those with Macs/iPhones should know about PCalc if they don’t already. It has an RPN mode, and a truckload of useful, accessible features.)
This discussion is closed.