From: Joel Kolstad on
"Volker Neurath" <neanderix(a)gmx.de> wrote in message
news:fmhqv3-djd3.ln1(a)ID-29596.user.individual.de...
> I think that today it is possible to replace a high-end CAS-grahics-calc
> by a PDA with software.

Not very well. I've looked -- really I have -- for a Windows CE/Mobile/etc.
calculator, and even ignoring the obvious problem that you can't operate one
as quickly with a stylus and soft keyboard, none feel as "well integrated" as
an HP-48/49/50.

After playing with a bunch of them, it made me sader that Qonos died -- they
really had the right idea, I think, using a PDA platform with a high-quality
fold-out keyboard and custom software. It would have been great...


From: Volker Neurath on
Steen Schmidt wrote:

> Volker Neurath wrote:
>
>> I think that today it is possible to replace a high-end
>> CAS-grahics-calc by a PDA with software.
>> So, what arguments are there for using a high-end-calc instead of a
>> PDA?
>
> Price and flexibility mainly.

Flexibility? I think a PDA is much more flexible than a calc.
And price? Modern PDAs are not so expensive that one could say "i can
afford a modern high-end calc but not a PDA" - the soft, even CAS-soft,
is available as freeware and/or open source:

GNUPlot WinCE
Yacas mit XCas
XCas
SpaceTime 2.0
MathTablet 2.02
IFD Bundle
Bundle of some useful mathematic tools - even e gemetry-tool.
Formulae 1.0
UnitConverter 2000
Periodic Table 2.1

these tools plus an installed spreadsheet should cover most cases.

> It's very easy to do calculations with
> one hand on a calc for instance, not so easy on a PDA.

Ok, that's a point.

Volker,
who likes his high-end-calcs anyway
--
Im ?brigen bin ich der Meinung, das TCPA verhindert werden muss
From: Volker Neurath on
JB wrote:

> When was the last time that you solved a differential equation with
> your PDA?

I didn't do this anytime up to now because I don't own a PDA. It's just
a kind of "mind game".

Volker
--
Im ?brigen bin ich der Meinung, das TCPA verhindert werden muss
From: Steen Schmidt on
Volker Neurath wrote:

> And price? Modern PDAs are not so expensive that one could say "i can
> afford a modern high-end calc but not a PDA"

I know many engineering students who whine about the 10 % or so
difference in price between a TI89ti and a HP49G+/50G - how wouldn't
they sound if they were forced to pay 3 times the price for a good PDA?

> - the soft, even CAS-soft, is available as freeware and/or open
source:

I know that much free software exist. The problem with this is the same
as with all other open source software; It's difficult to use, badly
documented and poorly integrated. Very few engineering students are
software geeks who build Linux kernels all day long (to make a daft
exageration). Some are of course, but most of them expect a system to
be usable from first ON, not from first year of searching the Internet
for free software and newsgroup help on how to use it.

I have tried for 20 minutes now to find out how I get Yacas to display
floating point numbers in a format I like - the STD format of my HP
calcs. So far I have failed. I have also yet to find an easy way to
integrate my calculations in Yacas with the UnitConverter without a lot
of copying and pasting.

It simply does not cut it in terms of ease of use and integration (what
I misslabeled as 'flexibility' in my former post). Free software will
be for those who have much more time than the average bloke in many
years to come.

Or I might just be too rigid to grasp the advantages of what you've
shown to me :-)

Regards
Steen
From: Frank Pittel on
Veli-Pekka Nousiainen <DROP_vpn(a)dlc.fi> wrote:
: Volker Neurath wrote:
: X
: > I think that today it is possible to replace a high-end
: > CAS-grahics-calc by a PDA with software.
: > So, what arguments are there for using a high-end-calc instead of a
: > PDA?

: Dedicated calculator keyboard
: ???

The keyboard is nice. The problem I have is that I normally carry my Palm with
me for a number of reasons. With the calc applications available for my Palm
there's no reason for me to have to carry a large bulky calculator along with me.

--




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