Hacker News with Generative AI: Calculators

Ask HN: Should there be new RPN calculators to replace the TI-84? (ycombinator.com)
I took an exam today where only TI calculators were available. I felt I was caught between some older models where the TI interface was not quite worked out.

Education, Calculators, Technology, User Experience

28 points by idatum 26 days ago | 80 comments

The HP-35: Consumer Electronics, an Origin Story (codex99.com)
Sometime in late 1971, Peter Nelson, from Hewlett-Packard’s Corporate Relations Department in Palo Alto, enlisted Karen Cambria, from the Automatic Measurement Division (conveniently, in the same building), to pose with their new electronic device, a scientific calculator they named the HP-35. Norton Pearl took several photos of Karen with the calculator and it was this photo that ended up in the press kit.

Consumer Electronics, History, Calculators, Hewlett-Packard

79 points by wyclif 38 days ago | 42 comments

The Curta hand-held mechanical calculator (wikipedia.org)
The Curta is a hand-held mechanical calculator designed by Curt Herzstark.

History, Mechanical Engineering, Technology, Calculators

3 points by zfg 62 days ago | 1 comments

UI is hell: four-function calculators (lcamtuf.substack.com)
I have a thing for the history of calculators; they were among the earliest portable electronics, they pushed the limits of display technologies, and were the first digital computing devices to enter millions of homes.

Calculators, Technology History, Electronics

225 points by surprisetalk 70 days ago | 138 comments

DM50 Calculator (50calc.com)
DM50 is a cheap, powerful, easy to build, open source hardware, and high precision calculator.

Hardware, Open Source, Calculators

28 points by stackghost 73 days ago | 8 comments

"AI" on a Calculator (2023) (z80.me)
Over March 25-27, 2023, I took the Amtrak California Zephyr from San Francisco all the way to Chicago, a 56-hour journey during which I challenged myself to port a neural network to a graphing calculator.

Artificial Intelligence, Programming, Calculators, Travel

70 points by mariuz 91 days ago | 19 comments

A Calculator's Most Important Button Has Been Removed (theatlantic.com)
I worry that the calculator we’ve known and loved is not long for this Earth.

Technology, Calculators, User Interface

5 points by throw0101c 164 days ago | 8 comments

A Calculator's Most Important Button Has Been Removed (theatlantic.com)
I worry that the calculator we’ve known and loved is not long for this Earth.

Calculators, Technology, User Interfaces, Design

7 points by samizdis 168 days ago | 1 comments

bc Is the Only Calculator You Need in Unix (medium.com)
bc, for basic calculator, is an arbitrary-precision calculator language with syntax similar to the C programming language. In this post, we will explore the features of bc and how to use it.

Unix, Programming, Command Line, Calculators

5 points by theali 169 days ago | 1 comments

The Calculator that spawned the Microprocessor (2009) (vintagecalculators.com)
The fascinating story of why the development of a calculator led to the development of the first commercial microprocessor, and the unexpected consequences.

Microprocessors, History, Computing, Technology, Calculators

125 points by fortran77 195 days ago | 46 comments

The Strange Case of the Rogue HP-12c Calculator (dm319.github.io)
The HP-12c is probably the most iconic financial calculator. Not being in finance myself, and in fact being terribly bad at that kind of thing, I never quite got the purpose of these special-purpose devices. My ignorance came to a halt due to an unfortunate combination of my fixed-rate mortgage period ending and Liz Truss happening, and I was driven to a sudden keen interest in the ‘time value of money’ (TVM) calculation.

Finance, Calculators, Technology, History

119 points by dm319 203 days ago | 32 comments

Unix history and the `dc` calculator (howdytx.technology)

Unix, Programming, History, Calculators

71 points by dcminter 214 days ago | 57 comments

Soviet Calculator History (1998) (xnumber.com)

Soviet Union, History, Calculators

126 points by Tomte 263 days ago | 51 comments

Bored students can now enjoy Sonic 2 on TI-84 Plus CE calculators (theregister.com)

Education, Gaming, Technology, Calculators

20 points by LorenDB 312 days ago | 4 comments

Running CHIP-8 on an HP 48 calculator (2020) (tobiasvl.github.io)