From: mike.ab3ap at gmail.com (Mike Markowski)
Subject: [COFF] [TUHS] The most surprising Unix programs
Date: Fri, 20 Mar 2020 16:33:31 -0400 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <15180a7d-fb65-4a1d-913f-4705e0139e70@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <f47a30b8-884a-843b-d820-d9d4da21ba3d@tnetconsulting.net>
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Hi Grant,
On 3/20/20 12:07 PM, Grant Taylor via COFF wrote:
> [a] [enter]
> [a] [enter]
> [multiply]
> [b] [enter]
> [b] [enter]
> [multiply]
> [add]
> [square root] # to solve for c
>
> (12 keys)
On an HP calc, it'd actually be:
[a] [square] [b] [square] [add] [sqrt]
but no win over infix. A noticeable win is that RPN uses no
parentheses. Consider (1+2)*3 / ((4-5)/6)) + log(7/8).
RPN: 1 2 + 3 * 4 5 - 6 / / 7 8 / log : 15 keystrokes
Alg: counting chars above is 25 keystrokes, 26 with a final '='.
I'm not so sure that minimized keystrokes are the real win, in any case.
Using RPN trains me to quickly see the equation in its decomposed
parts. In the end, it's really about what fits best in your head. The
world seems to have spoken that infix is preferred - even if RPN users
think they know better! :-)
I worked with a now-retired engineer who believed everyone should learn
first on a slide rule and that there is no better tool for learning sig
figs and ballparking answers. He would lecture about it whenever
someone put the decimal point in the wrong place and didn't realize it.
As a result, next to my old calculators...yup, a few slide rules!
Mike Markowski - correct order for Polish operator :-)
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2020-03-20 20:33 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 13+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
[not found] <20200320140308.4FBBB18C073@mercury.lcs.mit.edu>
2020-03-20 16:07 ` gtaylor
2020-03-20 20:33 ` mike.ab3ap [this message]
2020-03-21 3:53 ` dave
2020-03-21 4:11 ` paul
[not found] <202003132331.02DNVaxN061501@tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU>
[not found] ` <7ec47fd97b1a3d383ffed428f21f5287@firemail.cc>
[not found] ` <CALMnNGjuQybT8_g_g498dOuV9OV67JEOn7Mz34vG1TeO9WrkYw@mail.gmail.com>
[not found] ` <cdef128a21d3ed60c79dc5253d761652@firemail.cc>
[not found] ` <20200317145723.GF26660@mcvoy.com>
2020-03-17 15:41 ` clemc
2020-03-17 22:48 ` dave
[not found] ` <alpine.BSF.2.21.9999.2003180908300.10777@aneurin.horsfall.org>
[not found] ` <c44be69f-846d-55f2-2709-8765f7f5fcc4@gmail.com>
2020-03-19 21:31 ` dave
2020-03-19 21:30 ` cym224
2020-03-19 21:48 ` stewart
2020-03-21 2:49 ` dave
2020-03-21 2:55 ` lm
[not found] ` <6D9CA6C2-BDF2-4BCA-9503-0F8415C594C9@guertin.net>
2020-03-20 15:40 ` gtaylor
[not found] ` <202003201640.02KGerlG470796@darkstar.fourwinds.com>
[not found] ` <0b0d0ba3-7eae-a844-cc9a-ae542edb302b@tnetconsulting.net>
2020-03-20 19:11 ` clemc
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