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HP 50g vs HP Prime (I)

I am seeing several comments in various forums about whether the HP Prime is better than the HP50g for engineering work.

In reality, the best calculator for engineering work ever is the HP42s - provided you don’t need to interface anything. In that case, it is the HP41c daily that takes the lead. IMHO!

Any graphic calculator is a waste of screen size in my opinion (always talking about engineering work - NOT engineering studies). The only place where the bigger screen makes sense is when you’re entering a matrix (which can be entered in a more “pedestrian” way in both the HP41c and HP42s. The HP15c can also do it, and that’s the engineering calculator for someone on the road.

Once said the above, it is true that the HP50g has a more professional feel than the HP Prime. The latter has been designed to appeal to younger students. I would go as far as to say that the objective market is high school level (baccalauréat , bachillerato, Gymnasium, depending on which country you are). It has colors, tactile screen and test modes and wifi communications totally unneeded in engineering.

But the discussion is so interesting that we will try to go deeper in this subject in a couple of future blogs, so that you can decide which one suits you.

Comments: 1
More about: HP 50g, HP prime

Comments: 1

Andre Duarte |
Re: HP 50g vs HP Prime (I)
I am a former user of RPN calculators;
in high school I had an HP-11C; university one HP-41CV; Masters in an HP-48SX. Now I have a HP-15C-EE, an HP-35S and HP-50G.

My opinion:
The RPN logic is basic; extremely important for learning logical concepts; mental organization; structuring of mathematical thinking.
And for calculating efficient and fast!

The great advantage of the HP-15C / HP-41CV calculators is its simplicity and efficiency. Nothing generalized solvers (such as using EQN HP-35S).
The student needs to program in RPN; need to think logically. What is he doing? how the stack is organized? as the few available memory resources can be optimized?
All very simple and straightforward; requiring attention and care.
In the HP-15C, no connection with other calculators; uSB; etc.

Among the advantages of HP-41CV were some additional features; as more memory; some extra functions (INPUT; Aview;) allowing write programs with better user interaction. The memory and alphanumeric letter keys (a, b, c, d ..). Possibility customization whole keyboard.
The HP-42S does not like me because they do not have the alphanumeric keys; write a program in HP-42S is extremely tiring and boring!

Final considerations:
- Best calculator for direct scientific calculations - HP-15C
(exceptional for high school students);
- Best calculator to learn basic programming concepts - HP-15C / HP-41CV
(excellent for first year engineering courses)
- Best calculator for engineering students - HP-50G
(excellent for last year engineering courses; soft menus have huge efficiency)
- Best calculator for engineering professionals - HP-50G
- Best professional programming language - C ++.

The HP-Prime is a good calculator; 3D graphics but lacks the HP-50G; and other features implemented in RPN (eg CAS in RPN) mode.
Should allow the development of programs using the same language of the HP-41CV.
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