Calculators database rules
Main page database
fields follow these rules:
Brand and Model
It's simply the official name of the calculator. What is reported is
exactly what appears on the calculator (capital/lowercase letters, numbers and
punctuation signs included), and
NOT what is printed on the box, in the manual or on some paper of the
blister package: sometimes they differ!
(my intention is stricter than me)
S/N
It's the Serial Number (or any code number found onto the
calculator
itself). If it's unavailable, **missing**
is reported.
Manufacture Date
It's the date in which the calculator was assembled/built
(nothing
more than a year and - possibly - a month).
Of course this date is only indicative, because the only way to
establish the right date is to open the calculator and retrieve the
date from
the Integrated Circuit Serial Number. But since I'm not an expert in
disassembling
hardware, I avoid doing it.
Notes:
- any uncertain date (if at least a
date is determinable), is reported in red
- any undeterminable date is signaled with **unknown**
These are two useful links to understand calculators dating:
I follow their
rules. In case you want to see, here's
my personal page with some notes about calculators dates.
Input
It's the input mode of the calculator; classic modes are:
- RPN:
Reverse
Polish Notation is an input technique
usually found in
some HP calculators model; for a calculation like sin 60° +
34.5
you type the
following: 60 sin 34.5 +
(no other key is required); generally the stack is 3 or 4
registers deep. A variant of the RPN is RPL,
which means Reverse Polish Lisp, and is an
input technique usually found
in HP graphic machines; for calculations, it operates just like RPN,
having minor
differences, the most notable being an unlimited stack; as a
programming language, anyway, RPL is very powerful on its own
and much more powerful than RPN.
- equation (a.k.a.
EOS): a new algebraic
technique
found on all modern non-RPN calculators; for calculating sin
60° + 34.5 you type the equation "as is": sin 60 + 34.5 = (where
the = may also be an Enter,
a Run,
an Exe
or any other valid
executing command, and is essential); "equation" is also the classic
input technique of the
old
BASIC pocket computers,
where a line had to be input in BASIC (which is, of course, a
sort
of EOS mode).
- algebraic: the
classical input
technique
found on most 1970s and 1980s calculators; for calculating sin
60°
+ 34.5 you type: 60 sin
+ 34.5 =
(the terminating = is essential); basically, it's a mixture of the
previous modes: unary functions like sin operate
in RPN mode, binary functions like + operate in equation mode (infix);
Comparing them, we obtain:
| RPN/RPL |
60 sin 34.5 + |
| equation |
sin 60 + 34.5 = |
| algebraic |
60 sin + 34.5 = |
Other modes are:
- mechanical: an
input
executed through mechanical keys (plus a lever); it's common on
Burroughs-like machines.
- adding
machine: an algebraic input mode adapted for calculating
long series of sums and products,
found mostly on desktop adding machines.
Programmable (max steps|bytes)
It's the indication whether the calculator is programmable or not,
according to the following classes:
No
programming
- **no** means
the calculator is not programmable (any doubt about it?)
Keystroke
programming
- RPN
is the Reverse
Polish Notation language (instructions follow this
syntax); keystrokes are recorded and executed; program editing is
generally available.
- formula
is a plain
functions storing through algebraic keystrokes recording, sometimes
with
limited features for loops/jumps; program editing is generally
unavailable.
Programming languages
- RPL
is the Reverse
Polish Lisp, a complete programming language with advanced
commands
and graphic features, found mostly
on HP graphic calculators.
- AA means Advanced Algebraic,
a very powerful and improved algebraic language with jumps,
loops,
conditionals, variables, data input and graphics (found mostly on
advanced algebraic
calculators, mainly from Casio, Texas Instruments, Citizen and
Sharp, under different names).
- BASIC
means Beginner's
All Purpose Symbolic Instructions
Code,
and it's the plain BASIC language; on pocket calculators,
generally,
this language is not structured, uses line numbering, and is limited in
memory, strings and display capabilities, but it's nonetheless
powerful and useful (remember that calculators nature is to crunch
numbers!).
Other
languages may
be reported with their proper names if they don't conform to the
previous definitions.
***
The dimension of the maximum number of steps/bytes is enclosed into
parenthesis, with the following rules:
- the datum is the maximum number of programmable steps/bytes
(regardless of other entities like registers or statistics cells);
- no measure
unit indicates steps;
- bytes (and Kbytes, Mbytes and so on) are reported with the
proper
measure unit B (or KB, MB, etc.).
The maximum steps number alone is useless
if memory registers belong to the
same storage area and their spaces overlap, so take this value
with care.
Manual
It's the indication whether a calculator is accompanied by an
official manual or some sort of documentary sheet.
Data are:
- **no**
means no documentation is provided or left (I lost the Casio fx-100 College
documentation only, thus the others come from used items without manual)
- en
means English documentation
- en+
means that the documentation is in various languages, being preminent
the English language (Italian may or may not be present)
- it
means Italian documentation
- it+
indicates that the documentation is in various languages, being
preminent the Italian language and being absent the English language
If the indicator appears in green, like that,
the manual is not directly associated with the calculator;
instead, I bought the calculator (used) without any manual, and gathered
the manual somewhere else, associating both successively. Thus, this
manual won't appear in the My manual section.
Case
It's the indication whether a calculator is protected by some
pouch or cover, according to
the following classes:
- **no**
means no case is provided or left (I lost the Casio fx-100 College case
only, thus the others come from used items without manual)
- wallet means a
protective plastic folder case (usually fixed to the calculator with
gum strips or pin clips)
- plastic means a
hard-plastic cover (usually clutched to the calculator
through tracks on the calculator borders)
- pouch means
a
leather/plastic case (with or without zips)
Power Source
Reported information follows standard IEC batteries names (as
in Energizer's
technical documentation).
If two power source types are supplied, then:
- an ampersand &
(and) means
the two power sources are both necessary
- a vertical bar | (or) means that only
one of the two power sources is necessary
Notes (at the bottom there's a table reporting batteries equivalence
among various manufacturers):
- LR03
is the standard name of the AAA alkaline manganese dioxide type
batteries
- LR06
is the standard name of the AA alkaline manganese dioxide type batteries
- LR14
is the standard name of the C alkaline manganese dioxide type batteries
- LR20
is the standard name of the D alkaline manganese dioxide type batteries
- 6LR61
is the standard name of the 9V alkaline manganese dioxide batteries,
also known as ANSI MN1604 (the one with a circle and a crown on top)
- LR43, SR43, LR44, SR44
(the 44 series is also known as 1131), LR54,
SR54
(the 54 series is also known as 1130) and SR57 are
common button type batteries; LR (alkaline manganese dioxide) and SR
(alkaline silver
oxide) are generally interchangeable, being the SR more suitable for
calculators (though not always available, at least
here in Italy).
- CR1220,
CR2016,
CR2025,
CR2032 are
common lithium manganese dioxide coin type batteries.
- for button cell batteries, see also here
Batteries equivalence among
various
manufacturers (technical documentation links where available)
- if two or more types are produced, tthe most common and/or
the most
suitable for calculators is chosen -
(data verified at each
manufacturer's site in February 2007, and checked against
Italian shop-available batteries)
- guess what's my favorite manufacturer! -
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