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An RPN Club - Printable Version

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An RPN Club - Ben Salinas - 02-17-2006

The college I attend is 4 years old (www.olin.edu), and we recently realized that we have enough students who use RPN to legitamently start an RPN club. We can get funding from the school, but the question is what would we do?

Any ideas of the purpose of an RPN/HP club. Some ideas we had included spreading the idea of RPN on and off campus.




Re: An RPN Club - umm, why? - . - 02-18-2006

I'm curious. Where does the funding come from? If it's from students, why should fellow students pay for it?




Re: An RPN Club - Garth - 02-18-2006

Just have 'em join in here. They'll benefit plenty from it, without leaving their dorms.


Re: An RPN Club - Tim Wessman - 02-18-2006

Promoting programming the calculator is the first idea that comes to mind. Maybe start a group project to write something really cool using HPGCC.

TW


Re: An RPN Club - Dan M (NM/USA) - 02-18-2006

I think this is a great idea. A meeting place where students can gather and exchange tips and get help can really boost interest in HP calculators. Some ideas for your charter:[ul]

  • Teach programming concepts on RPN/RPL calculators.
  • Develop and maintain library of applications useful to students in each major. Imagine the incentive to buy an HP if you knew there was a packgage of programs tailored to the classes you will be taking.
  • Publish newsletter/Web page with tips and tricks.
  • Run programming competitions.
    [\ul]
    From what I've seen on this group, Ben is just the person to organize a viable club. Sure, the students can participate in our dialog, but meeting in person is much more valuable.

    For those who don't know, the funding generally comes from student fees and is allocated to any group who have a common interest and wish to organize a group open to all students.


    Re: An RPN Club - Bruce Horrocks - 02-18-2006

    1. Have a great time
    2. Do something amazing for rag week
    3. Write programs to convert beer from your local measure into other measures e.g. litres, pints, etc. and then do real-world testing to make sure that it is correct
    4. Do other stuff that students do
    5. Finally, if your maths teachers have student notes that are written for the TI, offer to re-write them for the HP. You (a) get to persuade the teacher to try an HP and (b) the act of doing it will help enormously in your understanding/revision of the work.



    Re: An RPN Club - Ed Look - 02-18-2006

    Wanna simple, cheapie routine to guess Miller indices from 2 theta?

    (Mostly serious. 5% kidding.)


    Re: An RPN Club - Lasse of Sweden - 02-18-2006

    I've been doing RPN with my first hp 25c calculator.. 30 years ago.
    Reverse Polish Notation is best there is...

    Recently I got me a 49g+ calculator.. to my surprice...
    The manual stinks...

    So I ask my self.. what can be done?


    Well.. you might give simple examples of writing simple
    programs with diss hp 49g+ / 49gplus.. ?

    In programing.. how handle input/ outfiles etc and doing/running
    programs in hp49g+ ? how to send files to pc/ windows 98/ XP ?

    Nice HP-Moments/ Lars Norberg.. Master of Science.


    Re: An RPN Club - Tim Wessman - 02-18-2006

    >Recently I got me a 49g+ calculator.. to my surprice... The manual >stinks...

    >So I ask my self.. what can be done?

    How about go to the calculator web page, look under "Product Manuals" and discover this. . .

    http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/manualCategory?product=351775&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&dest_page=product&

    Oh look! There are three downloads. One is the 175 page booklet that comes with the calcualtor. Ther "user's manual" that comes with the calculator is a short inrtoduction to the calculator. Then there is a "users guide" that has 860 pages of material. Then there is the "Advanced Users Reference" that has about 700 pages of material.

    So where is is the stinky manual you are wanting something to be done about?

    TW




    Re: An RPN Club - John Smitherman - 02-18-2006

    Lasse, here is a link to a set of learning modules for the 49G+:


    http://h20331.www2.hp.com/hpsub/cache/300295-0-0-225-121.html

    I hope that you find these useful.

    Regards,

    John


    Re: An RPN Club - Vieira, Luiz C. (Brazil) - 02-18-2006

    Hi, Ben;

    did you read this post of mine? What about getting in contact with the teachers of the related areas and try getting some calculator-related activities? I guess that as the club is funded with an academic basis, teachers might/should participate.

    I think that the main ideas in the post I mentioned here may give the teachers some guidance, though.

    Cheers.

    Luiz (Brazil)


    Re: An RPN Club - John Kercheval - 02-19-2006

    I would consider being a guest speaker at one of your functions.

    John Kercheval


    Re: An RPN Club - Les Bell - 02-19-2006

    Quote:
    What about getting in contact with the teachers of the related areas and try getting some calculator-related activities?

    I think that's the best approach. If teachers create or use material oriented towards the TI calculators, then the first order of business should be to "correct" it to use RPN or RPL, so that HP users are not disadvantaged. Students should be able to get to work on a problem and learn about the underlying math, without having to divert their attention to algebraic->RPN translation issues.

    Test the material "in-house" at first, then release it to the outside world. I'm sure HP would be more than willing to help polish (pun unintentional) the material and assist with distribution.

    Best,

    --- Les

    [http://www.lesbell.com.au]


    Re: An RPN Club (Ben - How is OLIN??) - ECL (Eric) - 02-19-2006

    Ben,

    We corresponded (through postings) over the topic of Olin before you enrolled. I have read a bit about the philosophy of the school. The try first / study later approach is one that we took in my first mechanical design course. We had an extremely open problem of design/fabricate/deploy a robot that traversed a wall with cargo. Seems simple, yet we had all just come out of first-semester dynamics and had little experience. It was true fun with a bit of frustration for good measure!

    I'm in the last leg of my BS in mech engr now, and I intend to pursue an advanced degree. I will investigate Olin (Masters/Doctoral granting?) as I like what I've heard.

    How do you like it so far?

    Eric (ECL)


    Re: An RPN Club - Mike H - 02-20-2006

    Quote:
    Wanna simple, cheapie routine to guess Miller indices from 2 theta?

    I would. Doesn't have anything to do with beer, but a have seen some nice cleavage (LOL)

    Mike


    Re: An RPN Club - Ed Look - 02-20-2006

    LOL, back!!

    What am I supposed to say to that... on THIS forum of all places!

    Anyhow, let me now figure out how to post it here in the Museum somewhere, somehow. I'll reply back to you here in a couple of days or so.

    If I seem AWOL, just post again!


    Re: An RPN Club (Ben - How is OLIN??) - Ben Salinas - 02-20-2006

    Eric,

    Olin is great, but unfortunately we are just undergraduate (as of now, and probably forever). Because of the size (<300 students), everyone is very friendly, and very helpful. The professors are wonderful and dedicated to the students and to teaching the students.

    Everyone else,

    Clubs at Olin are heavily subsidized so that students will do things other than work. Clubs can easily get money so that way clubs will host events, and students will leave their rooms. It's a great system.

    I am thinking we will probably start out by working on advocacy on campus. We will probably then move more off campus (either to other schools in the Boston area, or to other age groups)

    Thanks all,

    Ben


    Re: An RPN Club - umm, why? - Han - 02-22-2006

    As I understand it, funding often comes from student government (which gets some of its funding from student activity fees). Why should fellow students pay for it? For the same reason every student pays activity fees. It's the same for taxes. You might be retired and not have any children. But you still pay taxes, and some of that money goes to fund education.


    Quote:
    I'm curious. Where does the funding come from? If it's from students, why should fellow students pay for it?





    Re: An RPN Club - Han - 02-22-2006

    Tim,

    While I agree with you, I empathize with the previous poster. Does not it seem a bit expensive when, in order to learn how to use a $150 machine, one is required to already own (or perhaps purchase) a computer ($500+) and internet connection ($10-$20 per month)? Even if you printed it out at the library, there's still the paper/ink expenses (10 cents copy?). But let's forget about that. Imagine having to carry around a laptop in order to use your machine. Of course, you could print it... and that would be adding to the cost. I think it's fair to complain if a product does not come with adequate documentation.

    Granted, most households will have a computer (though not necessarily an internet connection -- like my parents). I understand you're currently involved in writing data collecting software. I cannot picture you only providing a quick start guide to your software. In fact, I'm sure you'd have a very good set of documents on how to make the most of the software. So why can we not expect the same from a company that operates on a much larger scale?

    Quote:
    >Recently I got me a 49g+ calculator.. to my surprice... The manual >stinks...

    >So I ask my self.. what can be done?

    How about go to the calculator web page, look under "Product Manuals" and discover this. . .

    http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/manualCategory?product=351775&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&dest_page=product&

    Oh look! There are three downloads. One is the 175 page booklet that comes with the calcualtor. Ther "user's manual" that comes with the calculator is a short inrtoduction to the calculator. Then there is a "users guide" that has 860 pages of material. Then there is the "Advanced Users Reference" that has about 700 pages of material.

    So where is is the stinky manual you are wanting something to be done about?

    TW



    Edited: 22 Feb 2006, 3:42 p.m.