HP 50G user manual

[hpnut]

Hello all,

I would appreciate some help with the manual on Page 3-12.

1. do you agree that the ENTER key is not necessary for the example

12 m ENTER 1.5 yd ENTER x
3250 Mi ENTER 50 h ENTER /

2. I can't figure out how to convert 33 watts to btu's in the example. either in ALG or preferably in RPN.

I would appreciate a step by step answer, thanks in advance for any help.

hpnut in Malaysia

[Michael de Estrada]

1. Yes. Once the menu item is selected, the stack entry is automatic. If you then type ENTER, you duplicate the entry. The manual is incorrect.

2. You cannot convert Watts to BTUs. Watts are units of Power and BTUs are units of Energy. Again this is simply an error in the manual. Note that the example is actually a coversion between Watts and horsepower(hp), which is correct since they are both units of power. Also, they make this coversion much too complicated. Assuming you are operating in RPN mode, all you need to do is type:

33 W <left shift> hp

and you get the same result. No need to enter all this stuff into the stack and then use the Convert function.

The HP-50g is a magnificent device with mediocre documentation.

Michael

Edited: 15 Apr 2009, 1:59 a.m.

[George Bailey (Bedford Falls)]

My guess is that because 1 BTU is 2.931 ×10^-4 kWh (kilowatt hours), you can NOT convert BTU to Watt at all - they are inconsistent units.

[hpnut]

Gentlemen,

thanks for your response. agreed, great little device but poor documentation.

cheers