RPN Calculators in Use

[rgray]

This slightly tongue in cheek video for the New Zealand Americas Cup team shows them hard at work designing their hydrofoiling catamaran using an HP calculator (35s I think).

http://etnzblog.com/#!2013/04/video-our-secret-weapon-reveled

[Eddie W. Shore]

Calculator detected - agree with you, looks like a 35S

[Gerson W. Barbosa]

RPN mode still undetected, though :-)

[Joaquin Herrero]

I tried to watch the video in slow motion (by activating the "slow motion" option in YouTube) and switch to HD, to see the keys they really pressed.

In spite of playing the video in slow motion the task was difficult because he doesn't press on top of the keys but somewhere in the horizontal space between rows and with this technique he manages to touch lightly over the inclined part of the keys (almost with his nail) so the key moves.

This is the sequence of keys pressed:

LEFT

TAN

Roll Down (stack down)

i (imaginary)

E (exponent key)

COS

I reproduced this sequence in my 35s and the screen shows SYNTAX ERROR after pressing COS.

Building a secret weapon must be a hard task. Don't blame them :-)

[Csaba Tizedes (Hungary)]

You overtook me!
It seems to me they're designed only a coffee cup holder...

Yep, HP-35S is a probably powerful calc, but not enough 32kB + 26vars to do a finite element calc of shape of this catamaran.

"Engineers do it better" :DDD

[Gerson W. Barbosa]

I had tried to zoom the image and check out which mode annunciator was lit. Of course I haven't succeeded :-)
Yours is a better idea. It appear he was hitting the keys at random, however.

Cheers,

Gerson.

[Patrice]

Are they measuring a capsule of coffee with a caliper? :)

[rgray]

They take their coffee very seriously Down Under!

[Eddie W. Shore]

I like people who take coffee seriously.