Professional Engineers?



#2

I know this is a very diverse group but I was wondering how many people are Professional Engineers [US or another country].

I myself am taking the P.E. exam in October: Electric Power [HP35s-primary and Casio fx-115es-backup], so I have always wondered how many other P.E.s and other engineers by profession wander this site. I have read many of the biographies but I figured I would just ask the question...


#3

Hello Jonathan,

I am a civil engineer. HP has been my calculator of choice since university in 1979, starting with an HP-10C, then an HP 41CX.

today I have a small collection of working HP calculators, my favourites being the HP 50G, HP 15C, HP 17bII, HP 12C...heck, I like all HP calcs except the algebraic cheapie Casio clones rebadged as HPs.

cheers from hpnut in Putrajaya, Malaysia.

#4

Electric Power was my discipline as well. And I brought along a Casio Fx-115 as my back up too. I used an Hp33s when I took the exam as the Hp35s wasn't available. However, even if it were, I would have stuck with the Hp 33s as an EE. While the keyboard is sorta ugly, it is superior to the Hp 35s for an EE. Rect-polar conversion with a simple shift key and HEX, BIN, DEC conversions are two compelling reasons. Also, the Hp 33s is still a pocket calculator, while the Hp 35s isn't much smaller than my Hp48G. "WHY IS THAT??" I will get off my soap box now. Admittedly, the Hp 35s has a better programming ability, but I hesitate to put anything in that critical. The exam is made up of 5 minute problems. If you take longer than that, you are over thinking the problems.

Good Luck!

#5

I'm an electrical engineer and develop electric drives.

#6

I'm mechanical engineer with fluid flow, chemical and industrial food MSc. I works in thermal power plant industry for eight years, mainly in ash pneumatic conveying system design, supply and erection (everywhere in the world).

My primer calcs are HP32SII and 12C and if I want to emphasize the seriousness of the engineering work, I use HP15C.

Sometimes I do CASIO-day for myself. (50f, 4000P)

#7

I am a professional civil engineer in private practice in California. In high school I used an HP-35 that I acquired from my dad, then bought an HP-55 in 1976 near the end of my senior year. I used the HP-55 for most of college, then upgraded to the HP-34C in 1979. I graduated with my degree in 1980.

After working two years, I bought an HP-41CV, the Surveying and Structures Pacs, a card reader and the original printer, followed by the Extended Functions and Extended Memory modules. I then upgraded to an HP-41CX and added the Advantage Pac. I also installed a speed-up kit in the CX, but it ate batteries so I eventually removed it.

In 1989 I bought the HP-42S, which is still my daily driver. Over the years, I have added several other HPs, including the 48G, 48G+, 32Sii, 35S, and 10B (I won the last one in a contest).

Starting in high school and on through the mid-1990s, I wrote a lot of programs for my school classes and specifically for civil engineering. I use many of these same programs today. I don't do as much programming anymore due to time constraints and reduced need for new programs. To date, I have only posted one program on MoHPC, but I have many others that I would like to find time to fully document for posting.

#8

I'm a mechanical engineer working in hydro power plant business (layout & CFD design, earlier on software development in FORTRAN & Java).

My first HP was a 34C, which I bought in secondary school. During my studies I upgraded to the HP15C & later on to the 48SX, especially for my diploma thesis. Also during my studies I could acquire a 67, but more for fun...

During my professional life I bought a 49g+, a 35s & last year a 15C LE (kind of building a collection...)

However, in my daily work most of the time I use my beloved original 15C when a calculator is more appropriate than a computer. Since I found a 34C on one of the known auction platforms some time ago at the moment I use this one, as it's offering most of the functions I need in real life & because I love the nice red LED display...

During secondary school, studies & at the beginning of my professional life I used to write quite a lot of appropriate programs, but nowadays I need programming on a calculator very rarely as most of my daily tasks are handled on computers...

PS: I recently pre-ordered the Prime, but rather to increase the size of my collection than for sensible reasons...


Edited: 28 Aug 2013, 4:15 p.m.


#9

Au contraire! I think that is perfectly sensible reason. At least, that is what I told myself when I decided to get one.

#10

Guilty also. Petroleum engineer, with an interest in simulations. Still own and use my university 41CX complete with petroleum fluids pac.

Keenly awaiting the Prime however!

#11

Hi, I am a (hardcore;) Mechanical Engineer working in marine engineering business for a shipping classification society, dealing with ships and offshore objects.

My particular jobs are related to ship propulsion (propellers, shafting, bearings, gearboxes, power-take-off's and main propulsion Diesel engines), especially static, dynamic and fatigue analysis of these components. R&D in the company is also my responsibility. This is my morning job.

In the afternoon I teach Machine Elements as a professor at the local university in the town where I live.

Regarding my interests regarding HP calculators, hopefully they are described in detail in my biography elsewhere at moHP. However, one important update is missing there since the time I wrote it: my presently preferred calculator (taken always along with me, powerful enough and readily available) is the Free42 on my iPhone, containing everything I need.


#12

EE, with Ph.D., and HP user.


#13

Me 2. plus still using slide rule from time to time

#14

Jonathan,

Well, I'm not a registered Professional Engineer, but I am an ISA Certified Automation Professional. So I can't help you with the FE / PE tests. The CAP exam is a pretty broad scope one, everything from project justification and management, to details on calculations for (e.g.) flow measurement, sensors, networking (TCP/IP and industrial networks and wireless), wiring practices, standards, codes, you name it, is fair game.

Unfortunately you have to use the provided calculator app on the exam.

But I met RPN when my older brother had an HP-45 for a while. Got an HP-25 for my 18th birthday. I built up a pretty decent collection over the last few years, mostly RPN scientifics, plus a swath of 12Cs (just love the Voyagers). Mostly now use a 15C, 35S and WP-34S as daily drivers, but I still have my original 25 (S/N 1512A23310) with books, etc.

BSChemE, but I really majored in Ham Radio, so process control and automation was a natural fit. I love seeing how stuff gets made, and now that I have a 3D printer, I love making my own stuff.

What can I say? Engineering is a great profession if you like playing with really nifty toys!

Dale

#15

Licensed Civil & Surveyor in Calif - Civil in Ariz and Wash, Retired Civil in Nev and Idaho. HP 41s, 71s, 42s - quite a few of each and some others. Licensed since 1976.

#16

I'm a civil Chartered Engineer in Britain. I started my career on site using 7-figure log/trig tables (for setting-out calculations), with a slide rule where accuracy was less needed. I always used Casio & TI calc's except for a period in the 1980s when I had access to a company-owned HP9815, I still have copies of programs I wrote for that.

I started using HPs (and reading this site) with the release of the HP35s in about 2007, and I now have a 35s, 15CLE, and 50g in my desk drawer, as well as various Casios, TIs, a Canon, and some slide rules.


#17

Wow, I am happy to see all of the responses. Very cool!!!! Even though I am a "young engineer" (graduated in 2006) I still carry a HP-15C LE in my shirt pocket many days. Comes in handy when needing to calculate current transformer(CT) ratios, power calcs and basic maths that I have to do very often. I am attached to my smartphone for work but for doing calculations it is much easier to operate a calculator. I work for a Utility as a Protection & Control Engineer. Relay protection from the Powerplant (Generator protection/boiler feed pump motor protection) to Full transmission and Distribution substation protection. Also commission everything from the powerplant GSU, Autotransformer/line panel replacements, carrier/direct transfer trip schemes to the power transformer and 13.8/23kV feeder breaker.

Basically if it carries current or has voltage across it and in the case of a fault needs something to operate to prevent equipment damage (or worse) then I am involved. Fun job! most of the time it is about 40/60 office/remote and about 60/40 capital projects/maintenance.

Ron Ross: I used the HP33s through during my senior year at school. That last year the EE dept banned all graphing calculators and I (unlike many students) agreed with them. I loved using my HP33s but I do like the HP35s. You're right, my one gripe is the fact that to convert between rect and polar requires a stupid display settings change. Plus it can be difficult to read the theta sign that is the demarcation between magnitude and angle. It would be awesome if they used the actual angle sign (don't know what it is called but i use it daily....). Looks like an L with the vertical arm at 70ish degrees...lol! I would have paid an additional 30-50 bucks just for a HP35s with ONE BUTTON for rect-polar conversions and a proper angle sign.

One thing I do LOVE about the HP35S is the equation solver. To my knowledge it is the most robust solver in any of the scientific calculators allowed on the P.E. The casio fx-115es is a powerful calculator and beats the HP35s at its own game but its solver doesn't store formulas (unless I am wrong...) so it severely weakens the casio. It may seem trivial but I have alot of formulas from work on my calculator. Granted, I do the calcs by hand just to stay sharp but there are times like when I am doing the same calculation many times that it is nice to simply go to the solver, find the proper formula and enter in the necessary values and hit R/S. I don't recall how good the solver was on the HP33s but for the HP35s that is one of the biggest reasons why it stays in my briefcase.

I bought 3 HP35s calculators when they came out. One I used for studying for the FE and is my primary office work calculator. The other went to my good friend who works at the Training Nuclear Reactor at the University of Florida. The third is still in its package sitting in my closet as a spare. Maybe I will put it on Ebay like the spare HP15C LE that is also NIB...


My calculator list includes: 2 vintage HP15Cs, 1 HP49G+, 1 HP50G, 1 39G, 1 HP33S (just powered it up this morning and it now has a left side display issue...), 2 HP15C LE, 2 HP35s.

Maybe post P.E. I may buy a HP34s or look into getting the Prime I see you guys talking about.


#18

Mr. Harris,

Your statement that "The Casio fx-115es beats the HP-35S at its own game" sounds intriguing. So, in what ways are the fx-115es and the fx-115es Plus superior?

Edited: 29 Aug 2013, 11:59 p.m.


#19

Quote:
Mr. Harris,

Your statement that "The Casio fx-115es beats the HP-35S at its own game" sounds intriguing. So, in what ways are the fx-115es and the fx-115es Plus superior?



While I do love my HP35s as for as EE work goes the complex math manipulation on the fx-115es/fx-115es+ is perfect. There are alot of things that the HP35s does better (such as the powerful solver that can also save equations, YES!) I can type in the casio what I want for example: (230kV<-120)/(.3+i*4)types in as it looks(too bad there is no j...). The HP35s immediately converts every complex number in the format of the display at the time (which to me is ANNOYING). Once you hit enter on the Casio the result immediately is shown in rectangular form. To convert Rect-Polar or from Polar-Rect just press the shift key-complex and hit 3 or 4. The result is immediately spits out the answer in the complex form that you want. Your answer is displayed exactly how you would have written it if you were doing it by hand.


Please understand that as an EE I have needs from my calculator that other disciplines may not need. A civil engineer may not care about converting between polar and rect whereas for an EE that is one of his/her primary uses. Especially for a timed exam or crunching numbers on the spot in the heat and you're verifying the currents you're seeing on each CT (such as during a phase-in of equipment).

I do think that the Casio fx-115es is a hell of a calculator and you must remember I picked mine up for a grand total of $17 and I paid around $50+ bucks for my HP35s.

Do I regret buying the HP35s? A resounding NO!!! Like I said the solver is B.A. Baracus!!!! The complex math manipulation is usable just not optimized/ideal. Didn't mean to ruffle any feathers. If they could have made the complex manipulation a little better on the HP35s it would have been an EE's dream calculator... I also realize that these calculators are selling to a niche and that EE's are a even smaller population of this niche.


#20

I am a civil engineer. I sometimes used to use P<>R in surveying applications and vector statics. For the former, I now just draw it in AutoCad. I don't do much of the later anymore. Now, the only use left to me for P<>R is on my taxes. :-)

#21

PE here going back to the 90s. Mechanical by education, environmental in practice. I design water and wastewater treatment facilities.

HP user going back to the 15c in my freshman year of college (1986, Georgia Tech). My drawer includes my 1986 15C, 15C-LE, 35s, 42S, and 48G in addition to a WP 34s. The 15's are my daily drivers. The 48G gets occasional use when I'm doing an oddball unit conversion or want to see multiple stack levels. I don't hate the 35s-- it was my daily driver for a few years-- but I rarely reach for it. Similar rare use of the 42S.

Despite my admiration of the technical achievement that the WP 34s represents, I've never really warmed to it.

-Bill

#22

I am a Digital Electronics Engineer, and Software Engineer.

I still own my original HP-35 that I got in my freshman year of college. I was the first person in my whole junior college to own an HP-35!

I have the HP-35, an HP-11C, an HP-15CLE, an HP35S, a TI-NSPIRE CAS, several Casio FX-115D's an HP-50G, a TI-85, and my most recent addition is my WP-34S.

Out of all the calculators I own my favorite is the WP-34S!
It does everything (except graphing) that all of my other
calculators do COMBINED.


#23

During my studies in the seventies I used a HP-35 and a HP-25 for calculation in Physics and Chemistry. Later, as a Chemical Engineer I got a HP-41CV and calculated vapor liquid equilibria and complex reaction cinetics with self developed programs. In the course of my engineering career a HP-28C, two HP-32Sii, HP-42, HP-45, a vintage HP-35, a HP-35s, HP-21, HP-33E, HP-20b, HP-30b and finally a WP-34s followed. For my daily routine calculations which are less challenging now I keep a HP-15C LE on my desk.

#24

Registered PE in Michigan and Texas, Registered PE in Civil Engineering in California. I am now retired, and have changed my Texas PE to inactive status to reduce my annual fee, but still maintain my PE status as active in Michigan and California. I took the PE exam in Michigan in 1976 with my HP 35, and although the HP 65 programmable calculator was available at that time, it was not permitted in the exam. I took the EIT exam in 1969 with a slide rule.

#25

EE here, retired. Was awed by the HP-35 and 45 while studying. Now I'm publishing iPhone and iPad simulators for vintage HP calculators, mainly for fun. Nice twist of life.


#26

Hi all,

I am a Mechanical Engineer & still work in the field.

The first HP calculator I ever owned was the HP 41C that I used when I was going through my University studies in Australia then as a young professional afterwards. I then migrated to a HP 48GX in 1993 & have mainly used the HP 48 & 50 series graphics calculators for work since.

My current calculator collection consists of:

> 1 x HP41CV
> 2 x HP41CX
> 2 x HP41CL
> 2 x HP71B
> 2 x HP48SX
> 3 x HP48GX
> 1 x HP48G+ (modified by Dynatech in Germany when first purchased by Raymond Del Tondo to have > 1 MB built in memory & overclocked processor)
> 2 x HP50G
> + Many accessories for all the above units.

I now figure I have enough calculators to see me through the rest of my life, but I will probably purchase the new HP Prime anyway out of curiosity :-).

Great to see so many engineers on this forum.

Cheers,

Michael

#27

Once up-on-a-time radar engineer, servicing the old Hawk and Bloodhound system some 30-35 years ago. At that time my belowed Hp-29C followed me everywhere I went. Now-a-days I'm still electronic eng and uses my 41CV, 35S and 15C-LE on a daily basis, at my work with X-ray units for mineral analysis. The 29C is still in use at my Ham workshop!

Edited: 1 Sept 2013, 7:11 p.m.

#28

I'm a transportation engineer in Australia (civil engineering Bachelor Degree, Master of Traffic Engineering, & Master of Transport).

I've been using HP since 1989, started with a HP28S, then a 48G and i've got a bit of a COLLECTION now!

On my desk right now i've got a 28S, 15C and a 35S.
Cheers,
Keith

#29

Quote:
I have always wondered how many other P.E.s and other engineers by profession wander this site

Electrical engineer, nominally (with M.Sc.), but switched to software a long time ago. An HP-15C saw me through high school, and an HP-48SX helped me -- enormously -- with my studies. The latter still works and is frequently in use.


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