Tuesday, April 14, 2009
HP-35 wins IEEE award
Yesterday HP announced that the classic HP-35 calculator was won the IEEE Milestone in Electrical Engineering and Computing award. According to the press release, the HP-35 made slide rules oblolete. No argument here.
When I was in college studying electrical engineering, everyone had a scientific calculator, made by either HP ot TI. I was in the TI camp.
In my junior year, I was taking an electronics exam. I had charged the battery in my TI-57 the night before, as I always did. Ten minutes into the exam, my calculator went dark, no power. I didn't have my charger with me because I had never needed it before. I explained the problem to the professor, who asked "Do you know how to use a slide rule?"
"No," I replied, somewhat dumbfounded.
"Do you know how to use an HP calculator?" he said.
"Yes," I replied. The professor loaned me his HP and I completed the exam. A roomate had once showed me how to use his HP. Good thing, too.
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