The HP-27S was a

pocket calculator An electronic calculator is typically a portable electronic device used to perform calculations, ranging from basic arithmetic to complex mathematics. The first solid-state electronic calculator was created in the early 1960s. Pocket-siz ...

produced by

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

, introduced in 1988, and discontinued between 1990 and 1993 (sources vary). It was the first HP

scientific calculator A scientific calculator is an Electronics, electronic calculator, either desktop or handheld, designed to perform calculations using basic (addition, subtraction, multiplication, Division (mathematics), division) and advanced (Trigonometric fun ...

to use algebraic entry instead of RPN, and though it was labelled ''scientific'', it also included features associated with specialized business calculators. The device featured standard scientific functions, including

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

and

probability Probability is a branch of mathematics and statistics concerning events and numerical descriptions of how likely they are to occur. The probability of an event is a number between 0 and 1; the larger the probability, the more likely an e ...

. Equations could be stored in memory, and solved and integrated for specified variables.

Binary Binary may refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * Binary number, a representation of numbers using only two values (0 and 1) for each digit * Binary function, a function that takes two arguments * Binary operation, a mathematical op ...

octal Octal (base 8) is a numeral system with eight as the base. In the decimal system, each place is a power of ten. For example: : \mathbf_ = \mathbf \times 10^1 + \mathbf \times 10^0 In the octal system, each place is a power of eight. For ex ...

, and

hexadecimal Hexadecimal (also known as base-16 or simply hex) is a Numeral system#Positional systems in detail, positional numeral system that represents numbers using a radix (base) of sixteen. Unlike the decimal system representing numbers using ten symbo ...

number bases could be used. Business features included a

real-time clock A real-time clock (RTC) is an electronic device (most often in the form of an integrated circuit) that measures the passage of time. Although the term often refers to the devices in personal computers, server (computing), servers and embedded ...

and

calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A calendar date, date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is ...

with up to ten appointments (each with a 22 character message string), as well as functions such as

time value of money The time value of money refers to the fact that there is normally a greater benefit to receiving a sum of money now rather than an identical sum later. It may be seen as an implication of the later-developed concept of time preference. The time ...

calculations. The 27S was not programmable in the conventional way, but it included an advanced formula-storage system with programming features. Within stored formulas, sub-formulas could be defined and later referred to by name. Loops and conditional execution could also be embedded within formulas.

Hardware

The 27S has the same physical form factor and 37-key keypad as other models in the Pioneer series. Introduced at the same time as the HP-17B, it shares the same internal hardware. The calculator had 6,900 bytes of usable memory, shared among variables and formulas. Ten storage registers R0 through R9 could each hold one number. Its hardware features included a

dot-matrix display A dot-matrix display is a low-cost electronic digital display device that displays information on machines such as clocks, watches, calculators, and many other devices requiring a simple alphanumeric (and/or graphic) display device of limited res ...

of two rows of 22 characters. Depending on context, either the top row was used to display the current expression or a message, or the bottom row was used to show menu options, which could be selected with the corresponding keys. An infra-red transmitter was also included, allowing the machine to be used with a compatible printer, such as the HP 82240B. A beeper could be used to sound date/time alarms.

References

{{HP calculators 27S 27S

Hardware

See also

References