The HP-42S RPN Scientific is a programmable RPN Scientific hand held calculator introduced 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 ...

in 1988. It is a popular calculator designed for

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

and

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

students.

Overview

Perhaps the HP-42S was to be released as a replacement for the aging HP-41 series as it is designed to be compatible with all programs written for the HP-41. Since it lacked expandability, and lacked any real I/O ability, both key features of the HP-41 series, it was marketed as an

HP-15C The HP-15C is a high-end scientific programmable calculator of Hewlett-Packard's Voyager series produced between 1982 and 1989. The "C" in the name refers to the continuous memory, such that the calculator retains it's state when switched off. ...

replacement. The 42S, however, has a much smaller form factor than the 41, and features many more built-in functions, such as a

matrix Matrix (: matrices or matrixes) or MATRIX may refer to: Science and mathematics * Matrix (mathematics), a rectangular array of numbers, symbols or expressions * Matrix (logic), part of a formula in prenex normal form * Matrix (biology), the m ...

editor,

complex number In mathematics, a complex number is an element of a number system that extends the real numbers with a specific element denoted , called the imaginary unit and satisfying the equation i^= -1; every complex number can be expressed in the for ...

support, an

equation solver A computer algebra system (CAS) or symbolic algebra system (SAS) is any mathematical software with the ability to manipulate mathematical expressions in a way similar to the traditional manual computations of mathematicians and scientists. The d ...

, user-defined menus, and basic graphing capabilities (the 42S can draw graphs only by programs). Additionally, it features a two-line dot matrix display, which made stack manipulation easier to understand. Production of the 42S ended in 1995.

Specifications

* Series: Pioneer * Code Name: Davinci * Introduction: 1988-10-31 * 64 KB of

ROM Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * ...

* 8 KB of

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM most commonly refers to: * A male sheep * Random-access memory, computer memory * Ram Trucks, US, since 2009 ** List of vehicles named Dodge Ram, trucks and vans ** Ram Pickup, produced by Ram Trucks Ram, ram, or RAM may also ref ...

* Functions: Over 350 * Expandability: Officially no other than IR printing (32 KB memory upgrade and over-clocking hardware hacks are possible) * Peripherals:

HP 82240A HP may refer to: Businesses, groups, organisations * HP Inc., an American technology company ** Hewlett-Packard, the predecessor to HP before the 2015 split ** Hewlett Packard Enterprise, the other company created as a result of the split * HP ...

infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...

printer

Features

*All basic scientific functions (including

hyperbolic functions In mathematics, hyperbolic functions are analogues of the ordinary trigonometric functions, but defined using the hyperbola rather than the circle. Just as the points form a circle with a unit radius, the points form the right half of the u ...

) *

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 ...

(including

curve fitting Curve fitting is the process of constructing a curve, or mathematical function, that has the best fit to a series of data points, possibly subject to constraints. Curve fitting can involve either interpolation, where an exact fit to the data is ...

and

forecasting Forecasting is the process of making predictions based on past and present data. Later these can be compared with what actually happens. For example, a company might Estimation, estimate their revenue in the next year, then compare it against the ...

) *

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 ...

(including

factorial In mathematics, the factorial of a non-negative denoted is the Product (mathematics), product of all positive integers less than or equal The factorial also equals the product of n with the next smaller factorial: \begin n! &= n \times ...

random number A random number is generated by a random (stochastic) process such as throwing dice. Individual numbers cannot be predicted, but the likely result of generating a large quantity of numbers can be predicted by specific mathematical series and st ...

s and

Gamma function In mathematics, the gamma function (represented by Γ, capital Greek alphabet, Greek letter gamma) is the most common extension of the factorial function to complex numbers. Derived by Daniel Bernoulli, the gamma function \Gamma(z) is defined ...

) *

Equation solver A computer algebra system (CAS) or symbolic algebra system (SAS) is any mathematical software with the ability to manipulate mathematical expressions in a way similar to the traditional manual computations of mathematicians and scientists. The d ...

(root finder) that can solve for any variable in an equation *

Numerical integration In analysis, numerical integration comprises a broad family of algorithms for calculating the numerical value of a definite integral. The term numerical quadrature (often abbreviated to quadrature) is more or less a synonym for "numerical integr ...

for calculating definite integrals *

Matrix Matrix (: matrices or matrixes) or MATRIX may refer to: Science and mathematics * Matrix (mathematics), a rectangular array of numbers, symbols or expressions * Matrix (logic), part of a formula in prenex normal form * Matrix (biology), the m ...

operations (including a matrix editor,

dot product In mathematics, the dot product or scalar productThe term ''scalar product'' means literally "product with a Scalar (mathematics), scalar as a result". It is also used for other symmetric bilinear forms, for example in a pseudo-Euclidean space. N ...

cross product In mathematics, the cross product or vector product (occasionally directed area product, to emphasize its geometric significance) is a binary operation on two vectors in a three-dimensional oriented Euclidean vector space (named here E), and ...

and solver for simultaneous

linear equations In mathematics, a linear equation is an equation that may be put in the form a_1x_1+\ldots+a_nx_n+b=0, where x_1,\ldots,x_n are the variables (or unknowns), and b,a_1,\ldots,a_n are the coefficients, which are often real numbers. The coefficie ...

) *

Complex numbers In mathematics, a complex number is an element of a number system that extends the real numbers with a specific element denoted , called the imaginary unit and satisfying the equation i^= -1; every complex number can be expressed in the form a ...

(including

polar coordinates In mathematics, the polar coordinate system specifies a given point (mathematics), point in a plane (mathematics), plane by using a distance and an angle as its two coordinate system, coordinates. These are *the point's distance from a reference ...

representation) *

Vector Vector most often refers to: * Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction * Disease vector, an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematics a ...

functions *Named

variables Variable may refer to: Computer science * Variable (computer science), a symbolic name associated with a value and whose associated value may be changed Mathematics * Variable (mathematics), a symbol that represents a quantity in a mathemat ...

, registers and binary flags * Graphic display with graphics functions and adjustable contrast * Menus with submenus and mode settings (also custom programmable) that use the bottom line of the display to label the top row of keys *Sound ( piezoelectric beeper) *Base conversion, integer arithmetic and binary and logic manipulation of numbers in

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 ...

decimal The decimal numeral system (also called the base-ten positional numeral system and denary or decanary) is the standard system for denoting integer and non-integer numbers. It is the extension to non-integer numbers (''decimal fractions'') of th ...

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 ...

systems *Catalogs for reviewing and using items stored in memory *Programmability (keystroke programming with branching, loops, tests and flags) *The ability to run programs written for the

HP-41C The HP-41C series are programmable, expandable, continuous memory handheld RPN calculators made by Hewlett-Packard from 1979 to 1990. The original model, HP-41C, was the first of its kind to offer alphanumeric display capabilities. Later came ...

series of calculators

Programming

The HP-42S is keystroke-programmable, meaning that it can remember and later execute sequences of keystrokes to solve particular problems of interest to the user. The HP-42S uses a superset of the HP-41CX

FOCAL Focal or FOCAL may refer to: *Focal (lexicographical website), an Irish lexicographical website *FOCAL (programming language), a programming language for the PDP-8 and similar machines * Focal (HP-41), for programming HP calculators * FOCAL (space ...

language. All programs are stored in one continuous program space, and may be created and edited by switching to programming mode, using the key. Subroutines are enclosed in /Label (name of subroutine) and /Return ( halts execution unless it is in a subroutine in which case it returns to the caller). Keystrokes (of functions) are enclosed between and or . In a running program, a ''label'' causes program execution to branch to the specified label and continue running at that line.Executing a GTO instruction from the keyboard moves the program pointer to the corresponding label. No program lines are executed. is used in much the same way with one important difference: after an instruction has transferred execution to the specified label, the next RTN (return) or END instruction causes the program to branch back to the instruction that immediately follows the XEQ instruction.Programs/Subroutines can also be executed with the help ''label'' (Execute) key. Important difference is that executes the label and returns to previous subroutine and continues execution from the line following ,whereas branches to the label specified and doesn't return. packs the current subroutines and moves to new program space.''nnnn'' can be used to reach a particular line of program.

Programming examples

A simple program to calculate area of circle Program instructions like , , halt the program execution,which can be continued by pressing . is used to view contents of a register,For example R in the above example.

Using Integral and Equation Solver

It is necessary to write a program or subroutine that evaluates f(x) for the function which needs to be solved or integrated. Variables used in program should be declared using Here is a sample program to solve the equation °F = (9/5×°C) + 32 After, accessing the solver using ( ), select program . In a similar way, expressions can be integrated. After selecting the variable of integration, enter the lower limit and then press on , similarly input (upper limit) and (accuracy).

Emulators

HP 42s can be accessed through Android Emulators like Emu42 and Free42. 200px, WP 34s

WP 34s

WP 34S project uses a modern HP financial calculator HP 30b as the starting point to create an advanced scientific RPN calculator. It is a more powerful scientific (non-graphing) calculator compared to the original HP 42s. Functionality * Euler's Beta and Riemann's Zeta functions, Bernoulli and Fibonacci numbers, Lambert's W, the error function as well as Chebyshev's, Hermite's, Laguerre's and Legendre's orthogonal polynomials, and testing for primality, *Many statistical distributions and their inverses like Poisson, Binomial, Geometric as well as Cauchy-Lorentz, Exponential, Logistic, Weibull for reliability analysis, Lognormal and Gaussian with arbitrary means and standard deviations, *Programmable sums and products, first and second derivatives Programmability *RPN keystroke programmable à la HP-41 - up to 925 steps in RAM - numeric and/or alpha labels, thousands of steps burnable into flash banks. *Externally programmable by developers via JTAG interface

Reference Books

Guides and Collections of Keystroke Programs Documentation for the HP 42S calculator at hpcalc.org *HP-42S Owner's Manual *HP-42S Programming Examples & Techniques *Step-by-Step Solutions: Electrical Engineering (42S) *Step-by-Step Solutions: Mechanical Engineering (42S) *Advanced Circuit Analysis with the HP-42S *An Easy Course in Using the HP-42S Educational Texts on RPN calculators *Algorithms for RPN Calculators *Scientific Analysis on the Pocket Calculator *Engineering Statistics with a Programmable Calculator *Applied Mathematical Physics with Programmable Pocket Calculators *Mathematical Astronomy with a Pocket Calculator *Handbook of Electronic Design and Analysis Procedures using Programmable Calculators *Calculator Programs for Chemical Engineers(Vol 1 & 2) Collection of Algorithms/Keystroke Programs for HP 41/HP 42S *Extensive Collection of Physics and Mathematics Programs *Software Library for HP 41 Programs(Compatible with HP 42S)https://www.hpmuseum.org/software/soft41.htm

References

External links

SwissMicros DM42

HP-42S intro on hpcc.org

HP-42S resources on hp42s.com
(defunct as of July 2017)
HP-42S description on rskey.org

Free42 for Android by Thomas Okken, an Open Source project.
* {{HP calculators 42S 42S 42S Computer-related introductions in 1988

Overview

Specifications

Features

Programming

Programming examples

Using Integral and Equation Solver

Emulators

WP 34s

Reference Books

See also

References

Further reading

External links