On 09/11/2010 21:48, Olin Lathrop wrote: > > Apparently financial people appreciate RPN too. Who'd have thought!? An= d there must > be more of them than those that want the 11C or 16C. There don't appear = to > be current versions of those at all. Yes, this fact seems to have helped it to last for so long - I assume=20 you read this bit from the Wiki too: The HP-12C is HP's longest and best-selling product, in continual=20 production since its introduction in1981=20 .^[1]=20 Due to its=20 simple operation for key financial calculations, the calculator long ago=20 became the de facto standard among financial professionals =96 for=20 example, most investment banks issue HP-12Cs to the members of each=20 incoming class of its investment banking analysts and associates. Its=20 popularity has endured despite the fact that even a simple, but=20 iterative, process such as amortizing theinterest=20 over the life of a loan=97a=20 calculation which modernspreadsheets=20 can complete almost=20 instantly=97can take over a minute with the HP-12C. Another interesting bit from the Wiki: Over its lifespan, the processor's technology has been redesigned to=20 integrate all the circuitry into a single chip and to refresh the=20 manufacturing process (as the foundry could no longer manufacture the=20 necessary chips, having moved on to making higher-density chips).=20 However, HP's market research found in the late 1980s that the users did=20 not trust results obtained too quickly and so the CPU speed was never=20 improved from the original 200 or so kHz.^[/citation needed=20 /] In the late=20 1990s, the CPU was changed to a 3V process and the battery was changed=20 to a single 3V cell. Funny how people never trust things that seem to "work too well"... :-) --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .