The majority of the features of the 20S are still present, including keystroke programming support and the typical trigonometric, logarithmic and exponential functions found on most scientific calculators. HP's stated goal in releasing the 21S was to eliminate the need for statistics tables, just as the HP-35 had previously eliminated for trigonometric and log tables. The HP 21S is a variant of the 20S designed specifically for statistical calculations. The program library was used by HP as a key feature for advertising the 20S. F- curve fitting, using exponential, logarithmic and power functions.D- matrix manipulations and line equations solver.B- integral, calculates definite integral using Simpson method.These programs could be loaded to RAM and used and edited as user programs. The 20S contained six preloaded programs in ROM for common mathematical operations. Only limited support for complex numbers while a built-in program is included for complex number manipulation, performing a more basic operation such as − 1 produces an error.ĭespite these criticisms, the same source had praise for the calculator's accuracy (rounding errors produced by other calculators did not occur), and for the quality of the HP 20S user manual.Calculating large factorials can cause an overflow that produces the wrong result.The fact that using the calculator's statistics functions will overwrite several recall registers that are reused for statistics functions. The initial design used blue and orange shift keys, but a visual refresh in 1999 changed the color scheme to green and purple.Ī 1994 evaluation of contemporary calculators criticized some of the features and quirks of the HP 20S. Advanced functionality is therefore accessed by a pair of shift keys, with almost every key on the keypad assigned secondary and tertiary functions. While higher end scientific models in the Pioneer series were fitted with dot-matrix displays that allowed their functionality to be organized into menus (the 22S, 32S and 42S being examples), the 20S has only a more primitive 12-digit seven-segment display. With only 256 bytes of RAM, the 20S is at the bottom end of the HP Pioneer range. The CPU is an HP Saturn (Bert) chip clocked at 640 kHz. The 20S has the same physical form factor and 37-key keypad as other models in the Pioneer series. The retail price set a new bar for HP, who credited their delivery of a low-price product to tight integration between their research, development and manufacturing departments. Introduced simultaneously was the HP-10B, based on the same hardware but targeting the business calculator market. Introduced at the 1989 Consumer Electronics Show, the HP 20S had an initial retail price of 50 USD. As a student calculator, it also uses infix notation rather than the Reverse Polish notation found in higher-end HP calculators.ĭespite these limitations, the 20S is keystroke programmable, supporting up to 99 program lines of fully merged instructions and ten memory registers. Compared with the higher-end 32S and 42S scientific calculators, the 20S includes much more basic functionality. The HP-20S (F1890A) is an algebraic programmable scientific calculator produced by Hewlett-Packard from 1987 to 2000.Ī member of HP's Pioneer series, the 20S was a low cost model targeted at students, using the same hardware as the HP-10B business calculator. 12 display digits (15 digits internally), exponent ±499ģ×1.5V button cell batteries (Panasonic LR44, Duracell PX76A/675A or Energizer 357/303)
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