eddy@jafus.mi.org (Eddy J. Gurney) (10/08/90)
O.K., here's a weird problem for you. (Let's put it this way, I don't
know how it happened, and I've never seen it before. But I will admit
I _haven't_ read the manuals from cover-to-cover-to-air-to-cover-to-
cover (8-), but I have read them a LITTLE bit...)
I went to use my 48 today to do some homework, and I went to convert a
number I just calculated on the stack to a fraction. I hit
[Orange][Eval], and I got a result like this: '20/(3)'. What? Why did
it have ()'s in it? I've never seen _that_ before.
I just ignored it for the time, and went on. Just a few minutes ago, I
was typing in an equation, and I hit the [Division-symbol] key. Know
what it did? It put a '/()' into my equation!! Totally weird!
I did a 'RCLF' on my HP, and got a REALLY strange answer, especially
when I compared it to my roommate's 48: (Which doesn't exhibit this
behavior)
My roommates 48: { # 112d # 0 d }
My 48: { # 9259401383629620208d # 11529215046068469760d } (!!!!)
I went through and did a 'FC?' on most of the flags from -1 to -64, and
they appeared to match the defaults listed in the Quick Reference
Guide!
I was about to try doing a 'STOF' with my roommate's values and see what
happens, but I'll wait a day and see if anyone on the net has a better
idea...
Calculating in the twilight zone...
E.J.G.
--
Eddy J. Gurney N8FPW
<eddy@jafus.mi.org> <gurney@frith.egr.msu.edu> <17158EJG@MSU.BITNET>
(Preferred) (If your mail bounces) (If you HAVE to :-)hoford@tamarac.upenn.edu (John Hoford) (10/08/90)
>I went to use my 48 today to do some homework, and I went to convert a >number I just calculated on the stack to a fraction. I hit >[Orange][Eval], and I got a result like this: '20/(3)'. What? Why did >it have ()'s in it? I've never seen _that_ before. > It sounds like you have flag -53 (Precedence) set. John Hoford
billw@hpcvra.CV.HP.COM (William C Wickes) (10/09/90)
There's nothing wierd about your flag values except that you have a few flags set, including, evidently, flag -53 which forces the display of all hidden parentheses in algebraic expressions. Try looking at the RCLF result in HEX mode; the numbers will be more comprehensible. Bill Wickes HP Corvallis
eddy@jafus.mi.org (Eddy J. Gurney) (10/09/90)
In article <30746@netnews.upenn.edu> hoford@tamarac.upenn.edu (John Hoford) writes: > >>I went to use my 48 today to do some homework, and I went to convert a >>number I just calculated on the stack to a fraction. I hit >>[Orange][Eval], and I got a result like this: '20/(3)'. What? Why did >>it have ()'s in it? I've never seen _that_ before. >> > >It sounds like you have flag -53 (Precedence) set. > >John Hoford Well, I just tried flag -53 both set and cleared (it was cleared, BTW), and when I press the division key while entering an equation, it still returns '/()' instead of the [expected] '/'. E.J.G. -- Eddy J. Gurney N8FPW <eddy@jafus.mi.org> <gurney@frith.egr.msu.edu> <17158EJG@MSU.BITNET> (Preferred) (If your mail bounces) (If you HAVE to :-)
billw@hpcvra.CV.HP.COM (William C Wickes) (10/10/90)
Something is weird here. Are you saying that pressing the / key while in ALG entry mode in the command line actually echoes the characters "/()" to the command line? If so, it sounds like an internal flag used by the EquationWriter has been set by mysterious means. Try turning the EquationWriter on then off and see if the parentheses go away. Your description of various user flags being set makes it sound like some trauma has turned on some random bits in RAM, in which case other things (like global variables) might be suspect. If you can archive to a PC or RAM card, do so. Then poke around and look at your variables to make sure they're OK (if you can EDIT them, they're fine). You can also do an ON-A-F reset and choose YES to recover RAM. Tell us what you find! Bill Wickes HP Corvallis
eddy@jafus.mi.org (Eddy J. Gurney) (10/10/90)
In article <25590064@hpcvra.CV.HP.COM> billw@hpcvra.CV.HP.COM (William C Wickes) writes: >Something is weird here. Are you saying that pressing the / key while >in ALG entry mode in the command line actually echoes the characters >"/()" to the command line? If so, it sounds like an internal flag >used by the EquationWriter has been set by mysterious means. Try >turning the EquationWriter on then off and see if the parentheses >go away. Well, that solved the problem! That is _exactly_ what it would do: When in ALG entry mode, and I typed the division key, it would echo '/()'. And the x^y key would echo '^()'. And when I converted a decimal to a fraction with ->Q, the answer would show up as '20/(7)'. It was _not_ the precedence flag; so your assumption of some weird EW flag was correct - I entered the EW, exited, and everything appeared to be back to normal. [Question: Can you set and clear this flag manually? I can think of times when it would be nice to have this on, since when you press ENTER it strips all the unnecessary parenthesis anyway.] I do have the capability to archive to my Mac; I will probably do that just to be on the safe side! :-) Thanks for the solution. (If anybody would know, you would!! ;-) I just wish I knew how it occurred, in case I discovered some weird, esoteric bug! (uh, I mean feature... 8-) Regards, E.J.G. @ M.S.U. >Bill Wickes >HP Corvallis -- Eddy J. Gurney N8FPW <eddy@jafus.mi.org> <gurney@frith.egr.msu.edu> <17158EJG@MSU.BITNET> (Preferred) (If your mail bounces) (If you HAVE to :-)
bson@rice-chex.ai.mit.edu (Jan Brittenson) (10/14/90)
In article <1990Oct8.022002.3894@jafus.mi.org> eddy@jafus.mi.org (Eddy J. Gurney) writes: > O.K., here's a weird problem for you. (Let's put it this way, I don't > know how it happened, and I've never seen it before. But I will admit > I _haven't_ read the manuals from cover-to-cover-to-air-to-cover-to- > cover (8-), but I have read them a LITTLE bit...) > I went to use my 48 today to do some homework, and I went to convert a > number I just calculated on the stack to a fraction. I hit > [Orange][Eval], and I got a result like this: '20/(3)'. What? Why did > it have ()'s in it? I've never seen _that_ before. Here's another little curiosity: '4/(4*X)' COLCT --> 'INV(X)' 'A/(A*X)' COLCT --> '1/X'
dpalermo@girtab.usc.edu (Dan Palermo) (10/15/90)
In article <11354@life.ai.mit.edu> bson@rice-chex.ai.mit.edu (Jan Brittenson) writes: >Here's another little curiosity: > > '4/(4*X)' COLCT --> 'INV(X)' > > 'A/(A*X)' COLCT --> '1/X' That's strange, but both of the above examples evaluate to 'INV(X)' on my 28s. I always thought that much of the 28 functionality on the 48 could borrow directly from the code that they already developed for the 28.