HP 40gs Graphing Calculator - 2162466

This Office Product item from Hewlett Packard was reviewed on 2-Oct-2008.

HP 40gs Graphing Calculator - 2162466 Reference Office Product. Classifications : Basic Calculators Office Electronics Categories Electronics All Hewlett-Packard Hewlett-Packard Custom Brands Custom Stores Specialty Stores Computers Features Electronics Calculators Other HP Product . Click the following link to view the cover of HP 40gs Graphing Calculator - 2162466.

Related topics: Graphing Calculator. Pocket Sized Style. Display Features: 10-Digit Display with Punctuation. Features Constant Memory. Power Source: Battery Powered. On/Off Switch: Auto Off. Additional Features: Algebraic Data Entry. Includes Instruction Guide. 1-yr. Limited Warranty. Dimensions: 7.4 x 3.7 x 1.2 ". Basic. Calculators. Office Electronics. Categories. Electronics. All Hewlett-Packard. Hewlett-Packard. Custom Brands. Custom Stores. Specialty Stores.

1) Office Product Office Product HP 40gs Graphing Calculator - 2162466 by Hewlett Packard. The hp 40gs is a strikingly beautiful calculator with a charming underlying precept. However, the idea is still a work in progress. I might not even mention it if there weren´t a superior alternative available right now at a lower price (the hp 48gii).

I´ve hardly become an expert in the ten days I´ve been tooling around with this handsome devil, yet I´ve already found a few unsettling issues. There may be more.

For example, one nice idea in this OS, as compared to the hp 50g/48gii, is that the user can stay in equation writer almost all the time. In fact you MUST be in the equation writer in order to access most CAS functions. This could actually be a boon for "mathematical doodlers" like myself. After all, a CAS is the main reason to own a calculator like this. Unfortunately, execution is lacking on the concept. Here are some problems with the way the equation writer (EQW) was implemented:

- In EQW -- where you must be for most exact symbolic calculations -- the results appear in throbbing inverted text which is pretty hard to read. You can press VIEWS, to get normal text, but then often it´s reduced to a tiny font and you must press yet another button to reach el display sympatico.

- There´s no universal Clear key that always works in equation writer. According to the User´s Guide, SHIFT CLEAR clears the display -- but not so in EQW. Not always. Closest thing I´ve found is jumping to HOME, then back again to CAS. Yet the ON/CANCEL key is unused and could easily meet this need.

- PUSH (mentioned in another review) does not round out the system as one would hope. Arbitrary expressions can not be transferred from HOME to EQW. From Mastering the hp 39gs & hp 40gs: "In general the PUSH command is not really very useful." I´m forced to agree.

- Some expressions are not what a trained mathematician would expect. For example, in EQW, enter 4 / 2 right-arrow squared. The result looks all the world like 4 squared over 2. Press the ENTER key and you discover the 4/2 behaves as though it was enclosed in parentheses -- but it wasn´t. HP should be really embarrassed by this. (Yes, I know the exponent is past the end of the divide line. That´s beside the point.)

- If you exceed the calculating power of the 40gs, and let it run for more than a minute or two, you will get no error message. It will simply lock up and your only recourse is a hard reset erasing the entire history. You may need a straight pin that fits in the reset hole in the back. For example, in EQW, press and hold down SHIFT followed by the square root key four times and then the 1 key. Release the SHIFT key and press ENTER (turn on complex mode, if prompted). If you don´t press the ON key within approximately ninety seconds (and you may have to press it twice) you will get the lock up. But this is not an especially tortuous expression, and some expressions actually REQUIRE over two minutes to evaluate.

- Occassionally, the 40gs locks up for no apparant reason. Once again, the history, and all your variables and functions, are toast.

Three of these issues are moot on the 48gii and the remaining three were resolved in various ROM revisions years ago. The 48gii gets its pedigree from the HP´s top-of-line 50g. 4/2 right-arrow squared actually encloses 4/2 in parentheses, and even after 10 ... 15 ... 20 minutes on the hour glass, a quick stroke of the ON key revives the 48gii with memory intact. Finally, in nine months of daily use the 48gii hasn´t once required a reset.

There are several other reasons to prefer the 50g´s paleface cousin, the 48gii. RPN is available just for fun, but it´s not forced upon you. You can press the ALPHA key twice for ALPHA lock (on the 40gs you have to hold down the ALPHA key -- which doesn´t work for the O key ... issue #322). The ALPHA keys don´t conflict with the number keys, as they do on the 40gs, so you can intersperse letters and numbers in ALPHA lock mode. Your entire calculation history is available in one place -- the HOME screen. And even though the processor is only 48 Mhz versus 75 on the 40gs, most symbolic calculations are actually faster on the 48gii. And there´s less difference than one would expect for exact numeric calculations (e.g. 40 seconds for 1000 factorial in exact mode on the 48gii versus 30 on the 40gs).

In sum, the 48gii has inherited many generations of ROM revisions from the 48-49-50 line of HP calculators while it seems the 40gs is only two or three steps up from the original 40g. Each new ROM represents thousands of programming man hours, making the 48gii more stable, easier to use, fast, and more elegant compared to the 40gs.

There are a few things that are counter-intuitive on the 48gii which are straightforward on the 40gs. For example, on the 40gs, you can drop an old expression into the middle of a new one by using the up-arrow key followed by ENTER. With the 48gii/50g, you must first press the HIST key, for no apparant reason other than compatibility with EQW mode. (And HIST is mentioned only briefly toward the end of the User´s Guide!)

On the other hand, the keystrokes for a function on the 40gs are often entirely different in EQW as opposed to HOME/approximate mode. For example, in EQW you need to press SYMB to get your CAS history, whereas SYMB has nothing to do with history on the HOME screen. This seems arbitrary and adds needless complexity.

Overall, once you get used to it the 48gii is a little easier to crawl around, largely because of the extra key legends resulting from the second shift key -- even though the keyboard seems overly busy compared to the 50g or the 40gs. (Blame goes to the color scheme for that.)

The 48gii has had a USB port since 2006, and as best I can tell this model doesn´t suffer from the keyboard issues that plagued early production runs. Even if you do get a bad keyboard however, HP will honor its outstanding warranty policy. I would ignore the irate reviews of yesteryear on Amazon.

If you are intereted in comparing the various models, check out these links:
[...]
However, HP enthusiasts often downplay the depth and power of the TI CAS system for regular algebra and calculus. For some perspective on this, see:
http://b.kutzler.com/downloads/nspire_successor_of_derive.pdf

If money is no object, you will want the hp 50g or one of the TI or Casio CAS calculators topping $100. If you are a student, you should probably get the calculator recommended by your instructor. But in terms of bang for the buck, the 48gii is an especially sweet deal right now, and I recommend it over the 40gs.

The hp 48gii is available through third parties on Amazon for [...] including S&H. And now I see new hp 50g´s from a highly rated seller going for [...] with S&H. These amazing deals might portend something new coming round the bend for HP. To be safe, I´d just inquire to be sure you´re getting one of the recent USB port models (four AAA batteries in the 48gii instead of three).¤

2) Office Product Office Product HP 40gs Graphing Calculator - 2162466 by Hewlett Packard. I was excited to finally get this product. I had been trying to buy one for some time now. Here are some comments:

1. Very well made. It has a great geft and feel, th color scheme is excellent (it is great to see HP going back to a "Classic" look for its products - see HP 50G and HP 35S for other examples). Personally, I don´t want my calculator to look like a toy! TI went the other way in the Ti-89 Titanium with its goofy keyboard and the NSpire is even worse - looks like a cartoon. HP caught the drift of user´s concerns - professionals want a clculator that looks professional.

2. It takes some getting used to the interface of these models. I am coming from the 48GX/49/49G+/50G world. For example in the HOME mode, variables can effectively only have a one letter designation which is, for the most part, not the same as in he CAS mode. Also the CAS is NOT integrated with the rest of the clculator function and clearly can be seen as an add-on to the basic HP 39GS model.

3. The CAS is fairly robust, although as mentioned above it is not ntegrated fully.To get the CAS results in the HOME environment, you use a POP command and to put things into the CAS environment you use the PUSH command. Nevertheless, once you get used to this it is fairly easy to use.

4. There are several functional applets I use all the time including SOLVE , FINANCIAL, and HYPOTHESIS TESTING. It took longer to transition to using them as you have to get used to working in the SYMB, PLOT, and NUM modes with their SETUP options. They work about the same as on the 50G. I am using the HYPOTHESIS Testing module to demonstrate to my Bio 1 class how to test scientific data for significant differences in the fall semester.

5. I would strongly recommend going to The HP HOME View for further information, APlets, rograms, etc. The Help page at http://members.iinet.net.au/~ccroft/help.htm is especially useful for pdf versions of extra manuals and help files!

6. I also strongly recommend downloading the HP EMU collection at http://www.educalc.net/881486.page which has a 30GS/40GS emulator!

7. While this calculator may not be appropriate for advanced students who are in math-related fields beyond Calc 2 or Calc 3 (The HP 50G is best for that), it is excellent for the student in most Biology fields (Physical Biochemistry and Biophysics may be an exception) and will most likely cover all they will need and more. Of course most Math programs in the US will not allow such a calculator on exams due to the CAS capabilities, but for checking homework etc it is vey valuable!

8. My only real regret is HP decided not to offer rpn capabilities. That is sorely missed, but I understand why considering most users will be comparing with those demonic TI monstrosities!

9. Overall this calculator will provide the average user with years of service and learning. Congrats HP on a great product!¤

3) Office Product Office Product HP 40gs Graphing Calculator - 2162466 by Hewlett Packard. This calculator is exactly what I wanted and needed. I have owned top of the line graphing calculators from HP, Casio, Sharp, TI, etc., but overall I like this one the best due primarily to its simplicity and ease of use. I like it especially for trips and outside activities when I can do quite useful mathematical explorations that I don´t normally have time for at home or in the office with my busy schedule. It was designed by HP and teachers, first and foremost however, as an aid in teaching University students mathematics in a very user-friendly manner.

PROS:

1) It is simple, fairly light and quite fast (75 MHz clock speed), algebraic equation operating system (EOS), but not with HP RPN, but a very useful and versatile unit. The hp 40gs is now about two years in production having replaced the 40G with a much better designed keyboard, etc. as described below.

2) Very well organized analysis activities using special Aplets with about a dozen available with the unit and many many more on the world wide web (or you can write your own since programming is also available on the 40gs). These specialized Aplets include analysis of functions, parametric equations, the famous HP solver system, statistics, etc. (with least squares curve fits available for about a dozen types, such as cubic, exponential, power law, logistic or even a user defined type, etc.!). The unit also has about 200 kb of available RAM and about 2 Mb of ROM for the operating system which is a lot more than even the hp 48gII for example.

3) It will supply three types of analysis for every problem, namely a numerical table of values, a graphic plot (only two-dimensional types however) and a symbolic analysis which is completely possible for even very complicated Calculus cases (polynomials and basic trig, logarithmic and hyperbolic functions and much much more, etc.). It also does numerical differential and integral Calculus as well and it can even supply a Taylor series approximation for all of your functions. It can also display a fine split-screen view (side by side) supplying a table of values as well a plot which is also very useful (with many useful zoom options).

4) It also handles very advanced mathematical functions (including hyperbolic functions, the Gamma function, Hermite and Legendre polynomials, etc.) and of course can be used to analyze complex numbers, lists and matrices and can even take the square root of negative numbers directly in a very straight forward manner (unlike the HP 35s)!

5) It also allows the user to make detailed notes and sketches and also interfaces very nicely with a PC using the USB cable supplied with the unit for exchanging information. It also has an RS-232 (serial) as well as an infrared transfer option available as well.

6) It comes with a well written and well organized and very detailed ~400 page users manual and with an even more advanced manual available on the supplied CD. Many example and quite useful solutions are presented in the manual.

7) It has a new Flash ROM so that the calculator can be electronically updated if new EOS software ROM´s are produced by HP without changing out the hardware.

8) Date and time is always available with the on-board clock (using the DISPTIME command)

9) The unit has a totally redesigned keyboard that has quite an excellent feel to it (unlike the fiasco´s connected with the HP 49g series for example and even better in my humble opinion than the revered HP 50g now in production for over two years too which I have also owned). The overall unit seems to be very well made and should last a very long time too. As always, the HP calculator special self tests are excellent and are triggered by simple keystroke commands. Also, Typing RULES or AMIGOS in "Home" produces two "HP easter eggs" of people who were involved in the design and production of this great system.

10) It has a completely scrollable operations history in HOME (unlimited within the available RAM memory and also easy to erase when extra memory is needed) that is very easy to manipulate by using the Copy command to recall previously evaluated expressions in order to perform quick "what-if" analysis, etc.

11) It is also very intuitive to operate in my opinion even without HP RPN. It is a great start to get university students interested in doing more math and science too which is a very good thing considering recent trends in North America.

12) Its CAS (Computer Algebra System) is fantastic and has all features available in the revered HP50g, but which are much more intuitive and easier to use. This package has many many very advanced functions which are extremely useful to scientists. Integral and differential calculus problems are extremely easy to perform with this machine. There are also standard commands to easily move results from the CAS to HOME and back again in order to perform different types of analysis capabilities (graphical and otherwise). In addition, it will also solve differential equations within the CAS.

13) Over a year ago now HP announced that it was partnering with another company in Oregon to make this and its sister machine the HP39gs available as a laboratory measurement system in schools (39GS) and universities (40GS). If this actually happens this calculator will really be quite an asset to all prospective science as well as engineering students.

14) It is available directly right now from MobilePlanet (or its parent company Expansys), at buy calculators on-line in the uk and at amazon in the uk, but hopefully it will be more generally available all over N. America soon.


CONS

1) The batteries only last 65 hours according to HP. I can´t confirm this fact as of yet, but it uses 4 AAA batteries as well as a common Lithium battery to be used as a backup while changing the main batteries.

2) It is quite thick in comparison to other such calculators and in spite of the supplied high quality slide-on cover (a maximum total 1.22 inches thick with the cover on for protection), HP should have supplied a good case for further protection as has been its standard for many other of its calculators (including the HP 35s). Why just imitate the other manufacturers with a slide-on cover for its only protection? HP has always gone its own way in this field considering how few people really understand or actively use RPN logic every day (which I have previously always preferred for many years now). Most of us now have easily accessible computers and compilers to do most computing tasks. I usually use a calculator at work only to carefully check intricate computer calculations, but when I do I want it to be simple and easy to use, especially since I don´t use it every day.

3) The statistical applet correlation coefficient provided is only for a linear curve fit (regardless of the fit assumed). The relative error is provided instead for both the linear curve fit as well as for any of the other curve fit options.

4) It only has a very limited number of conversion factors and embedded universal constants (29) available in its memory.
¤

4) Office Product Office Product HP 40gs Graphing Calculator - 2162466 by Hewlett Packard. Powerful HP 40gs graphing calculator tackles toughest problems for students with 600+ built-in functions

First to offer Computer Algebra System (CAS) at entry-level price Powerful HP 40gs graphing calculator tackles toughest problems for students with 600+ built-in functionsFirst to offer Computer Algebra System (CAS) at entry-level price the HP 40gs graphing calculator, a user-friendly classroom graphing tool for secondary school students and teachers. The HP 40gs graphing calculator incorporates a host of innovative features, including an easy-to-use Computer Algebra System (CAS) with three viewing options, familiar algebraic data entry and a large split screen. Students also benefit from no-compromise performance thanks to 256KB memory for creating and storing aplets and notes, a USB and RS232 serial port for easy PC connection and durable slide-on protective case. CAS: visual answers to advanced problemsEngineered for performance, easy-to-use CAS boosts student comprehension with dynamic equation solving. Maths and science students are able to develop key learning skills and understand complex concepts, thanks to symbolic, numeric and graphing views. Interactive history, notes and sketch capabilities also allow students to review and interact with data for a richer learning experience. Additionally, familiar algebraic data entry makes complex calculus, trigonometry and science problems a breeze. Built for performanceFor crystal clear viewing, the HP 40gs boasts a large, LCD split screen with adjustable contrast for enhanced legibility. This impressive display is perfect for viewing data entry and reviewing complex calculations. With its onboard library of aplets - plus more that can be downloaded or created - and extensive memory, the HP 40gs brings remarkable power to the fingertips of the world´s future scientists, engineers and mathematicians. The convenient USB connection - cable and software included at no extra charge - gives students and teachers¤

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 30-Oct-2008, 882780045217, IEB-8

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