![[Click to launch the HP-35]](hp-35.jpg)
Click the right-hand image to launch it. >>>
Click the right-hand image to launch it. >>>
A couple of years ago I was browsing the computer displays at the Science and Technology Museum and spotted something rather familiar. It was a Hewlett Packard calculator; the same model as the one on my desk. It seems that my favourite calculator is actually two years older than I am.
After a bit of digging, I discovered that this calculator (which I bought for $5 at a garage sale) is not only historic, but is also a collector's item. The online Museum of HP Calculators lists its value at over $100.
The online HP Museum also has a collection of simulators for various models. Oddly, they did not have a simulator for the HP-35. So I wrote one in JavaScript for them. The result is a very faithful simulation with the exception of some rounding errors. Both the HP-35 and the JavaScript produce rounding errors, but they do so in different situations.
