Spreadsheet App for DM42

Discussion around the SwissMicros DM42 calculator
Jim_W
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Spreadsheet App for DM42

Post by Jim_W »

Hi All - My name is Jim. I have just joined this forum so first I'll tell you a little about myself. I am retired now but my career was in the aerospace industry working on both airplanes and rocket motors as an engineer. I have been using programmable calculators since the HP-25. To date, I have owned: HP-25, HP-29c, HP-15c, HP-48sx, HP-42s, HP-48gii, and now a Casio fx-50cg. By far, the HP-42s is my favorite. I can not tell you how happy I am to learn of the DM42! I have not ordered mine yet but plan to in the near future.

In my engineering and in my aviation (I am also a GA pilot), I solve many problems involving multiple variables. Having a multi-line display on my calculator for displaying input and output prompts, I think is the greatest thing since slice bread. Which brings me to the DM42's screen! This has got to be the nicest screen out there. I love the e-ink on my Kindle and the screen on the DM42 looks (on my computer screen at least) just as good. It is so good that I think it should be put to full advantage.

How, do you ask? Well, I have a suggestion. - Now - If this has been suggested before, I'm sorry. I did a search in the forum but didn't find anything like what I'm thinking about. So, here goes - What about putting a spreadsheet app into the DM42? Now, I know - The HP-42s didn't have a spreadsheet, and most spreadsheets don't work with RPN, and why have a programmable calculator with a programmable spreadsheet, and on and on. I am sure that there might be some people that will think this would desecrate the HP image, but I should remind them that the HP Prime has a built in spreadsheet.

The fact is, for last 10 or so years, I have been using all of my calculator programs on my phone using a spreadsheet app. Since most of my programs require multiple inputs, I find that it is much easier to change one or two of my input data on a spreadsheet than running a program asking for the inputs one at a time.

And here is another thought - I really love RPN, so if a spreadsheet isn't possible on this calculator, how about a dedicated input page that looks like a two column spreadsheet. The first column would hold the variable's name and the second column would hold its value. The top row keys of the DM42 could be used to navigate the two columns.

So, what do you think? Is there anybody else that likes the ease of using spreadsheets for data input and output as much as I?

Jim_W
grsbanks
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Re: Spreadsheet App for DM42

Post by grsbanks »

You don't have to enter all the values before doing a re-run of a program.

Remember, the HP-42S/DM42 can have named variables, so all you have to do is STO the new value into the single variable that changes and then re-run your program.

Or if you want that to be driven by an interface then you can construct a menu with KEYG or KEYX and have the values stored and the main program invoked that way. The HP-42S was already able to do this.
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budmur
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Re: Spreadsheet App for DM42

Post by budmur »

If you're working within a single equation, the Solver is an awesome tool. You can manipulate many variables and do what-if tests quickly. In the 90s I was running a rad lab in the field and this saved me sooooo many hours.
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diamondsoftware
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Re: Spreadsheet App for DM42

Post by diamondsoftware »

Hi From Belgium,
I think (from my part) it will be a good idea to have a real spreadsheet in a DM42.
it will be great if we can use RPN or standard calc mode.
Of course we can create RPN software but it can be usefull to create spreadsheets in parallels.
There is a lot of potential in DM42 hardware to have more than a HP42 emulator...

Since I've it I use the DM42 every day and I love it , but some other softwares as a spreadsheet will be great.
Stephane D.
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Walter
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Re: Spreadsheet App for DM42

Post by Walter »

diamondsoftware wrote:
Mon Mar 18, 2019 8:52 am
it will be great if we can use RPN or standard calc mode.
Did you want to differentiate between premium (i.e. RPN) and standard (i.e. economy, algebraic) calc mode? :mrgreen:
WP43 SN00000, 34S, and 31S for obvious reasons; HP-35, 45, ..., 35S, 15CE, DM16L S/N# 00093, DM42β SN:00041
Jim_W
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Re: Spreadsheet App for DM42

Post by Jim_W »

Hi All – I appreciate all of the replies to my post here. Thank you. I thought that I would give an example of the type of problems that I work with just to demonstrate why I like spreadsheets so much when it comes to input and output of data. Here is the input/output data for a flight I made recently from Utah to Idaho. The program is in my HP-42s and it calculates the navigation numbers needed to do my flight planning.
INPUT DATA OUTPUT DATA
Departure Airport LAT 41-33.14 Magnetic Heading 276
Departure Airport LONG 112-03.73 Distance 122 nm
Destination Airport LAT 42-28.91 Ground Speed 118 kts
Destination Airport LONG 114-29.27 Leg Time 1.02 (h.m)
Magnetic Variation -13 E Leg Fuel 9.8 gal
Wind Direction 180
Wind Velocity 20 kts
True Air Speed 110 kts
Fuel Burn Rate 9.5 gal/hr

Please make 4 columns out of the above ^

The LAT & LONG variables are used in some spherical trigonometry formulas to calculate the distance and true course of the flight. The true course calculation is then used with the wind direction, wind velocity, and the true air speed to calculate the ground speed and the drift correction angle due to the wind. The magnetic variation and the drift correction angle are added to the true course to determine the magnetic heading. The leg time and leg fuel are calculated using the calculated ground speed, calculated distance, and the fuel burn rate.

As you can see, any or all of the 9 input variables will vary for each flight depending on location, wind, and aircraft. Even during a flight, some variables will change due to things like a destination change or wind change. I find that having all of the input and output data displayed and available to change readily is a real plus.

Again, thank you for your comments. - Jim
diamondsoftware
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Re: Spreadsheet App for DM42

Post by diamondsoftware »

Walter wrote:
Mon Mar 18, 2019 9:54 am
diamondsoftware wrote:
Mon Mar 18, 2019 8:52 am
it will be great if we can use RPN or standard calc mode.
Did you want to differentiate between premium (i.e. RPN) and standard (i.e. economy, algebraic) calc mode? :mrgreen:
Hi Walter, of course it will be great to have choice in the spreadsheet but better of course with RPN :D :roll:
S.
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Dave Britten
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Re: Spreadsheet App for DM42

Post by Dave Britten »

Jim_W wrote:
Sat Mar 16, 2019 1:52 am
And here is another thought - I really love RPN, so if a spreadsheet isn't possible on this calculator, how about a dedicated input page that looks like a two column spreadsheet. The first column would hold the variable's name and the second column would hold its value. The top row keys of the DM42 could be used to navigate the two columns.
That would be a really cool way to enhance VARMENU or SOLVE. The HP palmtops do something like that when using any of the solvers (built-in, or user-supplied equations).

It's worth mentioning that Casio graphing calculators have a very basic (but still useful) spreadsheet, and also nice high-contrast screens. Have you tried out the spreadsheet function on the fx-CG50?
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ijabbott
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Re: Spreadsheet App for DM42

Post by ijabbott »

Dave Britten wrote:
Mon Mar 25, 2019 9:45 pm
It's worth mentioning that Casio graphing calculators have a very basic (but still useful) spreadsheet, and also nice high-contrast screens. Have you tried out the spreadsheet function on the fx-CG50?
The Casio ClassWiz fx-991EX and fx-570EX (and international variants of those) also have a spreadsheet mode, but unlike the CG series, it discards the spreadsheet contents when switching calculation mode or turning off the calculator (including automatic turn off).
Jim_W
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Re: Spreadsheet App for DM42

Post by Jim_W »

Yes, Dave, I have quite a few spreadsheets loaded in my Casio fx-CG50. The spreadsheet app is not a full blown spreadsheet program. It lacks some functions that I use (like VLOOKUP), but on the whole, it is very useful. It does exactly what I first wrote about. That is, in column 1 I can list all of my input variables, in column 2 - the input variables values, in column 3 the output variables, and in column 4 the output variables values. The Casio spreadsheet handles the scientific functions very well. It even handles both degrees and radians regardless of what mode the calculator is in.

I've been doing a little thinking about my suggestion and here is where I am now: Maybe the same thing can be done with the DM42 without a built in spreadsheet. That is, maybe the DM42 could be programed to display a 4-columns by X-rows metric. Each element (cell) could be tied to a register. We could then program the problem using RPN just like we always have done. Store the variables in the correct registers and then have the metric program call each variable out of its register and put it in the right metric element. Of course we would want the program to be able to read and write the values into and out the metric. Does that make any sense at all? I know nothing about OS programming, but, to my limited thinking, it seems to me that the main work would be writing code to make a cursor that could be moved around on the metric in order to input and edit the data as needed. I would love to see a mock-up of a 4-column metric on the DM42 screen. I think it would look great! - Jim
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