× The internal search function is temporarily non-functional. The current search engine is no longer viable and we are researching alternatives.
As a stop gap measure, we are using Google's custom search engine service.
If you know of an easy to use, open source, search engine ... please contact support@midrange.com.


  1.  Home
  2. MIDRANGE-L
  3. December 2017

Re: Nerd's calculator

On Sat, Dec 2, 2017 at 11:19 AM, James H. H. Lampert
<jamesl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 12/2/17, 5:54 AM, Rob Berendt wrote:

Reminds me of some really weird calculator they had in the business
machines class at my old HS. Something about "reverse Polish notation"
comes to mind.

HP calculators are famous for this. They have a cult popularity both
in scientific and financial communities.

Yes. Postfix and Prefix notation were invented by Jan Lukasiewicz, a Polish
logician and mathematician. The "reverse" part comes from Lukasiewicz's
original idea was a Prefix notation, rather than Postfix.

Still, the term *sounds* like a bad ethnic joke, to those who don't
understand the origin.

Indeed. But if "Polish" means stupid, would "reverse Polish" mean smart?

John Y.

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

This thread ...
Replies:
Follow On AppleNews
Return to Archive home page | Return to MIDRANGE.COM home page

This mailing list archive is Copyright 1997-2024 by midrange.com and David Gibbs as a compilation work. Use of the archive is restricted to research of a business or technical nature. Any other uses are prohibited. Full details are available on our policy page. If you have questions about this, please contact [javascript protected email address].

Operating expenses for this site are earned using the Amazon Associate program and Google Adsense.