Calculator logic: when and why is RPN superior to algebraic?
✍ Scribed by Errol Hoffman; Patrick Ma; Jason See; Chee Kee Yong; Jason Brand; Matthew Poulton
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1994
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 635 KB
- Volume
- 25
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0003-6870
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Work by Drury and associates showed that reverse Polish notation calculators (RPN) were superior to algebraic notation (AN) calculators in terms of speed and accuracy of operation. This superiority may have been due to cognitive differences in operation or to differences in number of keystrokes used in solution of problems. Results of two experiments dearly show that the superiority is due to the smaller number of keystrokes required with RPN logic with problems involving mathematical functions; the relationship between solution time and number of keystrokes used is identical for the two types of caicuiator.