Getting Started - HP RPN SCIENTIFIC WP 34S Owner's Manual

GETTING STARTED

If you know how to deal with a good old Hewlett-Packard RPN scientific calculator,
you can start using your WP 34S almost right away. Use this manual to get
information on some basic design concepts that put your WP 34S ahead of previous
RPN calculators. Continue using this manual for reference.
On the other hand, if this is your first RPN scientific calculator at all or the first you
use for a long time, we recommend you get an HP-42S Owner's Manual. It is
available at low cost on a DVD distributed by the Museum of HP Calculators (see
here: http://www.hpmuseum.org/cd/cddesc.htm
Read part 1 of said manual as a starter. It includes an excellent introduction to RPN.
RPN is the reason why your WP 34S works without an
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keys nor
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featuring
Part 2 of the HP-42S Owner's Manual will help you programming your WP 34S for
quick and easy solving lengthy, repeated or iterative computations.
Further documentation, including complete information about the other vintage calcu-
lators and the famous PPC ROM mentioned in this manual, is readily accessible on
said DVD, too.
Alternatively to the HP-42S Owner's Manual, you can download a dedicated WP 34S
Beginners Guide, recently written by one of our users:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/wp34s/files/doc/WP_34S_Beg_Guide.pdf
Most traditional commands on your WP 34S will work as they did on the HP-42S. This little
manual here is meant as a supplement presenting all the new features. It contains the
necessary information about them, including equations and technical explanations; it is not
intended, however, to replace textbooks on mathematics, statistics, physics, engineering,
or programming, nor is it a hypothetical Beginner's Guide to RPN Computing.
Your WP 34S is designed to help you in your calculations and computations.
But it is just a tool – although a very powerful one – it cannot think for you nor can it
check the sensibility of a problem you apply it to. Do not blame us nor your WP 34S
for errors you have made. Gather information, think before and while keying in, and
check your results: these will remain your responsibilities always.
The following text starts with presenting you the user interface, so you learn where you will
find what you are looking for. It continues by demonstrating some basic methods, the
WP 34S memory and addressing items therein, and the display and indicators that give
you feedback about what is going on. Then the major part of this manual consists of an
index of all available operations and how to access them, and of lists of all catalog
contents. This manual closes with appendices covering special topics, e.g. a list of error
messages your WP 34S will return if abnormal conditions prevent it from executing your
command as expected. There you will also find instructions for keeping your WP 34S up-
to-date when new firmware revisions appear.
WP 34S Owner's Manual

. Once you got used to RPN you may never choose a calculator
again.
).
Edition 3.1
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key; nor does it need the
.
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