Hewlett Packard (HP)
launched in early 1972 the first scientific pocket calculator. It was
unlike the other basic four-function pocket calculators then
available in that it was the first pocket calculator with scientific
functions that could replace a slide rule. The HP-35, along with
nearly all later HP engineering calculators, used reverse Polish
notation (RPN). A calculation like "7 plus 3" is, using
RPN, performed by pressing "7", "Enter↑", "3",
and "+"; instead of the algebraic infix notation: "7",
"+", "3", "=").
The HP-35 and similar
scientific calculators by Texas Instruments soon thereafter signalled
the demise of the slide rule among science and engineering students.
100,000 HP-35 calculators were sold in the first year, and over
300,000 by the time it was discontinued in 1975. Introduction price
in the US was $395, in Belgium €328 (13.231 BF).
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| HP-35 Advert |
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| HP-35 Advert |
HP-35 documentary
Death of a Slide Rule
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