I had a first gen ti-82 that we were required to have by the math department.. I was in computer engineering.. So, like most of my actual classmates I saw the math credits as a thing to be endured. It didn't take long to get decent at programming the 82. So, I programmed it to handle a pile of common problems. This was like hitting the turbo button on my finals. I was done way ahead of everyone, and walked it up front to get the grade on the spot. The TA graded me, then followed me out into the hall to ask some questions. First he was mystified by how fast I got through the exam and was annoyed by how little work I was showing.. So, I explained that I had my calculator programmed to handle the annoying stuff. He then suggested that it was not fair that I had programs doing the work... At which point I informed him that forcing a CE guy to buy a programmable calculator and then not expect it to be programmed was in fact crazy talk.

This is dumb but when I was in college I wanted a really good calculator. I didn't have a lot of money so I saved up and bought the best available calculator. I didn't realize that it had a print function. Every time I turned it on it made a noise. Every test I had in college math I was known as the buzz guy. It would be quiet as could be and you would hear my calculator turn on. To save energy it turned itself off so when I needed it the whole class would hear bzzzzzzzzz. Dumb but I still remember it.

I got my first calculator for the winter holidays when I was 6 years old. It was a Sharp, with an LCD display, not an LED display that required more power than you could get from for long from a pair of AAs. The keys were rubbery. The keypad was shrouded in real metal. I still stands out in my mind.

Now I use an HP33s. When they cancelled the HP32s and replaced with with the HP33s, the price of used HP32s shot up. I think I sold it for more than I paid for it and got the new HP33s.

I have an HP48gx that I never cared for. That tiny bit of latency when you do an operation drives me crazy.

As I wrote on a post with blarman a few minutes ago, the old HP RPN calculators were indestructible, but I don't have any good stories. I haven't had to buy calculators in a long time. I can count on one or two being lost by a student each semester.

My HP 45 or something recently gave out. I learned to love RPN in engineering school (by grad school numbers were irrelevant). I have bought a couple of HP calculators since then assuming they were RPN and been disappointed.

But "she who must not be named" K, wants me to tell the story of how a crow tried to steal my HP45?? calculator one summer on the way home from taking circuit theory I. I was walking down the beautiful tree lined streets of Manhattan KS (Home of the K-state Wildcats) deep in thought about Kirchhoff's Laws when a crow jumps in front of me maybe 15 feet and caws at me. I think it is just a stupid bird so I keep walking, but the crow becomes belligerent, not will to give its ground and flies at me. I turn my head and duck and my (relatively new) HP calculator falls on the cement sidewalk as I back away. I am stunned as the crow lands on the sidewalk and picks up the calculator by a loop in the case and tries to fly away. I can't afford to lose my calculator so I run at the bird waving my hands and shouting. The crow got the calculator 3-4 feet off the ground before I startled it. I picked up the calculator happy to find it still worked and determined to defend it from all birds, bitches, or other vermin.