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I think you mean HP49G vs HP48G.  I have several of each.  I did consulting
for HP on the first HP48SX done back in 1991.  Here's the short summary:

HP-49G - great symbolic math, but unfortunately at the expense of numeric
computation.

HP-48G - the best numeric calculator ever, with some symbolics

HP-48G+ - same as 48G, but with more built-in memory - this is the Best Buy
of the bunch

HP-48GX - same as HP-48G+ but also with a card slot for plugging in
software.  (Some on this newsgroup have mentioned, for example, that Tom
Metcalf has a celestial nav card available for the HP-48GX.)

I would recommend the HP-48G+ or GX if you want to spend the extra money and
think you may buy canned celestial navigation software.

I have written my own celestial navigation software for my HP-48s and it is
great for that, but the programming language does take some getting used to.
It is called RPL for Reverse Polish Lisp, a blend of their earlier RPN
(Reverse Polish Notation) and Lisp.  RPL is pretty slick, but it is not a
fast machine.  The tradeoff is that it runs on 3 AAA batteries for almost a
year of use.  The G+ and GX models have 128KB of RAM and can hook up to a
Mac or PC and I also use mine as a PIM (Personal Information Manager) to
store phone numbers and such.

With the 128 KB models there is enough memory for me to have a database of a
1000 different locations that I can use for calculating distances, doing
route planning, etc.  I create the database on a PC or Mac (I use both) and
then download it into the HP-48.

The HP-49G is their newest machine.  It is great for someone learning
algrebra and calculus, and in theory it is a strict superset of the HP-48s,
but there are just enough things oriented toward symbolics as to make it not
near as handy for navigation software as the HP-48 series.

For tons of free downloadable software, as well as HP calculator emulators
that run on PCs, see www.hpcalc.org, an excellent website.

Dan

-----Original Message-----
From  Navigation Mailing List
[mailto:NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM]On Behalf Of Aubrey
O'Callaghan
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2001 3:57 PM
To: NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM
Subject: HP 59 calculator


I am thinking of buying a HP59 for engineering use and also for astro
navigation.
Any comments from the group.
Is this a wise decision or should I stick with the HP48GX ?
Thanks,
Aubrey.

   

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