Just when we thought that Ms. Fiorina's HP has given up on the idea of producing decent scientific calculators, they came out with a new line of models, including a brand new RPN scientific calculator, the HP-33S.

Except that it's neither brand new nor quite RPN. No need to worry, it is an RPN model, but it also has an algebraic mode, and that's how it comes up by default. (A victory for the marketing people, I presume, who must have insisted that in order for a calculator to sell well, it must be able to produce accurate results when the user enters 2×2=.) As for its newness, it is essentially an HP-32S is new packaging, but with one enormous improvement: it has a full 32 kilobytes of program/data memory.

Ah, and one more difference. The darn thing is made in China. But apparently, being made in China no longer means rubber keys: the keyboard has a very decent feel, with the well known HP "click" when you press a key.

The bottom line, insofar as I am concerned, is this: There are many calculators I love, but there are only a few I'd prefer to _use_ on a daily basis. The HP-33S appears to be one of them.

Like the HP-32S, this new model also has a built in extended factorial function that can be used with non-integer arguments. Demonstrating the machine's programming model, here again is the complex Gamma function program I wrote for the HP-32S; apart from the 4-digit addresses, an indication of the vastly increased memory space in the HP-33S, the listings are identical. To use it, enter the imaginary part of the argument, hit ENTER, enter the real part, then hit XEQ G.

G0001	LBL G
G0002	1
G0003	STO G
G0004	CLx
G0005	STO H
G0006	Rv
J0001	LBL J
J0002	x>0?
J0003	GTO H
J0004	RCL H
J0005	RCL G
J0006	CMPLX×
J0007	STO G
J0008	Rv
J0009	STO H
J0010	Rv
J0011	1
J0012	+
J0013	GTO J
H0001	LBL H
H0002	STO A
H0003	x<>y
H0004	STO B
H0005	x<>y
H0006	0
H0007	2.50662827511
H0008	CMPLX×
H0009	0
H0010	83.8676043424
H0011	CMPLX+
H0012	RCL B
H0013	RCL A
H0014	CMPLX×
H0015	0
H0016	1168.92649479
H0017	CMPLX+
H0018	RCL B
H0019	RCL A
H0020	CMPLX×
H0021	0
H0022	8687.24529705
H0023	CMPLX+
H0024	RCL B
H0025	RCL A
H0026	CMPLX×
H0027	0
H0028	36308.2951477
H0029	CMPLX+
H0030	RCL B
H0031	RCL A
H0032	CMPLX×
H0033	0
H0034	80916.6278952
H0035	CMPLX+
H0036	RCL B
H0037	RCL A
H0038	CMPLX×
H0039	0
H0040	75122.633153
H0041	CMPLX+
H0042	0.006
H0043	STO i
H0044	Rv
I0001	LBL I
I0002	RCL B
I0003	RCL i
I0004	IP
I0005	RCL+ A
I0006	CMPLX÷
I0007	ISG i
I0008	GTO I
I0009	STO X
I0010	x<>y
I0011	STO Y
I0012	RCL B
I0013	5.5
I0014	RCL+ A
I0015	RCL B
I0016	0.5
I0017	RCL+ A
I0018	CMPLXyx
I0019	RCL B
I0020	5.5
I0021	RCL+ A
I0022	CMPLX+/-
I0023	CMPLXex
I0024	CMPLX×
I0025	RCL Y
I0026	RCL X
I0027	CMPLX×
I0028	RCL H
I0029	RCL G
I0030	CMPLX÷
I0031	RTN