Is it possible that I am holding the very last RPN calculator from Hewlett-Packard in my hands? I sure hope not, but with the recent discontinuation of the HP-32SII, for the first time in 30 years, Hewlett-Packard no longer sells a "reverse Polish" scientific calculator. Reverse Polish notation is not completely dead yet: it lives on in the form of the HP-12C and some not-yet discontinued graphing calculators with RPL programmability. But a plain simple scientific calculator with RPN appears to be a thing of the past.

The only difference between this "silver bezel" version and the original HP-32SII is cosmetic: the colors of the metal bezel are more psychedelic, with the display surrounded by a silver rectangle.

That we live in penny-pinching times when it comes to mass produced goods is evident from the Spanish-language packaging of this HP-32SII that I just received. No, I'm not referring to the fact that it is a blister pack: that we're already used to. It is what is written on the package that caught my attention (actually, the attention of the kind chap in Spain who found this unit for me.) You see, the packaging (printed by the Hewlett-Packard Company) says the following on the back:

ALIMENTACION: 4.5V (3 Pilas AAA)

Yet no matter how hard I look, I cannot find any AAA batteries in this calculator. Which shouldn't be a surprise, since it already has three perfectly functional LR44 button cells installed in the appropriate location, so there really is no need for any AAA batteries. The button cells do a fine job powering the calculator, as indeed they have since the day the first Voyager series machines like the HP-15C were introduced.

The programming example for the HP-32SII is one I originally wrote when I first received a "brown bezel" version of this machine. It is based on a Russian programmable calculator algorithm, and it computes the logarithm of the complex Gamma function. To use the program, just enter the imaginary part, hit ENTER, enter the real part, and hit XEQ I. Make sure the calculator is in radians mode, otherwise the result will not be correct.

This program is not as accurate as the one I wrote for the HP-32S, but it sure requires a lot less program space.

I01     LBL I    CK=92AE  010.5
I02     STO B
I03     x<>y
I04     STO A
I05     0
I06     STO C
I07     STO D
H01     LBL H    CK=DC88  079.5
H02     XEQ K
H03     XEQ J
H04     RCL B
H05     1
H06     +
H07     STO B
H08     12
H09     -
H10     x<0?
H11     GTO H
H12     XEQ K
H13     2
H14     1/x
H15     RCL B
H16     -
H17     STO H
H18     RCL E
H19     ×
H20     RCL F
H21     RCL A
H22     ×
H23     +
H24     RCL F
H25     RCL H
H26     ×
H27     RCL E
H28     RCL A
H29     ×
H30     -
H31     XEQ J
H32     RCL B
H33     RCL G
H34     12
H35     ×
H36     STO G
H37     ÷
H38     RCL B
H39     -
H40     RCL A
H41     +/-
H42     RCL G
H43     ÷
H44     RCL A
H45     -
H46     XEQ J
H47     π
H48     2
H49     ×
H50     SQRT
H51     LN
H52     +
H53     RTN
J01     LBL J    CK=F14A  013.5
J02     RCL D
J03     +
J04     STO D
J05     x<>y
J06     RCL C
J07     +
J08     STO C
J09     RTN
K01     LBL K    CK=A6EE  030.0
K02     RCL B
K03     ENTER
K04     x2
K05     RCL A
K06     x2
K07     +
K08     STO G
K09     SQRT
K10     STO H
K11     ÷
K12     ACOS
K13     +/-
K14     STO F
K15     RCL H
K16     LN
K17     +/-
K18     STO E
K19     x<>y
K20     RTN