The HP-35: Consumer Electronics, an Origin Story

An anecdote about the HP-35, from the HP Museum (http://www.hpmuseum.org/hp35.htm): > The HP-35 had numerical algorithms that exceeded the precision of most mainframe computers at the time. [...] This forced time-consuming manual comparisons of results to mathematical tables. A few bugs got through this process. For example: 2.02 ln e^x resulted in 2 rather than 2.02. When the bug was discovered, HP had already sold 25,000 units which was a huge volume for the company. In a meeting, Dave Packard…

I think the article misses that the HP 9100A was developed after HP acquired the patent of Olivetti Programma 101 and its italian r&d electronics laboratory. Programma 101 was the first personal computer ever made and the first to actually fit on a desktop. It was also the first to use the magnetic card that was able to read and save programs, the precursor of cassettes and floppy disks or the first memory format based on "magnetic paint". The patents…

The HP calculators were so well designed. In college, a HP salesman stood before the engineering class and hurled a TI calculator at the cement wall. It exploded. Then he threw the HP calculator against the wall. It bounced off the wall. He picked it up and followed up with…. “Ok give me two numbers…”