oeis.org/A000796

This webpage may interest someone who remember a string of digits for PI.

I recall 3.141592654 if I don't have the PI Key on a calculator I'm using.
Ed
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I recall 3.141592654 if I don't have the PI Key on a calculator I'm using.

You recall better than I. In school, we learned 3.14 and I have never got beyond remembering those three digits! ;)

Mike

* SLMR 2.1a * It's the Bucket woman! She'll sing at me!!!
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You recall better than I. In school, we learned 3.14 and I have never got beyond remembering those three digits! ;)

Mike

* SLMR 2.1a * It's the Bucket woman! She'll sing at me!!!

The Tagline file on the desktop has a couple PI Taglines., I looked and saw 5 of em.

And also Pi are Round Not Square.

I enjoy Mathematics, I just had to buy a Scientific Calculator when a store price was $30.00 USD .
The first calculator cost me $79.00, it was a Four Banger with a Konstant Key and NO Memory.
The one I got for 30 Bucks came with a Book.
IIRC the book was called Math on Keys. Written by Texas Instruments for their TI-30 calculator.
Ed
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I enjoy Mathematics, I just had to buy a Scientific Calculator when a store price was $30.00 USD .
The first calculator cost me $79.00, it was a Four Banger with a Konstant Key and NO Memory.
The one I got for 30 Bucks came with a Book.
IIRC the book was called Math on Keys. Written by Texas Instruments for their TI-30 calculator.

When I was younger I remember some folks having those fancy TI calculators,
and I also remember the "manual" was a pretty large one... in my memory, it
was at least as thick as the calculator. ;)

They could do some pretty neat things with them. Later, I remember they
got a little more high tech and could even display graphs. This would have been back in the 1980s. I wonder now how their computing power compares to that of a cell phone or a PC.

Mike

* SLMR 2.1a * What is mind? No matter! What is matter? Never mind!
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Re: PI to 104 Decimal Places
By: Ed Vance to Mike Powell on Tue Aug 26 2025 18:26:18

The first calculator cost me $79.00, it was a Four Banger with a Constant Key and NO Memory.

What's a "four banger"?

My first was a Sharp EL-5100. I forget the price, but I think it was around the same as yours. Loved that thing. It had the unique feature of being able to (mostly) type out algebraic expressions like you would on paper.
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Re: PI to 104 Decimal Places
By: Mike Powell to ED VANCE on Wed Aug 27 2025 08:49:45

I wonder now how their computing power compares to that of a cell phone or a PC.

Seriously? Be like comparing a two-year old with Einstein.
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Mike Powell wrote to ED VANCE <=-

When I was younger I remember some folks having those fancy TI calculators, and I also remember the "manual" was a pretty large one...
in my memory, it was at least as thick as the calculator. ;)

One of those teachers who make an impression on you was a calculus
teacher I had in college. He had an interesting approach to come at
problems from a different perspective to help you understand them.

In the movie "Ender's Game", when Ender says "The Enemy's Gate is
Always Down" and the perspective changes, I thought of his class.

We were encouraged to buy programmable calculators - the stepwise kind
where you could automate steps into the calculator as a procedure, then
enter a series of X and Y values and it would step through them - a
precursor to graphing calculators, as you'd have to plot them
yourselves.

The rich kids in the class brought HP 41C calculators. Oh, how I wanted
one of those! I had to settle for a cheap Casio programmable with 30 or
so program steps, total.

My professor's opinion was that computers would soon do all of the
grunt work that mathmeticians did by hand now. With computers, you'd be
freed to do the creative work and let the computers grind out the
results.

It struck a chord with me.

A year before, I flunked a senior year high school math class and
was required to take another course. The only one available mid-year
was Computer Problem Solving, which inspired me to work with computers.

If I hadn't flunked that class, I would have completely missed the
experience of the teacher who reinforced the value of computers as
tools of computation and might not have been as inspired.

Despite years of experience, I still enjoy doing computations and
turning the calculator upside down to spell 80081E5. I suppose your
inner child never *really* grows up.



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Mortar M. wrote to Ed Vance <=-

The first calculator cost me $79.00, it was a Four Banger with a Constant Key and NO Memory.

What's a "four banger"?

Artithmetic only? Add, Subtract, Multiply, divide?

My first was a Sharp EL-5100. I forget the price, but I think it was around the same as yours. Loved that thing. It had the unique feature
of being able to (mostly) type out algebraic expressions like you would
on paper.

I ordered a calculator after collecting box tops from some breakfast
cereal in the late '70s. Then, slim wallet calculators became the rage
- right about the time, albeit brief, that nylon/velcro wallets were
"cool".

It wasn't many years later before the first calculator watches came
out, my parents had a friend who worked at Hewlett Packard and had one
of their calculator watches - the LED model with a stylus.

My black rubber Casio calculator watch had to wait until much later.

I still have a drawer full of calculators - a couple of HP business
models including a vintage HP 12c, a couple of HP scientifics, another
of the CASIO Programmable calculator I used in the early '80s (bought
off eBay last year and still on the original battery!) and a couple of
scientific calculators. I keep a solar Casio scientific at my desk,
mostly because I hate having to look for a calculator app on my
desktop, and clicking buttons with a mouse feels *wrong*.



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I wonder now how their computing power compares to that of a cell phone or PC.

Seriously? Be like comparing a two-year old with Einstein.

Those scientific calculators were pretty advanced for their time, especially considering their form factor (hand held). It would be interesting to know.

Mike

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When I was younger I remember some folks having those fancy TI calculators, and I also remember the "manual" was a pretty large one... in my memory, it was at least as thick as the calculator. ;)

They could do some pretty neat things with them. Later, I remember they
got a little more high tech and could even display graphs. This would have been back in the 1980s. I wonder now how their computing power compares to that of a cell phone or a PC.

Mike

* SLMR 2.1a * What is mind? No matter! What is matter? Never mind!

I have only used regular 4 bangers or scientific calcs.
There is a program on my desktop called TI81.EXE
I play with some to see what a Graphic Calc. can do but haven't ran it in years.

Can't recall where I found it (probably on TI website)
OR on CCO????
Ed
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4 Banger to me means the calculator does Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division only.
Just that.
Ed
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When I was younger I remember some folks having those fancy TI calculators, and I also remember the "manual" was a pretty large one... in my memory, it was at least as thick as the calculator. ;)

They could do some pretty neat things with them. Later, I remember they
got a little more high tech and could even display graphs. This would have been back in the 1980s. I wonder now how their computing power compares to that of a cell phone or a PC.

Mike

* SLMR 2.1a * What is mind? No matter! What is matter? Never mind!

I measured my copy of The Great International MATH ON KEYS BOOK.
It is 5"W 8"T and 3/4" thick.
Ed
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One of those teachers who make an impression on you was a calculus
teacher I had in college. He had an interesting approach to come at
problems from a different perspective to help you understand them.

In the movie "Ender's Game", when Ender says "The Enemy's Gate is
Always Down" and the perspective changes, I thought of his class.

We were encouraged to buy programmable calculators - the stepwise kind
where you could automate steps into the calculator as a procedure, then
enter a series of X and Y values and it would step through them - a
precursor to graphing calculators, as you'd have to plot them
yourselves.

The rich kids in the class brought HP 41C calculators. Oh, how I wanted
one of those! I had to settle for a cheap Casio programmable with 30 or
so program steps, total.

My professor's opinion was that computers would soon do all of the
grunt work that mathmeticians did by hand now. With computers, you'd be
freed to do the creative work and let the computers grind out the
results.

It struck a chord with me.

A year before, I flunked a senior year high school math class and
was required to take another course. The only one available mid-year
was Computer Problem Solving, which inspired me to work with computers.

If I hadn't flunked that class, I would have completely missed the
experience of the teacher who reinforced the value of computers as
tools of computation and might not have been as inspired.

Despite years of experience, I still enjoy doing computations and
turning the calculator upside down to spell 80081E5. I suppose your
inner child never *really* grows up.

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The first calc. shown to me was a HP-30 ( 35?) given to an employee of a electronics company.
He showed me what all it could do and My Jaw Dropped.
Ed
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Artithmetic only? Add, Subtract, Multiply, divide?

I ordered a calculator after collecting box tops from some breakfast
cereal in the late '70s. Then, slim wallet calculators became the rage
- right about the time, albeit brief, that nylon/velcro wallets were
"cool".

It wasn't many years later before the first calculator watches came
out, my parents had a friend who worked at Hewlett Packard and had one
of their calculator watches - the LED model with a stylus.

My black rubber Casio calculator watch had to wait until much later.

I still have a drawer full of calculators - a couple of HP business
models including a vintage HP 12c, a couple of HP scientifics, another
of the CASIO Programmable calculator I used in the early '80s (bought
off eBay last year and still on the original battery!) and a couple of
scientific calculators. I keep a solar Casio scientific at my desk,
mostly because I hate having to look for a calculator app on my
desktop, and clicking buttons with a mouse feels *wrong*.

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My parents gave all the neices and nephews a CASIO calculator one christmas.
A neice showed me hers AND IT HAD A SQUARE ROOT KEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My 79 buck 4 banger didn't do square roots so I went to the mall and bought one of those.
Can't remember the Modle Number, couldn't find it in this room, it is probably downstairs.
Ed
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Ed Vance wrote to Kurt Weiske <=-

The first calc. shown to me was a HP-30 ( 35?) given to an employee of
a electronics company.
He showed me what all it could do and My Jaw Dropped.

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, on the peninsula, near the
garage where Hewlett-Packard was founded. The local Macy's department
store, less than a mile from that garage, had a display with an
assortment of Hewlett-Packard calculators. Very odd, I never saw any
other Macy's selling them. Must have been an early customer.

Did you notice when Carly Fiorina was CEO of Hewlett-Packard and they
acquired Compaq, the Hewlett and Packard families were against the
deal? After that, everything was branded HP. Petty revenge?


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Despite years of experience, I still enjoy doing computations and
turning the calculator upside down to spell 80081E5. I suppose your
inner child never *really* grows up.

Real life will try to force it to grow up, or try to kill it off, so
sometimes it is a fight to keep the inner child alive. ;)

Mike


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I have only used regular 4 bangers or scientific calcs.

I have only had 4 bangers, too. Well, I take that back. On my desk right
now is a Casio fx-82B that I have had for years. It will also do some geometric functions, but I don't think I have ever used it for anything but addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. I have long since forgotten what most of "those other buttons" are for. ;)

There is a program on my desktop called TI81.EXE
I play with some to see what a Graphic Calc. can do but haven't ran it in years.
Can't recall where I found it (probably on TI website)
OR on CCO????

That is possible. ;)

Mike

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My parents gave all the neices and nephews a CASIO calculator one christmas. A neice showed me hers AND IT HAD A SQUARE ROOT KEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My 79 buck 4 banger didn't do square roots so I went to the mall and bought on
of those.
Can't remember the Modle Number, couldn't find it in this room, it is probably
downstairs.

The fx-82B I mentioned in a previous post has one of those, and it
apparently doubles as a squaring key. I probably have used that square
root key some, but not in a long time.

The other keys... log, sin, cos, and tan... I know what those mean but have
no idea why I'd ever need them. :D

Mike


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Re: Re: PI to 104 Decimal Pla
By: Mike Powell to ED VANCE on Fri Aug 29 2025 10:40:02

Hi, Mike.

The other keys... log, sin, cos, and tan... I know what those mean but have no idea why I'd ever need them. :D

I once asked a maths teacher when his skills had ever come in handy "in real life". He told me that he once had to work out how much corrugated roofing would be needed to cover an outside storage area and so, rather than just measuring the floor and adding a bit, he did some proper triangle geometry.

"Did it work?"

"It came out the same as if I'd just measured the floor and added a bit"

BobW
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Re: Re: PI to 104 Decimal Places
By: Kurt Weiske to Mortar M. on Thu Aug 28 2025 07:42:58

...I hate having to look for a calculator app on my desktop, and clicking
buttons with a mouse feels *wrong*.

If you have a numeric keypad on your keyboard, you can use that. Just make sure your Num Lock is on.
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I once asked a maths teacher when his skills had ever come in handy "in real life". He told me that he once had to work out how much corrugated roofing would be needed to cover an outside storage area and so, rather than just measuring the floor and adding a bit, he did some proper triangle geometry.

"Did it work?"

"It came out the same as if I'd just measured the floor and added a bit"

LOL, so it came out better for him that it probably would have for me, especially if I had tried "proper geometry!" :D

Mike


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Re: Re: PI to 104 Decimal Pla
By: Mike Powell to BOB WORM on Sat Aug 30 2025 09:45:43

Hi, Mike.

LOL, so it came out better for him that it probably would have for me, especially if I had tried "proper geometry!" :D

You just gave me a flashback to when I put some fencing up in our garden. I smugly added in one more post than panels because I'd been taught in school that people often mistakenly think you need the same number of posts as panels then end up a post short.

When it came to putting the fence up I still found myself one post short because, like a dingbat, I failed to factor in that the fence has a gap in it to access some steps. So instead of n+1 posts I really needed n+2...

When I called up the fencing supplier to order another post mount she said 'Did you forget to add one?'... 'No, but... yes'.

BobW
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Mike Powell wrote to ED VANCE <=-

I have only had 4 bangers, too. Well, I take that back. On my desk
right now is a Casio fx-82B that I have had for years. It will also do some geometric functions, but I don't think I have ever used it for anything but addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. I
have long since forgotten what most of "those other buttons" are for.

Most of what I use the calculator on my desk for it converting decimal
to hex and vice versa. Fidonet technology, when passing files back and
forth, uses the hex representation of the decimal network and node
number for file names, and figuring out which file goes to who can be
tricky.

Although, Synchronet's echocfg utility, where you define nodes, now
displays the net/node number in hex. Handy!



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Mike Powell wrote to ED VANCE <=-

The fx-82B I mentioned in a previous post has one of those, and it apparently doubles as a squaring key. I probably have used that square root key some, but not in a long time.

The other keys... log, sin, cos, and tan... I know what those mean but have no idea why I'd ever need them. :D

Reminds me of the FX-115 I have on my desk -
https://casio.ledudu.com/pockets.asp?type=1787&lg=eng

Got it for $5 with the vinyl sleeve at a local thrift shop.





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Bob Worm wrote to Mike Powell <=-

I once asked a maths teacher when his skills had ever come in handy "in real life". He told me that he once had to work out how much corrugated roofing would be needed to cover an outside storage area and so, rather than just measuring the floor and adding a bit, he did some proper triangle geometry.

When I was out of work and looking for some cheap projects, I bought a
couple of triangular sun shades to cover an outdoor porch. Both were at
slight angles canted off of poles of different heights. One layered on
top of the other, and they were angled so the water would run off the
edge and miss the porch.

I measured exactly how big they needed to be and where they needed to be anchored, and nailed it - and finally got to gloat to my son who told me
he'd *never* use geometry ever again...

We redid the deck with a higher fence, closed in one of the walls and
extended the roof to make a nice semi-enclosed deck - but I miss those
$25 shades.

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Re: Re: PI to 104 Decimal Pla
By: Bob Worm to Mike Powell on Sat Aug 30 2025 04:04 pm

You just gave me a flashback to when I put some fencing up in our garden. I smugly added in one more post than panels because I'd been taught in school that people often mistakenly think you need the same number of posts as panels then end up a post short.

In computer science they talk similarly about border conditions. Or, as one person put it, The "Banana Problem".

"I know how to spell 'Banana', I just don't know how to stop..."
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