The Hewlett-Packard Voyager series of
calculators were introduced by
Hewlett-Packard in 1981.
All members of this series are
programmable, use
Reverse Polish Notation
Reverse Polish notation (RPN), also known as reverse Łukasiewicz notation, Polish postfix notation or simply postfix notation, is a mathematical notation in which operators ''follow'' their operands, in contrast to Polish notation (PN), in whi ...
, and feature
continuous memory The term continuous memory was coined by Hewlett-Packard (HP) to describe a unique feature of certain HP calculators whereby the calculator could internally sustain most, or in later models - all, of the contents of user memory (via battery-backed C ...
. Nearly identical in appearance, each model provided different capabilities and was aimed at different user markets.
Models
The
HP calculators Voyager series consisted of five models, some of which were manufactured in several variants (with years of production):
*
HP-10C – basic scientific calculator (1982–1984).
*
HP-11C
The Hewlett-Packard Voyager series of calculators were introduced by Hewlett-Packard in 1981. All members of this series are programmable, use Reverse Polish Notation, and feature continuous memory. Nearly identical in appearance, each mode ...
– mid-range scientific calculator (1981–1989).
*
HP-12C
The HP-12C is a financial calculator made by Hewlett-Packard (HP) and its successor HP Inc. as part of the HP Voyager series.
Functionality
The HP-12C is HP's longest and best-selling product, in continual production since its introduction ...
– business/financial calculator (1981–present).
*
HP-15C
The HP-15C is a high-end scientific programmable calculator of Hewlett-Packard's Voyager series produced between 1982 and 1989.
Models
HP-15C
The HP-15C is a high-end scientific pocket calculator with a root-solver and numerical integration. ...
– advanced scientific calculator (1982–1989, 2011).
*
HP-16C
The HP-16C Computer Scientist is a programmable pocket calculator that was produced by Hewlett-Packard between 1982 and 1989. It was specifically designed for use by computer programmers, to assist in debugging. It is a member of the HP Voyage ...
– computer programmer's calculator (1982–1989).
HP-10C
The HP-10C is the last and lowest-featured calculator in this line, even though its number would suggest an earlier origin. The 10C was a basic scientific programmable calculator. While a useful general purpose RPN calculator, the HP-11C offered twice as much for only a slight increase in price. Designed to be an introductory calculator, it was still costly compared to the competition, and many looking at an HP would just step up to the better HP-11C. Poor sales led to a very short market life, making it one of the most difficult of the series to find today.
HP-11C
The HP-11C is a mid-range scientific programmable calculator.
HP-12C
The ''
HP-12C
The HP-12C is a financial calculator made by Hewlett-Packard (HP) and its successor HP Inc. as part of the HP Voyager series.
Functionality
The HP-12C is HP's longest and best-selling product, in continual production since its introduction ...
'' is a popular
financial calculator. It was such a successful model that Hewlett-Packard redesigned it from scratch,
added several new functions, and introduced it as the ''
HP 12c Platinum
The HP-12C is a financial calculator made by Hewlett-Packard (HP) and its successor HP Inc. as part of the HP Voyager series.
Functionality
The HP-12C is HP's longest and best-selling product, in continual production since its introduction ...
'' in 2003 as well as the ''
HP 12c Prestige
The HP-12C is a financial calculator made by Hewlett-Packard (HP) and its successor HP Inc. as part of the HP Voyager series.
Functionality
The HP-12C is HP's longest and best-selling product, in continual production since its introduction ...
''. Over the course of years, several anniversary editions of the calculator were produced as well.
The HP-12C is HP's longest and best-selling product, in continual production since its introduction in 1981.
HP-15C
The ''
HP-15C
The HP-15C is a high-end scientific programmable calculator of Hewlett-Packard's Voyager series produced between 1982 and 1989.
Models
HP-15C
The HP-15C is a high-end scientific pocket calculator with a root-solver and numerical integration. ...
'' is a high-end scientific programmable with a root-solver and numerical integration, produced between 1982 and 1989. It is also able to handle complex numbers and matrix operations. Although long being discontinued its continued popularity among users triggered Hewlett-Packard to offer a ''
HP 15c Limited Edition
The HP-15C is a high-end scientific programmable calculator of Hewlett-Packard's Voyager series produced between 1982 and 1989.
Models
HP-15C
The HP-15C is a high-end scientific pocket calculator with a root-solver and numerical integration. ...
'' remake of the calculator in 2011.
HP-16C
The ''HP-16C'' is a
computer programmer's calculator, designed to assist in
debugging. It can display numbers in
hexadecimal, decimal,
octal
The octal numeral system, or oct for short, is the base-8 number system, and uses the digits 0 to 7. This is to say that 10octal represents eight and 100octal represents sixty-four. However, English, like most languages, uses a base-10 number ...
and
binary
Binary may refer to:
Science and technology Mathematics
* Binary number, a representation of numbers using only two digits (0 and 1)
* Binary function, a function that takes two arguments
* Binary operation, a mathematical operation that ta ...
, and convert numbers from one base to another. A number of specialized functions are provided to assist the programmer, including left- and right-shifting, masking, and
bitwise logical operations. HP has (as of 2015) never made another programmer's calculator, but has incorporated the 16C's functions in later calculator models.
Features
Arithmetic
Hewlett-Packard retained the
numerical analyst William Kahan of
UC Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...
, the architect of the
IEEE 754 standard for
floating-point arithmetic, to design the numerical algorithms implemented by the calculators.
He also wrote parts of the manuals.
Programming
The HP Voyager series calculator are
keystroke programmable, meaning that it can remember and later execute sequences of keystrokes to solve particular problems of interest to the user. These keystroke programs, in addition to performing any operation normally available on the keyboard, can also make use of conditional and unconditional branching and looping instructions, allowing programs to perform repetitive operations and make decisions.
The available programming features differentiate between the various HP Voyager series calculator systems.
Legacy
The HP-12C and its derivatives remains in widespread use today and is still available from Hewlett-Packard. The long-discontinued HP-15C was re-released in a "Limited Edition" in 2011 that has again been discontinued.
Emulators
Official emulators for the 12C and 15C are commercially available from Hewlett-Packard for Android and iOS devices.
Clones
In 2011, the continued popularity of the Voyager series among users prompted SwissMicros to produce a series of credit-card-sized calculators looking like miniature versions of their HP equivalents and running the original HP firmware in an emulator on a modern calculator hardware. The series consisted of the ''DM10'', ''DM11'', ''
DM12'', ''
DM15'' and ''
DM16''. All calculators used the same hardware, but differ in keyboard and firmware (which can be changed with an upgrade port). After the introduction of the larger ''
DM15L'', ''
DM41L'' and ''
DM16L'' in 2015, the ''DM11L'' was added in January 2016 with the ''
DM12L'' following in February. A limited production run for a ''DM10L'' was planned for 2019.
See also
* bulk
CMOS semiconductor manufacturing process utilized for HP Nut processors
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
*
* MyCalcDB:
*
SwissMicrosManufacturer of HP calculator clones.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hewlett-Packard Voyager series
Voyager series