The HP Prime Graphing Calculator is a

graphing calculator A graphing calculator (also graphics calculator or graphic display calculator) is a handheld computer that is capable of plotting graphs, solving simultaneous equations, and performing other tasks with variables. Most popular graphing calculat ...

introduced by

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

in 2013 and currently manufactured by

HP Inc. HP Inc. is an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, that develops personal computers (PCs), printers and related supplies, as well as 3D printing solutions. It was formed on November ...

It was designed with features resembling those of

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

s, such as a full-color

touchscreen A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is often ...

display and the ability to expand functionality by means of downloadable applications. It claims to be the world's smallest and thinnest CAS-enabled calculator currently available. The functionality of the HP Prime is also available as

emulation software In computing, an emulator is Computer hardware, hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run so ...

for PCs and Macs, as well as for various smartphones.

Design and software

The HP Prime's

graphical user interface The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...

features two separate home screens, one of which contains an integrated

computer algebra system A computer algebra system (CAS) or symbolic algebra system (SAS) is any mathematical software with the ability to manipulate mathematical expressions in a way similar to the traditional manual computations of mathematicians and scientists. The de ...

(CAS) based on the free and open-source Xcas/Giac 1.4.9 engine, which evolved from that of the

HP 49G HP may refer to: Businesses and organisations * HP Inc., an American technology company ** Hewlett-Packard, the predecessor to HP Inc. * HP Foods ** HP Sauce, formerly made by HP Foods * Handley Page, an aircraft company * Hindustan Petroleum * ...

and its successors. Both the standard and CAS modes function independently of each other and the calculator can quickly switch between the two, unlike some of its competitors, such as the

TI-Nspire series The TI-Nspire is a graphing calculator made by Texas Instruments, which was released in July 2007, notable for featuring a non-QWERTY keyboard and a different key-by-key layout than its predecessors. Development The original TI-Nspire ...

Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits, which it sells to electronics designers and manufacturers globall ...

, which comes in either CAS-supported models or non-CAS models. The G1 model calculator has a 1,500 mAh battery, which is expected to last up to 15 hours on a single charge. The G2 model comes with a battery with a capacity of 2,000 mAh.

Exam Mode

The HP Prime has a feature called ''Exam Mode''. This enables various features of the calculator (such as CAS functionality, user-created apps, notes, etc.) to be selectively disabled for a specific time, from 15 minutes to 8 hours. This can be done manually within the calculator's menus, or by using a computer with HP's connectivity software. LEDs on the top of the calculator blink to let the instructor see that the calculator is in this mode. Despite this feature, the Prime is still prohibited in many examinations, such as the US's ACT college-entry test. It is however starting to be accepted in other examinations, like those run by the Dutch CvTE, the Swiss IB, or

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(Canada) education authorities.

Programming

The HP Prime's non-CAS home-screen supports textbook, algebraic and 128-level RPN (aka Advanced RPN) entry logic. However, it uses a new operating system unrelated to HP's legacy

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

and Saturn-emulated systems, which were used on HP's previous RPN/RPL graphing calculators; therefore, it is not compatible with any

User RPL RPL is a handheld calculator operating system and application programming language used on Hewlett-Packard's scientific graphing RPN (Reverse Polish Notation) calculators of the HP 28, 48, 49 and 50 series, but it is also usable on non-RPN ...

or System RPL, or with programming in Saturn or ARM assembler language. The calculator supports programming in a new,

Pascal Pascal, Pascal's or PASCAL may refer to: People and fictional characters * Pascal (given name), including a list of people with the name * Pascal (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** Blaise Pascal, Fren ...

-like programming language now named HP PPL (for Prime Programming Language, but originally also referred to as HP Basic) that also supports creating apps. This is based on a language introduced on the

HP 38G The HP 38G (F1200A, F1892A) is a programmable graphing calculator by Hewlett-Packard (HP). It was introduced in 1995 with a suggested retail price of US$80. HP credits a committee of eight high school, community college, and university te ...

and built on in subsequent models.

Hardware revisions and model variants

The first production model (NW280AA) in 2013 reports its hardware revision as A. This model does not support wireless connectivity, unit-to-unit USB communication, or data streaming. The calculator is manufactured by

Inventec Besta Inventec Corporation (; ) is a Taiwan-based Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) making notebook computers, servers and mobile devices. Originally established in 1975 to develop and manufacture electronic calculators, major customers include Hew ...

and utilizes a modified version of their Besta operating system. The second production model (G8X92AA) reports its hardware revision as C. It was introduced in May 2014. This model supports features lacking in the first production model, namely wireless connectivity (using the ''HP Prime Wireless Kit'' (FOK65AA)), unit-to-unit USB communication (through

USB OTG USB On-The-Go (USB OTG or just OTG) is a specification first used in late 2001 that allows USB devices, such as tablets or smartphones, to act as a host, allowing other USB devices, such as USB flash drives, digital cameras, mouse or keyboards ...

), and data streaming (using the ''HP StreamSmart 410'' (NW278AA) 4-port data streamer). The wireless kit includes a base station connected to a PC and wireless modules to connect to up to 30 HP Prime calculators for use in a classroom. The third production model, which was introduced in August 2016, has a revised color scheme with darker blue and orange colors for an improved readability of the keyboard. It still carries the model number G8X92AA and reports a hardware revision of C, but the package shows a 2016 copyright. In July 2018, HP introduced a new hardware generation with model number 2AP18AA and hardware revision D. This version features an

NXP NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXP) is a Dutch semiconductor designer and manufacturer with headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The company employs approximately 31,000 people in more than 30 countries. NXP reported revenue of $11.06 billion in 2 ...

i.MX 6ULL The i.MX range is a family of Freescale Semiconductor (now part of NXP) proprietary microcontrollers for multimedia applications based on the ARM architecture and focused on low-power consumption. The i.MX application processors are SoCs (Sy ...

MCIMX6Y2 processor with ARM

Cortex A7 The ARM Cortex-A7 MPCore is a 32-bit microprocessor core licensed by ARM Holdings implementing the ARMv7-A architecture announced in 2011. Overview It has two target applications; firstly as a smaller, simpler, and more power-efficient succes ...

core and is about three times faster. It provides more RAM (256 MiB instead of 32 MiB) and a bigger Flash module (512 MB instead of 256 MB) and runs

FreeRTOS FreeRTOS is a real-time operating system kernel for embedded devices that has been ported to 35 microcontroller platforms. It is distributed under the MIT License. History The FreeRTOS kernel was originally developed by Richard Barry around ...

. It is labelled "G2" on the back.

Images

Hp prime apps.jpg, Selection of bundled apps Hp prime cas.jpg, Computer Algebra System

References

External links

Official website of HP Prime
* tp://ftp.hp.com/pub/calculators/Prime/ Official HP FTP server with PC emulator, latest documentation and firmware for download
Emulator for evaluation (Windows)
alternative download
hpcalc.org

Reverse engineering the HP Prime USB protocol
{{HP calculators Computer algebra systems Graphing calculators

Prime A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...

Products introduced in 2013