Calculators database rules

Calcs database fields follow these rules:

Brand and Model

It's simply the official name of the calculator. What is reported is exactly what appears on the calculator (capital/lowercase letters, numbers and punctuation signs included), and NOT what is printed on the box, in the manual or on some paper of the blister package: sometimes they differ!
(my intention is stricter than me: sometimes I'm too lazy to do a proper check, and I stick on the name that my brain retains!)

Broken

This field reports a code indicating how well the calculator works (some more notes are reported below the database scheme):

NO, if the calculator works well
YES, if the calculator doesn't work anymore (it means it cannot be turned on)
HALF, if the calculator turns on, but something goes wrong during usage (some keys fail, the display cannot show the correct information, and so forth).

Type

This field classifies the calculator for it main usage:

basic: identifies a four-basic-operations and few other capabilities
desktop: identifies a non portable adding machine
financial: identifies a calculator targeted for the financial market (it may carry some scientific functions, though)
scientific: identifies a non-graphical scientific calculator
graphical: identifies a graphical scientific calculator
PocketC: identifies a pocket calculator (usually programmable in BASIC), also known as pocket computer

Archived

This field mark the 'position' of the calculator:

Y: it means the calculator is stored (without batteries, into a folder, into a drawer); if garage is present, the calculator is too big to be stored into my drawer, so it has been put into the garage, sealed and protected.
Office: it means it's my everyday usage calculator (I'm an engineer, after all)
Home: it means it lies on a shelf in the sitting room, and I spend some time with it from time to time
Mac: it means it's near my Mac for computing usage
Bedroom: it's referred to my beloved HP-15C; I want it to sleep beside me. And from time to time, we play together before getting asleep.

S/N

It's the Serial Number (or any code number found onto the calculator itself). If it's unavailable, **missing** is reported.

Input

It's the input mode of the calculator; classic modes are:

RPN: Reverse Polish Notation is an input technique usually found in some HP calculators model; for a calculation like sin 60° + 34.5 you type the following: 60 sin 34.5 + (no other key is required); generally the stack is 3 or 4 registers deep. A variant of the RPN is RPL, which means Reverse Polish Lisp, and is an input technique usually found in HP graphic machines; for calculations, it operates just like RPN, having minor differences, the most notable being an unlimited stack; as a programming language, anyway, RPL is very powerful on its own and much more powerful than RPN.
EOS (a.k.a. equation mode): a new algebraic technique found on all modern non-RPN calculators; for calculating sin 60° + 34.5 you type the equation "as is": sin 60 + 34.5 = (where the = may also be an Enter, a Run, an Exe or any other valid executing command, and is essential); "equation" is also the classic input technique of the old BASIC pocket computers, where a line had to be input in BASIC (which is, of course, a sort of EOS mode).
AOS (a.k.a. algebraic mode): the classical input technique found on most 1970s and 1980s calculators; for calculating sin 60° + 34.5 you type: 60 sin + 34.5 = (the terminating = is essential); basically, it's a mixture of the previous modes: unary functions like sin operate in RPN mode, binary functions like + operate in equation mode (infix);

Comparing them, we obtain:

RPN/RPL	60 sin 34.5 +
equation	sin 60 + 34.5 =
algebraic	60 sin + 34.5 =

Other modes are:

mechanical: an input executed through mechanical keys (plus a lever); it's common on Burroughs-like machines.
AM (adding machine): an algebraic input mode adapted for calculating long series of sums and products, found mostly on desktop adding machines.

Programmable (max steps|bytes)

It's the indication whether the calculator is programmable or not, according to the following classes:

No programming

no means the calculator is not programmable (any doubt about it?)

Keystroke programming

RPN is the Reverse Polish Notation language (instructions follow this syntax); keystrokes are recorded and executed; program editing is generally available.
formula is a plain functions storing through algebraic keystrokes recording, sometimes with limited features for loops/jumps; program editing is generally unavailable.

Programming languages

RPL is the Reverse Polish Lisp, a complete programming language with advanced commands and graphic features, found mostly on HP graphic calculators.
AA means Advanced Algebraic, a very powerful and improved algebraic language with jumps, loops, conditionals, variables, data input and graphics (found mostly on advanced algebraic calculators, mainly from Casio, Texas Instruments, Citizen and Sharp, under different names).
BASIC means Beginner's All Purpose Symbolic Instructions Code, and it's the plain BASIC language; on pocket calculators, generally, this language is not structured, uses line numbering, and is limited in memory, strings and display capabilities, but it's nonetheless powerful and useful (remember that calculators nature is to crunch numbers!).
BASIC-C is a mixture of BASIC and C.

Other languages may be reported with their proper names if they don't conform to the previous definitions.

***

The dimension of the maximum number of steps/bytes is enclosed into parenthesis, with the following rules:

the datum is the maximum number of programmable steps/bytes (regardless of other entities like registers or statistics cells);
no measure unit indicates steps;
bytes (and Kbytes, Mbytes and so on) are reported with the proper measure unit B (or KB, MB, etc.).

The maximum steps number alone is useless if memory registers belong to the same storage area and their spaces overlap, so take this value with care.

Production Date

It's the date in which the calculator was assembled/built (nothing more than a year and - possibly - a month). Of course this date is only indicative, because the only way to establish the right date is to open the calculator and retrieve the date from the Integrated Circuit Serial Number. But since I'm not an expert in disassembling hardware, I generally avoid doing it. In any case any uncertain date (if at least a date is determinable), is reported in red

These are two useful links to understand calculators dating:

Vintage Technology in http://www.vintage-technology.info/pages/calculators/general/calcdate.htm
MyCalcDB in http://mycalcdb.free.fr/main.php?l=0&p=3

I follow their rules. In case you want to see, here's my personal page with some notes about calculators dates.

Original Purchase Date

If known, it's the date when the original owner purchased the calculator I successively bought as used. If I bought the calculator new, N.A. is reported.

Purchase Date

It's the date when I purchased the calculator; is some date is uncertain, it is reported in red.

Total Price

It's the sum I spent for the calculator, expedition plus local and international fees included.

Manual

It's the indication whether a calculator is accompanied by an official manual or some sort of documentary sheet. Data are:

no means no documentation is provided or left (I lost the Casio fx-100 College documentation only, thus other noes come from used items without manual)
en means English documentation
en+ means that the documentation is in various languages, being prominent the English language (Italian may or may not be present)
it means Italian documentation
it+ indicates that the documentation is in various languages, being prominent the Italian language and being absent the English language

If the indicator appears in green, the manual is not directly associated with the calculator; instead, I bought the calculator (used) without any manual, and gathered the manual somewhere else, and then associating them. Of course, this manual won't appear in the My manual section.

Case

It's the indication whether a calculator is protected by some pouch or cover, according to the following classes:

no = no case
HPC = Hard Plastic Cover/Case
LC = Leather Case
LP = Leather Pouch
PP = Plastic Pouch
W = Wallet Case

Power Source

Reported information follows standard IEC batteries names (as in Energizer's technical documentation).

Notes (at the bottom there's a table reporting batteries equivalence among various manufacturers):

LR03 is the standard name of the AAA alkaline manganese dioxide type batteries
LR06 is the standard name of the AA alkaline manganese dioxide type batteries
LR14 is the standard name of the C alkaline manganese dioxide type batteries
LR20 is the standard name of the D alkaline manganese dioxide type batteries
6LR61 is the standard name of the 9V alkaline manganese dioxide batteries, also known as ANSI MN1604 (the one with a circle and a crown on top)
LR43, SR43, LR44, SR44 (the 44 series is also known as 1131), LR54, SR54 (the 54 series is also known as 1130) and SR57 are common button type batteries; LR (alkaline manganese dioxide) and SR (alkaline silver oxide) are generally interchangeable, being the SR more suitable for calculators (though not always available, at least here in Italy).
CR1220, CR2016, CR2025, CR2032 are common lithium manganese dioxide coin type batteries.
for button cell batteries, see also here

Batteries equivalence among various manufacturers (technical documentation links where available)
- if two or more types are produced, the most common and/or the most suitable for calculators is chosen -

IEC Name	Energizer	Duracell	Varta	Panasonic	Renata	Maxell	Kodak
LR03 (AAA)	E92	MN2400	4103 graph	AM-4	-	AAA	K3A
LR06 (AA)	E91	MN1500	4106 graph	AM-3	-	AA	KAA
LR14 (C)	E93	MN1400	4114 graph	AM-2	-	C	KC
LR20 (D)	E95	MN1300	4120 graph	AM-1	-	D	KD
6LR61 (9V)	522	MN1604	4922 graph	6AM-6	-	9V	K9V
LR43	186	-	V12GA graph	-	LR43	LR43L	-
LR44	A76	-	V13GA graph	LR44	LR44	LR44	KA76
LR54	189	-	V10GA graph	-	-	LR1130L	-
SR43	386-301 / 301	D301/386	V301 graph	-	386	SR43W	-
SR44	357-303 (H) / EPX76	D303/357	V357 (HC) graph	G13	357	SR44W	KS76
SR54	390-389 / 389 / 390	D389/390	V390 graph	-	389	SR1130W	-
SR57	395-399	D395/399	V399 graph	-	399	SR927W	-
CR1220	CR1220	-	CR1220 graph	CR1220	CR1220	CR1220	-
CR2016	CR2016	DL2016	CR2016 graph	CR2016	CR2016	CR2016	KCR2016
CR2025	CR2025	DL2025	CR2025 graph	CR2025	CR2025	CR2025	KCE2025
CR2032	CR2032	DL2032	CR2032 graph	CR2032	CR2032	CR2032	KCR2032

(data verified at each manufacturer's site in February 2007, and checked against Italian shop-available batteries)
- guess what's my favorite manufacturer! -

Power Consumption

If known, it's expressed in Watts. For solar calculators, this won't apply.

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