Time to get new battery for calculator

[Muse]

I bought this Casio fx-78 scientific caluculator (very small) at the student store about 1980. The tiny calculators had just recently hit the market. I asked the guy behind the counter (undoubtedly a student) how long the battery would last. He said "two years." I've been expecting it to die any minute since 1982. I only use it occassionally, hardly constantly, but who uses a calculator constantly? Today I just noticed that it's still working fine but the LCD is getting pretty dim. It isn't a graphing calculator, but other than that it's everything I could think to want in a calculator.

 

[CycloWizard]

Wow... It's as old as I am and I've had to replace my batteries quite a few times since then. They don't make stuff like they used to.

 

[thescreensavers]

Originally posted by: Muse
I bought this Casio fx-78 scientific caluculator (very small) at the student store about 1980. The tiny calculators had just recently hit the market. I asked the guy behind the counter (undoubtedly a student) how long the battery would last. He said "two years." I've been expecting it to die any minute since 1982. I only use it occassionally, hardly constantly, but who uses a calculator constantly? Today I just noticed that it's still working fine but the LCD is getting pretty dim. It isn't a graphing calculator, but other than that it's everything I could think to want in a calculator.

Casio's are the best calculators on earth. Period

Mine has not been replaced yet. I got it in 2002. Still going strong

 

[thescreensavers]

opps Double post

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: thescreensavers

Originally posted by: Muse
I bought this Casio fx-78 scientific caluculator (very small) at the student store about 1980. The tiny calculators had just recently hit the market. I asked the guy behind the counter (undoubtedly a student) how long the battery would last. He said "two years." I've been expecting it to die any minute since 1982. I only use it occassionally, hardly constantly, but who uses a calculator constantly? Today I just noticed that it's still working fine but the LCD is getting pretty dim. It isn't a graphing calculator, but other than that it's everything I could think to want in a calculator.

Casio's are the best calculators on earth. Period

Mine has not been replaced yet. I got it in 2002. Still going strong

One reason the battery has lasted so long is a really neat feature: If you leave the switch on, forgetting to shut it off it automatically turns off power - even the LCD goes blank. I've quite a few times neglected to turn it off but it's never caused the battery to therefore discharge.

I still have the manuals. Along with the operating manual is a rather big booklet on the subject of scientific computing with the calculator. It was one great purchase.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: CycloWizard
Wow... It's as old as I am and I've had to replace my batteries quite a few times since then. They don't make stuff like they used to.

You run on batteries? :Q I Robot alert!

 

[jstack]

My TI83 and 89 eat through batteries in a about a year.

 

[AmpedSilence]

I bought a Casio in my freshman year of high school, now almost 12 years later it is still going strong! My favorite calculator ever. Simple four function, but it is so useful! I even did calc I and II with it. who needs a graphing calculator?

 

[Kelemvor]

Most small calculators have the solar panels on them so you don't ever need to worry about it.

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: thescreensavers

Originally posted by: Muse
I bought this Casio fx-78 scientific caluculator (very small) at the student store about 1980. The tiny calculators had just recently hit the market. I asked the guy behind the counter (undoubtedly a student) how long the battery would last. He said "two years." I've been expecting it to die any minute since 1982. I only use it occassionally, hardly constantly, but who uses a calculator constantly? Today I just noticed that it's still working fine but the LCD is getting pretty dim. It isn't a graphing calculator, but other than that it's everything I could think to want in a calculator.

Casio's are the best calculators on earth. Period

Mine has not been replaced yet. I got it in 2002. Still going strong

I had a Casio graphing calculator that I got for Christmas when I was in 2nd grade. It recently died a few months ago.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: AmpedSilence
I bought a Casio in my freshman year of high school, now almost 12 years later it is still going strong! My favorite calculator ever. Simple four function, but it is so useful! I even did calc I and II with it. who needs a graphing calculator?

Yeah, I've never thought I needed a graphing calculator but I've seen so many ads for them, I wondered if I did.

I took an upper division math course on route to my math degree, "Numerical Analysis" and thinking back on it I immediately realized how calculators work. I presume they just keep evaluating the specific polynomial that yields results closer and closer to the actual function value until the difference is less than the precision required by the calculator. Then it posts it in the LCD. Of course, this takes a millisecond or something similar.

I still haven't bought replacement battery power for the calculator. It still works, the display is just dim. I only use it once in a while. I love it, though. It's so tiny. My other is a solar, but in dim light it's kind of slow and it's not so simple to use as the battery powered one. Also, it's huge compared to the Casio.

 

[cubby1223]

I lived in a TI region, instead of Casio. Can't complain, we had some great times in high school with zshell loaded on our TI-85s. We pissed off so many teachers playing games all the time, especially with the two player, two calculator tetris game.

The TIs have a small lithium battery so you can replace the AAA batteries and not lose the stored information. I've got to get it connected to the computer one day and save off all the old programs I used to write in basic. My high school math classes consisted of me just figuring out how to program different solitaire games into it.