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Programmable calculators Radio Shack PC-2
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Datasheet Years of production:   Display type: Alphanumeric display  
New price:   Display color: Black  
    Display technology: Liquid crystal display 
Size: 3½"×8"×1" Display size: 26 characters
Weight: 16 oz    
    Entry method: BASIC expressions 
Batteries: 4×"AA" alkaline Advanced functions: Trig Exp Cmem Snd 
External power: 6VDC   Memory functions:  
I/O: Printer, cassette     
    Programming model: BASIC 
Precision: 13 digits Program functions: Jump Cond Subr Lbl Ind  
Memories: 1850(0) bytes Program display: Text display  
Program memory: 1850 bytes Program editing: Text editor  
Chipset: Sharp PC-1500   Forensic result: 8.99998153428  

pc2.jpg (38154 bytes)Whoops. This calculator looks eerily familiar. Of course, I know why. Despite the label that seems to suggest that this is a handheld version of Tandy's venerable TRS-80, in reality this machine is none other but the Sharp PC-1500 handheld computer in disguise.

And a solid, albeit somewhat bulky, BASIC programmable unit it is. Nobody complained that Radio Shack had bad taste when they picked the models that they chose to sell under their OEM brand name.

The PC-2's programming model is illustrated by the following example, computing the logarithm of the Gamma function to high precision:

10:INPUT X
20:Z=ABS X
30:G=2.506628275+6.3E-10+(225.5255846+1.9E-8)/Z-(268.2959738+4.1E-8)/(Z+1)
40:G=G+(80.90308069+3.5E-9)/(Z+2)-(5.007578639+7.1E-10)/(Z+3)
50:G=LN(G+(.011468489+5.435E-10)/(Z+4))+(Z-.5)*LN (Z+4.65)-Z-4.65
60:IF X>0THEN 90
70:RADIAN
80:G=LN (pi/X/SIN (pi*Z))-G
90:PRINT G,EXP G