50g TIPS
Please submit yours to share! --John
ABBREVIATIONS USED: PLUS: The “+” symbol, when shown between two keys without spaces or commas, means press and hold the first key, press and release the second key, then release the first key. LS = Left Shift key. RS = Right Shift key. ◄ ► ▲ ▼ = the cursor control keys. STO = STO► [the STORE key].
TO GET THE “UPDATE CODE” PROMPT TO UPDATE ROM WITHOUT USING PAPERCLIP: Press ON+F6 [press and hold ON, press and release F6, release ON]; wait about 3 seconds for a menu of options; press and release ON, then immediately press and hold both the + and the – keys for 2-3 seconds; release both keys, see “1. UPDATE CODE 2. SELFTEST”; press 1 to update ROM without having to use a paperclip in the reset hole. To cancel, press 2 to start the selftest, then cancel that with ON+F3.
"HOLDED" KEY COMBINATIONS: On the 50g, if you press Left Shift [or Right Shift] and release, then press another key, that key press combination is different than if you press Left Shift [or Right Shift] and hold it while you press the next key. The rc.p keycode (row column . plane) for the held keys is now rc.ph (where h is 1 for held key and 0 for non-held key).
EXACT & APPROXIMATE MODE TOGGLE: RS+ENTER.
REAL & COMPLEX MODE TOGGLE: LS+TOOL.
PUT BACK TICKS ON THE STACK: If you right-shift (hold) the EQW key ('), you will put back ticks on the stack which will use the Algebraic compiler to parse your command while in RPN mode.
TO LIST CONTENTS OF ALL VARIABLES IN SCREEN: Press RS, ▼ [Right Shift, Cursor Down]. Press ON to cancel.
UNIT CONVERSIONS MADE EASY: Unit conversions like yd^3→m^3 can be keystroke-intensive. To make it easy, have flag 117 (Soft MENU) checked, and RPN mode selected. Example: convert 100 yd^3 to m^3: press RS, UNITS, VOL, type ‘100’, yd^3 [see “100_yd^3”], LS, m^3. See “76.4554857984_m3”. You only have to use CONVERT if you have some units that aren’t on the menus, like ‘qt/hr’. Even then, you can store that unit in a variable, and make a custom menu with it (along with the units you regularly use). Then this method (with LS, the left-shift key) works the same way.
FRACTIONAL EXPONENTS: Why do I get a complex number when I evaluate '(-1)^(2/3)'? Because the machine returns a complex principal solution for expressions with fractional exponents. To get a real-valued result to the above, use the x√y key: 'XROOT(3,(-1)^2)' or 'XROOT(3,SQ(-1))'.
STORE VARIABLES: Example: Store 'π*r2' in variable A1:
ALG: 'π*r^2 ► STO A1 ENTER
RPN Method 1: π r ENTER 2 yx * A1 STO
RPN Method 2a: 'π*r^2 ► A1 STO
RPN Method 2b: 'π*r^2 ENTER A1 STO
PURGE VARIABLES:
ALG: TOOL PURGE VAR [press variable softkey] ENTER
RPN Method 1: VAR ' [press variable softkey] ENTER TOOL PURGE
RPN Method 2: VAR { [press one or more variable softkeys] ENTER TOOL PURGE