Hewlett-Packard tries to overtake the Texas Instruments calculator supremacy
Hewlett Packard was nearly the first businesses to design graphing calculators. In 1987, Hewlett Packard issued the HP 28c to excellent acclaim. Soon, HP had an extensive audience among the new culture of mathematicians and students that were graphing calculator fanatics. But like other calculator makers, HP found it difficult to maintain their market share in the blitz of Texas Instruments merchandise for sale that dominated in the 1990’s and beyond. Why did HP have trouble maintaining their position, and where do they stand today?
When HP produced their first graphing calculator in 1987, the calcualtor market was immature. Casio had just made the first graphing calculator just a year before. Sharp and Texas Instruments were soon to arrive in the game. But still, at the time, it was anyone’s game, and it was just a guess who would prevail.
Hewlett Packard’s initial “hook” was a method of calculation called Reverse Polish notation or RPN. While most graphing calculators input in the normal algebraic method like 8 + 3, Reverse Polish Notation would input the same arithmetic 3 8 +. This is indeed quite a bit more effective if you have a lot of calculations to input at once because it allows you to bypass the need for parentheses. Conversely, it can be kind of counter-intuitive when you have spent nearly your whole life learning to do calculation without Reverse Polish Notation. So even though RPN gained a cult following among certain parts of the calculator community, it was not something that endeared HP to the student and teacher community at large.
When the 90’s approached, Texas Instruments was less concerned about keystroke efficiency and more about getting students and teachers to embrace their products. In quick succession, the TI-80, TI-81, TI-82 and TI-85 were released to great excitement and quickly made strides with educators for a couple of reasons. First, they were easy to use. Second, Texas Instruments went after students by creating supplemental materials, providing training for teachers, and fabricating scientific probes to communicate with their graphing calculators. The plan of attack succeeded, and even today, Texas Instruments dominates the secondary education market on scientific calculators.
Meanwhile, HP continued to attract programmers, engineers, and the geek crowd. Their devices were strong due to display, features, and programmability. By the mid 90’s it was simple to download apps as complicated as Mortal Kombat for certain HP models. But as important a group as the techies are, that market is still small in comparison to the number of high school classrooms around America that TI owned.
So at the turn of the century, HP began a move towards becoming more user friendly for students. Now, RPN could be turned off, no longer a requirement to use Hewlett Packard calculators, which opened their product line to more students and teachers than in the early days. Graphing menus became simpler to use, and price points became more spread out. Heading forward, HP offers a lineup of calculators that is more adapted to the educational market than ever before. Entry level models, HP 39GS and HP 40GS go for just under $50. The 40GS is the only calculator with a computer algebra system that is so cheap. The HP 50G competes well with The TI-89 Titanium at the top of the line, and in the middle, you’ll find the HP 48GS.
To learn more, visit Tech Powered Math, where you can learn about the HP 39.
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