Santron Santronic 600PM
| Datasheet legend
Ab/c:
Fractions calculation
AC: Alternating current BaseN: Number base calculations Card: Magnetic card storage Cmem: Continuous memory Cond: Conditional execution Const: Scientific constants Cplx: Complex number arithmetic DC: Direct current Eqlib: Equation library Exp: Exponential/log functions Fin: Financial functions Grph: Graphing capability Hyp: Hyperbolic functions Ind: Indirect addressing Intg: Numerical integration Jump: Unconditional jump (GOTO) Lbl: Program labels LCD: Liquid Crystal Display LED: Light-Emitting Diode Li-ion: Li-ion rechargeable battery Lreg: Linear regression (2-var. stats) mA: Milliamperes of current Mtrx: Matrix support NiCd: Nickel-Cadmium recharg. batt. NiMH: Nickel-metal-hydrite rech. batt. Prnt: Printer RTC: Real-time clock Sdev: Standard deviation (1-var. stats) Solv: Equation solver Subr: Subroutine call capability Symb: Symbolic computing Tape: Magnetic tape storage Trig: Trigonometric functions Units: Unit conversions VAC: Volts AC VDC: Volts DC |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
What a delightful old calculator! Many, many thanks to Niels Wittje from Germany who, instead of turning this poor old machine into useless e-waste or putting it up on eBay in the hope of getting rich on the proceeds, donated it to our site.
At first, I thought I was confronted with an entirely unique beast, but that is not the case. Though its appearance is different, this calculator is really identical to the National Semiconductor NS-4515 Mathematician.
This 600PM has an odd affliction that, at first, I thought was a design error: numbers less than 1 are displayed with the leading zero suppressed (which is okay) but with the decimal point after, not before, the first digit. Initially I was under the impression that only numbers between 0.1 and 1 behave this way but no: all fractional values do. And closer inspection shows that the decimal point is significantly fainter than normal. So perhaps it's not a logic error, after all, just some analog cross-talk, perhaps some contamination or corrosion of the main PCB? I was able to open the case cleanly and while there was plenty of corrosion near the battery terminals, there were no other obvious signs of damage.
This particular machine also appears... much loved? It seems that several of its keys have been customized. There are also some near-professional quality labels above and below the display that are not factory originals; similarly, some custom labels are also present on the back of the calculator. Given the quality of the labeling and their obvious utility, I decided to keep the calculator "as is" rather than attempting to restore it to a more "factory original" appearance.
Beyond these customizations and the weird display bug, however, it really is the NS-4515 throughout. In particular, the program for the log Gamma function that I wrote for the NS-4515 works on the 600PM without alteration. Just like on the NS-4515, it is fairly accurate for arguments greater than 1: For instance, 5 start yields 24.00004 after exponentiation, which is pretty darn close to the correct result, 24.
MS EN ln × MR - 2 π × MR ÷ ln 2 ÷ + 1 2 1/x MR ÷ + 4 0 0 1/x MR ÷ MR ÷ MR ÷ -
