HP 48G Vs 48GX

Graphing calculator is important for student when you need to check complex problems and some classes even require you to have the unit. There are so many options out there for you to pick from different brands and models like the HP 48G vs 48GX. Both of them are coming from the same line and is related to each other which makes them rather similar that different. If you are wondering which calculator fit your preference the most, go check our article below.

In this article, we are going to give you information about:
– Do you need a Graphing Calculator
– What are HP 48G and 48GX
– What HP 48G and 48GX Look Like
– What HP 48G and 48GX can offer to you
– HP 48G vs 48GX

Graphing Calculator
This is probably the time in your high school where your teacher is telling the class to have a graphing calculator or at least recommend them to you. Most of us already familiar with the scientific calculator and have used them for years but now it is time to up your tool the next level because just like everything else, things will get hard the more you climb the ladder. This type of calculator is not cheap and will cost you some more for the high-end unit but still necessary. For those who never used one before, graphing calculator is indeed required by various classes like calculus and there is even a research on how effective a graphing calculator will help you in your study.

Another benefit from the teacher perspective is they can optimize story problems or the type of problems where you have to find the maximum and minimum that can be solved using first year calculus techniques. Using a graphing calculator, a second year algebra student can work on these kind of problems easier and they can use the time to be more focus on for example how to write a function that model a real life situation then use the calculator to find both the maximum and minimum.

This type of calculator will help you graph parabolas, lines, cubic functions and even calculate the points of intersection. Additionally, just like it has been mentioned above, it lets you have a visual experience and give you a chance to manipulate algebraic equations through the use of brackets and stored answers.

There are so many options out there when you are hunting for a graphing calculator and most of them are coming with the same capabilities as a standard graphing calculator but of course, depend on the manufacturer and model, each one of them may have a big or slight difference that may affect your decision which is why choosing the one with the most beneficial features is important to let us use the calculator effectively while for those with less to spend may need to consider the price as well.

About HP 48G and 48GX
When talking about calculator in general, there must be several names appearing in our mind starting from those most popular name that are currently placed at the top of the market or other brands below it and among those top names, HP is a very good option to go. This company has been around for a very long period and still one of the best option for many electronic appliances today including their calculator even though most people know them more for the printer and laptop.

HP has numerous calculator in their collection both scientific and graphing calculator and there are many of them that has been released decades ago but still love by many people today such as the HP 48G and 48GX. Both of them are included on the brand’s collection of graphing calculators; the HP 48 and was initially launched from 1990 until 2003 with the last model of HP48G+ because the HP 48gii is not in this line. Just like what you already expected, the upper model is based on the initial model, making them alike.

Even though HP 48 is influencing other calculators in its house, they are also influenced strongly by other calculators in the company’s line but the most obvious are the HP 18C and the 28 series. As for the HP 48G and 48GX themselves, they are offered at the same period between 1993 and 2003 but the units is still available in various shops whether in real life or on the website. Read also: HP 48G Vs 50G.

HP 48G and 48GX Design
Visually, there is nothing that separate both of HP 48G and 48GX because they are coming with and identical design, material and of course the keys is all the same so if you have bad eyesight, you probably won’t be able to tell them apart. What you can do to identify them is the model number printed above the screen. The screen itself is also still the same despite being a different model since they are still using the 131 x 64 pixel monochrome LCD.

This LCD display has six menu keys that you select from a wide variety of menu items thus, they can give you the capabilities similar of those with large keyboards for there are many items that can be selected by a single key press. Not only numbers, the stack in both of HP 48G and 48GX can hold many different type of objects like complex numbers, literal algebraic expressions, arrays, matrices, list and so on. Due to this many capabilities, getting a hang on these calculator will need some time to make sure you remember all of them and can apply the features in real life tasks.

HP 48G and 48GX Features
Because they are in the same line and generally coming with the same capabilities, you probably already very curious on what are the exact difference between them beside the common benefits of graphing calculator that of course can be served by both of them. We all knew that graphing calculator have both ram and rom which is used to store the programs and this is what separate these calculator the most because the 48G is actually the expanded or improved version of the S model.

Both of rom and ram are very similar but also different because rom is used to store programs and variables that you can use for later and this is where applications is stored. While as for ram, this is where things got faster and used to store programs as well as variables when you want to use them often.

One thing that you have to keep in mind is most of the time in case your calculator is in crash or if you change the batteries, chances are you will also going to lose the data stored in ram which is why many people are recommending to move the data to rom space if possible and then if there are too many programs and variables in RAM, you may get an error memory when operating whether the program or applications.

To expand the ram in HP 48GX, you will need an emulator like the Droid48 but to execute the process you will need to read the manual thoroughly first to avoid any lost data. First, the real ram card is intended to be used as a storage devices just like your USB flash drive and you can use it to back up data, execute the libraries and programs from it and remove the card to be store in your desk for another used in another calculator.

The second way is to expand the memory literally by upgrading the HP 48GX on board memory and this one is called as merging. It still give the same abilities but now instead of plugging it on and off from the calculator, the additional memory is used to execute program and store more data in the HOME directory and such. If you use the MEME command, the amount of free space you will get is the internal ram plus the merged ram deducted with the amount of ram that already used.

What you need to avoid this problem is by running the FREE command first. The aforementioned emulator is not directly supporting the expansion cards but you can download the content of rom card from the brand’s site and then upload it into a ram port in the emulator.

There are so many things you can do on both of HP 48G and 48GX so we are not going to talk about them all but we will only pick some of them to highlight what they can do for you. Just like many other graphing calculators, what you need to be familiar with is the stack use because these two have 4 levels with the numbers on the left side. The level 3 means that the level identified by 3 and when you type a number, the number will placed in the command line at the bottom.

And there will be no level number while the stack is pushed up without any change from the numbers. When you are performing an operation, the line will be moved to the line 1 along with the operation and result. Another common thing you can do in both calculators is saving a contestant which you can type in level 1 and then press the ‘ , hold the “α” key then put an identifier that begins with a letter.

To recall the constant to the command line, you can press the corresponding menu key when need them for algebraic expression because they are really named variables. If you want to change the old value with the new one, put the value in line 1 or command line and press the reverse arrow icon along with the soft key for the constant thus, the old value that will be replaced with the new one will appear on the screen. When you are done, press the reverse arrow PURG to erase the constant and remove it from menu.

The next useful features from HP 48G and 48GX is their defining functions feature which is very good when you often evaluate a function repeatedly because it will define the functions to take its arguments from the stack and calculates a value when a softkey is pressed.

The last interesting feature is the Stopwatch feature and to access the stopwatch, press the reverse arrow TIME menu to see the soft key TICKS. When you press this, the current value will move on the stack and when you press it again, the updated value will be moved on the stack but when you need to know the number of TICKS elapsed between the both, do SWAP or cursor right.

Comparison
Now, let’s compare HP 48G with 48GX. As it has been mentioned above, the difference between both of these graphing calculator is because HP 48GX is coming with expandable memories; for example the ram can have an additional 32kb or 12kb that operated in either free or merged mode while the HP48G is not coming with this extending capability but all the features are still the same.

HP 48G Vs 48GX

Conclusion
All in all, the decision is all yours to make because both of them are very similar to each other and depend on your need you may prefer one over the other. However, if you would like to have the one that can hold many more data, then we will highly recommend you to pick the HP 48GX.