LOL! Tnx 4 the details. That's like real life -- it's an experiment and extinction is part of the game.rprosperi wrote:Sadly it is unlikely [...]
Reminds me a bit to Old Babylonian maths, e. g. Plimpton 322, a fragment of a cuneiform tablet (part of it was lost or separated "recently" because there are traces of modern glue on the rhs), so today exist several ideas about its development and usage in ancient times. Obviously there was some know-how, but also the know-why?
In contrast to the users' libraries (warning: link lacks PC), where, also the know-why is well defined in calculator manuals, there is so much trouble with the know-how. No reproach, everyone does his best in this experiment. After I saw few of those routines I do not waste more time with it. But, frankly, it is likewise (but less severe) with the solution books, quite rarely I found something precisely applicable to my tasks.
My way was (and still is mostly, anyway) to develop my own solutions, they do what I like and I like what the do -- for me. There is some progress since old babylonian times (even though an HP Prime is not of much help for sophomores to deduce by method of least squares (a standard approach) the formula of arithmetic mean). There was no CAS arround when HP41 was introduced, but today it could help in some cases to find simpler routines. For me the PPC ROM manuall was a role model for programming (albeit there are flaws, e. g. in GN), first and foremost the program's exemplary documentation (a thorough description which deserves this term) what (also) leads to the principle: "think first".
/M.