I am going to lay down a challenge for myself for the entire month of February. My goal is to write once a day on this blog and solve simple math problems (at about a high school level) using Reverse Polish Notation (RPN), otherwise known as postfix notation. I obviously want to use it as a springboard to write more and get to the true goal of what this blog was meant to be, but I also want to share the benefits (and joys!) of RPN. I cannot think of any better way than to just jump right into it with hands on problems and a daily challenge meme.
For the majority of problems I will be using my
DM32 calculator.
And for the financial questions I will be using the
HP12c Platinum which is an RPN calculator from HP that has been in production since 1981. My version is of course much newer with some new features but the form of calculating remains the same. This is a financial calculator which is why I will be using it for the finance questions and also to show off the benefits of RPN specifically in financial calculations.
And so without further adeiu here are the questions that we will be working on each day in February starting this Saturday the 1st. I have decided to give you the whole list so that you can research and work on the questions ahead of time if you decide. That way you can compare your own methods to the one I show you using RPN and can decide for yourself which is more efficient or beneficial in your own workflow.
CalcOwl's February 2025 RPN Challenge
Day 1: At the crack of dawn, the "pH Detective" Alex dives into his daily mission at Sparkling Swims Pool Services. With a hydrogen ion concentration reading of 10^-6 M, what was the pH value of the pool's water this morning?
Day 2: Dreaming of scoops and success, Mia sketches her vision for "Scoops of Wonder," her future ice cream empire. Her dream cone boasts a radius of 2 cm and a height of 6 cm. How much ice cream can this cone hold?
Day 3: Amidst the stars, Jordan, the space engineer extraordinaire, calculates the volume of a new satellite, a shiny orb with a radius of 1.35 meters. What's the volume of this celestial traveler?
Day 4: In his quirky lab at "Bubble Brews," Leo, the soda can maestro, designs the ultimate can with a 3 cm radius and 12 cm height. What's the surface area of this fizzy innovation?
Day 5: Up in the stratosphere, Cameron and Cleo, the ballooning daredevils, brave the elements. From 20°C at ground level to -30°C at peak altitude, what are these temperatures in Kelvin for Cleo's stress calculations?
Day 6: In the mystical "Math Mages" club, Sam, the geometry wizard, unravels the area of a triangle rumored to hold ancient secrets. With each side at 5 cm, what's the area of this magical shape?
Day 7: Eli, the high school's financial wizard, bets he can grow $1000 into a college fund with a 4% annual interest rate compounded quarterly over 5 years. What will be the magical sum of Eli's investment?
Day 8: In the physics lab, where Riley reigns supreme with balls, a 0.5 kg rubber ball zooms at 4 m/s. What's the kinetic energy of this bouncy ball?
Day 9: Watching a skateboarding legend at the park, Casey, the skateboarding sage, calculates speed from energy. With 200 J of kinetic energy and a mass of 60 kg, how fast is this human marvel moving?
Day 10: With muscles flexing, Taylor, the modern-day Atlas of "Moving Miracles," shifts a couch using a 100 N force at a 30-degree angle for 5 meters. How much work does he perform in this feat of strength?
Day 11: On the edge of a dam, Jamie, the water whisperer, ponders the potential energy of a single drop. With a mass of 0.05 kg at 100 meters, what's the energy of this tiny, mighty droplet?
Day 12: Harper, the family's financial navigator, crunches numbers for the dream car loan of $20,000 at 5% interest over 5 years. What will be their monthly journey into payments?
Day 13: In a race against time at a math competition, Finn, the coding prodigy, programs an RPN calculator to sum the first 100 natural numbers. What's the grand total of this numerical journey?
Day 14: Avery, the sandcastle architect, constructs a pyramid king on the beach, with a base of 4 square meters and a height of 2 meters. How much sand does this sandy monument require?
Day 15: Skyler, the mad scientist of the science fair, powers up a circuit with a 9V battery and 0.5 A current. What's the power consumption of this electrifying creation?
Day 16: River, the resistor wrangler, tackles a puzzle in the physics lab with three resistors in parallel: 2Ω, 3Ω, and 6Ω. What's the total resistance of this electronic conundrum?
Day 17: Quinn, the game designer with a universe at his fingertips, calculates gravity on a planet 10^24 kg in mass and 3000 km in radius. What's the gravitational acceleration in this digital cosmos?
Day 18: Charlie, the stargazer with a telescope for a soul, calculates the gravitational force between two asteroids, each with different masses, separated by 1000 km. What's the force that binds these cosmic neighbors?
Day 19: Dakota, the pattern hunter in math class, follows the trail of the Fibonacci sequence. What's the 10th number in this mathematical adventure?
Day 20: At "Bargain Busters," Parker, the deal hunter, calculates the final price of a gadget with successive discounts. From $100, it first gets 10% off, then another 15%. What's the treasure price Parker uncovers?
Day 21: Sasha, with an artist's soul, designs a floor pattern with hexagonal tiles, each side measuring 10 cm. What's the area of one of these geometric wonders?
Day 22: Blake, the pendulum maestro, swings into physics class with a 1-meter pendulum. What's the period of this back-and-forth dance?
Day 23: Reese, the boat builder with dreams of the sea, crafts a vessel that displaces 2 cubic meters in water. With water density at 1000 kg/m³, what buoyant force keeps this dream afloat?
Day 24: Rowan, chasing the light in physics, calculates the energy of a photon with a wavelength of 500 nm. What's the energy behind this vibrant light?
Day 25: In his mechanics workshop, Hayden spins a solid cylinder, 2 kg in mass with a 0.5-meter radius. What's the moment of inertia of this spinning curiosity?
Day 26: Peyton, the electronics tinkerer, experiments with a capacitor holding 50 microcoulombs at 10 volts. What's the capacitance of this electrical component?
Day 27: Morgan, the efficiency guru, tests a toy steam engine that converts 200 J from 500 J input. What's the efficiency of this little engine that could?
Day 28: Bailey, the statistics mastermind, plans for sports day by calculating team formations. From a pool of 10 students, how many unique teams of 3 can be assembled for the ultimate competition?
Bonus: James, the ever-curious mathematician with a passion for precision, sets out on a quest to calculate the value of pi (π) with his trusty RPN calculator.
I am really looking forward to this challenge and working through the problems. We are not just going to show the answer. We are going to explore how to answer each question, what methods in maths are used and how to compute the solution using an RPN calculator. Some of these solutions will be straight, using the main interface of the calculator. Others will including writing programs or even equations that can be solved by the user. All of these will explore the capabilities of a RPN calculator and the power in your hands.
If you want to follow along or even just try out an RPN calculator from HP you can check out
this cool website HP15c.com that has a whole interface of the HP15c (an extremely powerful and very popular RPN scientific calculator). You can use this online or download a program for your computer. You can use the HP15c to follow along with any of the calculations we will be doing for the challenge.
Also, before I forget, you can follow the challenge through the tag
RPN Challenge.Hope to see you around.
