Re: Factorials on the 86
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Re: Factorials on the 86
It's kind of like having a computer with 32MB of RAM vs a computer with
128MB of RAM trying to run something. The amount of memory available on
the calculator has a high correlation to the speed of the calculator.
Just for kicks, try a TI-85 with nothing on it vs a TI-86 that is
completely full and see which one is faster.
--
-iceboxman
TI-CALC Discoveries
http://ticd.home.ml.org
or
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iceboxman@geocities.com
>----------
>From: Todd Stanley[SMTP:toddestan@AOL.COM]
>Reply To: Todd Stanley
>Sent: Friday, February 13, 1998 1:33 PM
>To: CALC-TI@LISTS.PPP.TI.COM
>Subject: Factorials on the 86
>
>A few days ago I was fooling around with my 86's factorial function in
>math class, when I found that putting numbers that weren't integers
>didn't cause an error like on my 85 or my friend's 82. For example,
>10.5! spits out 11899423.084 instead of ERROR 04 DOMAIN. I read in the
>manual (pg. 294) that the calculator uses the "Gamma" function to
>evaluate non-integers when doing factorials. My math teacher had no
>clue what the manual is talking about and what the gamma function is.
>What is the Gamma function and what does it do (as in what does the
>number it give out mean)?
>
>Also, I noticed that the 86 is very much faster when evaluating
>factorials than the older 85. If you have an 85 and an 86, try
>evaluating 449! at the same time on both calculators. The 86 gives back
>an answer almost instantly, while the 85 takes a few seconds. Does the
>86 use a different way to computer factorials?
>
>Todd
>
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