How does the Fraction mode work?
This is a really interesting facility but can easily turn and bite you if you don’t understand it. Many of the calculators on the market have fraction buttons which allow you to add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions but the drawback of all of them is that many operations convert the fraction to a decimal. Generally once you do that there’s no way to convert back. The HP will convert any decimal to a fraction. Try this. Use MODES to change into ‘Fraction 4’ mode. Now go into HOME and type 0.33 and ENTER. You should find that it converts 0.33 into 33/100. Now try the same with 0.333333 This time you will find that it gives you 1/3. Why the difference? The makers of the calculator have taken a very different approach. Once you select Fraction mode, all numbers become fractions – even decimals. If you are only going to be using fractions from that point on, then this will not cause a problem as long as you bear the following two points in mind. • The first point is that there seems
