The reason for this ‘error’ is that the
1/3
and
4/5
were converted to decimals and added to give
1.133333
…. This was converted back to a fraction using
Fraction 2
to give
8/7
(
1.1428..
).
This may seem odd but it does match sufficiently closely in
Fraction 2
to be accepted.
Generally it is not a good idea to go below the default setting of
Fraction 4
. In fact, a
Fraction 6
setting tends to be more reliable.
A new feature of the hp 39gs and hp 40gs is the setting of
Mixed
Fraction
in the
MODES
view.
The results of this new setting can be seen in the image to the right.
1
Using the setting of
Mixed Fraction
the result is
4+1/7
(
4
7
) whereas
the answer of
29/7
is obtained using the old
Fraction
setting.
Calculator Tip
4+1/7
If you scroll back through the History and re-use a result such as the
shown above then don’t forget to put brackets around it to ensure
that no ‘order of operations’ errors occur.
36