Unlike many people, Bill Siemer still regularly uses his college calculator, a 1991 Hewlett Packard 32SII Reverse Polish Notation calculator. With his analytic mind and penchant for problem-solving, Bill naturally gravitated toward engineering, a math-heavy career path that requires a solid scientific calculator. One undergraduate degree, two master’s programs, and twenty-seven years of service in the US Navy’s Civil Engineer Corps later, Bill’s HP calculator has gone above and beyond in its utility. Each time Bill uses his calculator, it reminds him of his engineering career’s origins and encourages him to keep solving even the most difficult problems.
Listen to Bill Siemer’s story in his own words:
This object is part of the “Legacy” section of the Artifacts of Experience exhibition designed by University of Cincinnati students in the “Introduction to Public History” course in 2023.
We encourage you to explore the other objects in our collection.
Transcript
Kathryn Siemer [KS]: So, what is the object?
Bill Siemer [BS]: So, the object that I chose—it’s actually a calculator, which may seem odd. It’s a Hewlett-Packard 32SII Reverse Polish Notation scientific calculator.
[KS]: Now, why is it significant to you, and how is it different from just, like, a regular old calculator?
[BS]: For this calculator…Obviously, so you know about me: I’m an engineer. I’ve always liked working with numbers. I have a rational, analytical thought process. I like solving problems. You know, from back when I was in grade school, elementary school, math has always been important to me. And so as I continued in my education, when I started my undergraduate degree, I needed to find a calculator.
Now everyone is familiar with the Texas Instrument calculators. This is a Hewlett-Packard and it’s a little bit different in the way that it works, and that intrigued me when I was starting out, so I started using this calculator. Like I said, it’s Reverse Polish Notation. And it kind of does the calculating…or you input the numbers and the operands a little bit—a little bit backwards.
And so I first got this when I was in my first year in undergraduate—so, over 30 years ago—and I’ve used it through undergraduate, through my two graduate programs. I use it at work. I use it to this day, every single day, and so it’s more of what it represents for me: it represents that—that learning, that love and affinity for—for numbers and working with numbers.
[KS]: Now, not to date you, but you said you got it at the start of your undergraduate. So, when was that? What year?
[BS]: 1991 is when I got this. I started my undergrad really in 1990 and that’s when I was using my old Texas Instrument calculator, and I found this, and I’ve been using it since.