A
ll
and more about Sharp PC-1500
at
http://www.PC-1500.info
II.
TAKING
THE PLUNGE
...
Actually.
th
is
chapter
is
probably
misnamed; learning
to
use the PC·1500A
is
not
near
ly
as
shocking
as
plunging
into
a pool of \Yater.
Ho
\•.i
ever, it
docs
require that you approach the corn·
puter w ith
out
fear. As
\Ye
have said before, you cannot h
urt
or
damage the computer merely
by
pressing
the
keys.
In this chapter we wi
ll
explore
the funda
me
nta
l features
of
SHARP upon which programs and
more advanced
calculations
are
based. Take the time necessary
to
work through
the
examples in
ea
ch section. A good understanding
of
the ba
si
cs will allow you
to
exp
loit this machine's full
potential.
Although we
do
not
recommend
it,
if
you feel
that
you
are sufficiently advance
d.
you
may
skip ahead to the summary
at
t
he
end
of this chapter.
A. MODE
Let's begin with a
key
we
have been ignoring until no\v.
At
the right of the keyboard find
th
e
very important
butto
n labelled MODE. Press
it
repeatedly. Notice, each ti me you press the
key
.
th
e changes in
the
abbreviati
ons
at
the
upper
right. Changing the machine's mode in this
way
can
be
likened
to
shifting gears on a car.
As
each new
.m
ode
or
gear is engaged, machinery
wf1
ich
appears
outwa
rdly unchanged performs
dif
fe
r
en
tly. Like a car, SHARP must be placed in the
proper mode
to
functi
on
acco
rding
to
plan.
And
. also like a car.
when
you
attempt
to
operate
SHARP in an improper
"gear",
the
compute
r will quickly
notify
you of
you
r mistake.
By repeatedly pressing
the
MOOE
button
you
will be i
ntroduced
to
the
two
most
im
porta
nt
of
SHARP's
thr
ee modes: RUN and PROgram. A
th
ird mode, RESERVE, is
act
iv
ated
by
prcs$ing
the
SHIFT key before
the
MODE key. Later chapters
of
thi$ manual will describe how each
of
these modes
contr
i
bu
tes
to
the
smooth running
of
SHARP.
For
now. remember
that
in
ord~
r
to
use SHARP as a calculator.
you
must be in the
RUN
mode. Later. in t
he
PROgram mode, you
wi
ll
write and change programs. With the RESERVE
mode
you
can assign frequently used
commands
to
a single k
ey
. This is explained in greater detail in
Chapte
r
7.
Note
that the first ti
me
you
turn the
computer
on
aft
er inserting batteries, it will settle
into
the
PRO mode.
At
other
times
the
computer w
ill
come
on
in the mo
de
in
wh
i
ch
it
last
operate
d
before being shut off.
B.
SIMPLE CALCULATIONS
With SHARP
set
in the RUN mode, l
et
's test fundamental
mat
hematical comp
utat
ions.
It
is
necessary before each calculation
to
press @ . This clears
the
display
of
any previous
dat
a
wh
ich might interfere with a
new
calculation. Find answers
to
·
the
following
simp
le problems:
Input
Dis~lay
mrnm
1
••••
• 1
7
mG
m
l••t<•I
3
mmm
(ENTER)
2.
5
mrnm
I
ENTERI
1 0
NOTE: Do
not
tYPe
an
eq
ual sign. Remember from
Chapter
I
that
it
is
the
ENTER key which
informs SHARP
that
you
have finished tYping and wish
to
lhave
your
command
or
calculation
performed.
Do
not sale this PDF
!!!
15