Bibliography and Further Reading

This bibliography collects the manual’s external references and selected further reading. The project source and chapter 15 define SpicyRPN Release 2.0.0’s behavior. Other calculators’ manuals describe different software or hardware. Online references were checked for this edition on 3 October 2026; access to some journal articles is limited to bibliographic records and abstracts.

SpicyRPN and calculator practice

1.

Bryan R. Davies. SpicyRPN Release 2.0.0: source code and documentation. Release source ZIP and compiled manual. The application, tests, libraries, licensing notices, and editable manual sources belong together. Use the version-matched source package when comparing implementation details with this manual. Appendix C.14 explains the source layout and build procedure.

2.

SpicyRPN. An RPN Primer. Online primer; SpicyRPN website. The source of the longer worked expression in Appendix 15.12 and the author’s account of the calculator’s origins in Appendix A.11. The primer explains notation and the calculator’s history; this manual specifies Release 2.0.0’s operating rules and supported features.

3.

Hewlett-Packard. HP 12c Platinum Financial Calculator User’s Guide. Edition 5, August 2007. HP part number F2231AA-90001. Official guide (PDF). A companion for financial registers, cash-flow signs, TVM, amortization, bonds, and depreciation. Sections 3–4 and appendices A and E explain financial conventions, stack effects, and formulas. Check this manual for SpicyRPN’s entry rules, stack depth, precision, and supported cases.

RPN history and human factors

These sources support the historical discussion and qualified comparison of entry methods in Appendix A.11. The three calculator-use studies concern particular users, tasks, and devices; their abstracts do not establish a universal advantage for either mode.

4.

C. L. Hamblin. “Translation to and from Polish Notation.” The Computer Journal 5, no. 3 (1962): 210–213. DOI: 10.1093/comjnl/5.3.210. A primary historical reference on translation between expression notations and their use in computation.

5.

Hewlett-Packard. HP Virtual Museum, calculator collection: 9100A desktop calculator (1968), HP-35 handheld scientific calculator (1972), and HP-12C programmable financial calculator (1981). Manufacturer records for the machines and introduction dates discussed in the historical timeline.

6.

Hewlett-Packard. “Reverse Polish Notation.” Hewlett-Packard Journal, June 1972, sidebar. HP museum scan (PDF). A contemporary explanation of operand-first entry and its connection with a last-in, first-out stack.

7.

D. M. Kasprzyk, C. G. Drury, and W. F. Bialas. “Human behaviour and performance in calculator use with Algebraic and Reverse Polish Notation.” Ergonomics 22, no. 9 (1979): 1011–1019. DOI: 10.1080/00140137908924675; SUNY research record. Comparison of experienced users working with matched calculators; relevant to speed, errors, and the role of prior experience.

8.

S. J. Agate and C. G. Drury. “Electronic calculators: which notation is the better?” Applied Ergonomics 11, no. 1 (1980): 2–6. DOI: 10.1016/0003-6870(80)90114-3; PubMed record and abstract. A study of calculation performance with algebraic and RPN calculators, including differences associated with users’ backgrounds.

9.

John G. Kreifeldt. “Hand Calculator Performance Under Interrupted Operation.” Proceedings of the Human Factors Society Annual Meeting 25, no. 1 (1981): 329–332. DOI: 10.1177/107118138102500187; Publisher abstract. Examines interruption costs and the difficulty of separating notation effects from user selection.

Mathematics, statistics, units, and finance

These further-reading references explain the mathematics behind the calculator. Appendix B.8 gives SpicyRPN’s particular formulas, domains, rounding choices, and numerical limitations.

10.

National Institute of Standards and Technology. NIST Digital Library of Mathematical Functions. Online reference. Chapters 4, 5, and 7 cover elementary functions, the gamma function, and error functions. Consult their definitions and branch conventions when comparing complex logarithms, powers, inverse functions, and gamma-related results.

11.

John L. Spouge. “Computation of the Gamma, Digamma, and Trigamma Functions.” SIAM Journal on Numerical Analysis 31, no. 3 (1994): 931–944. DOI: 10.1137/0731050. The original paper on the approximation named in SpicyRPN’s complex gamma implementation. Read alongside the source code for the chosen truncation and precision policy.

12.

NIST and SEMATECH. e-Handbook of Statistical Methods. Online handbook; Exploratory Data Analysis; Process Modeling. Further reading on descriptive statistics, variation, regression, assumptions, and residual analysis, to help interpret a coefficient or fitted line.

13.

Bureau International des Poids et Mesures. The International System of Units (SI). 9th edition, 2019; updated 2026. SI Brochure and current updates. The primary reference for SI definitions, prefixes, and notation. Use alongside the conversion chapter when distinguishing units, quantities, and numerical values.

14.

A. Thompson and B. N. Taylor. Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI). NIST Special Publication 811, 2008 edition. NIST guide and conversion tables. Appendix B is useful for non-SI conversion factors and conventions. NIST notes that this publication has not been revised for the 2019 SI redefinition; use the SI Brochure above for current SI definitions.

15.

Texas Instruments. BA II Plus Professional Guidebook. Official guidebook; AOS and chain-calculation setting. Reference for explicit assignment and computation, labeled financial worksheets, and last-answer interaction. SpicyRPN’s ALG worksheets adopt these interaction principles while retaining their own expression engine, periodic TVM rate, and existing financial formulas; see section 4.11 and section 4.12.

16.

Julie Dahlquist and Rainford Knight. Principles of Finance. OpenStax, 2022. Online textbook. Further reading on time value of money, annuities, bond valuation, and investment decisions. Translate the examples into SpicyRPN’s signs, periodic rates, and payment timing as described in chapters 11–13.

Numerical libraries, verification, and licensing

17.

GNU Project. GNU MP: The GNU Multiple Precision Arithmetic Library, version 6.3.0. Project website; Library manual; Copying conditions. Documents the multiple-precision foundation used by MPFR, including build requirements, programming interfaces, and upstream terms.

18.

The MPFR team. GNU MPFR, version 4.2.2. Project website; Reference manual; Rounding section. The principal upstream reference for SpicyRPN’s real-number arithmetic: precision, rounding modes, special values, and function guarantees. Correct rounding of an individual MPFR operation does not make an entire multi-step calculation exact.

19.

Andreas Enge, Philippe Théveny, and Paul Zimmermann. GNU MPC: The GNU Multiple Precision Complex Library, edition 1.4.1, April 2026. Project website; Reference manual. Describes complex arithmetic over GMP and MPFR, component rounding, signed zeros, and branch cuts. This is the upstream reference for SpicyRPN’s complex arithmetic and elementary functions. See section C.4 and table D.3 for the calculator’s conventions, composed algorithms, and build setup.

20.

The mpmath developers. mpmath Documentation, release 1.3.0. Versioned documentation. Documents the independent arbitrary-precision Python library used to generate the project’s complex-number test fixtures. Also useful for precision and branch conventions when comparing numerical tools.

21.

SQLite project. Write-Ahead Logging. SQLite documentation. Explains WAL and shared-memory sidecar files, checkpoints, and persistence behavior. The application source specifies how SpicyRPN configures and uses SQLite.

22.

Open Source Initiative. The MIT License. License text. Original SpicyRPN code and documentation use this license, reproduced with Bryan R. Davies’s copyright notice in section E.1.

23.

Free Software Foundation. GNU General Public License, version 3, and GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3 (2007). GPLv3 text; LGPLv3 text; GNU license collection. The complete texts appear in Appendix D.14: GPLv3 in section E.2 and LGPLv3 in section E.3. Read these with the source package’s LICENSING.md, LICENSE, and bundled third-party notices. Original SpicyRPN material uses MIT (section E.1); upstream components retain their own license terms and version options.

Building the application and manual

This primary documentation complements Appendix C.14. Apple’s requirements and tool interfaces change; match the documentation to the Xcode and operating-system versions used for a particular build.

24.

Apple. SDK and system requirements. Xcode documentation. Compatibility tables. Supported host systems, bundled SDKs, deployment targets, simulators, and Swift versions.

25.

Apple. Configuring command-line tools settings. Apple Developer documentation. Selection of the developer tools used by command-line builds.

26.

Apple. Running your app on simulated or physical devices and Enabling Developer Mode on a device. Running on devices and simulators; Developer Mode. Choosing a run destination and preparing a physical device to run a development build.

27.

Apple. Running tests and interpreting results. Apple Developer documentation. Test execution, result inspection, and the Xcode workflows used by the project’s test scripts.

28.

TeX Users Group, MacTeX working group. MacTeX. Project website; Download and installation information. The macOS distribution used in the manual’s build instructions, including the TeX Live environment and associated tools.

29.

LuaTeX development team. LuaTeX. Project website and documentation. The typesetting engine underlying this manual’s LuaLaTeX build.

30.

John Collins. latexmk. CTAN package record and documentation. Automated LaTeX builds and the repeated processing needed to resolve contents, references, and other generated material.

31.

Markus Kohm. KOMA-Script. CTAN package record and manuals. The scrbook class and the page-layout, heading, and document-structure facilities used by the manual.