Appendix E: A Detailed Look at f 257

Obtaining the Current Approximation to an Integral

When the calculation of an integral is requiring more time than you care to wait, you may want to stop and display the current approximation. You can obtain the current approximation, but not its uncertainty.

Pressing ¦ while the HP-15C is calculating an integral halts the calculation, just as it halts the execution of a running program. When you do so, the calculator stops at the current program line in the subroutine you wrote for evaluating the function, and displays the result of executing the preceding program line. Note that after you halt the calculation, the current approximation to the integral is not the number in the X-register nor the number in any other stack register. Just as with any program, pressing

¦again starts the calculation from the program line at which it was stopped.

The f algorithm updates the current approximation and stores it in the LAST X register after evaluating the function at each new sample point. To obtain the current approximation, therefore, simply halt the calculator, single-step if necessary through your function subroutine until the calculator has finished evaluating the function and updating the current approximation. Then recall the contents of the LAST X register, which are updated when the ninstruction in the function subroutine is executed.

While the calculator is updating the current approximation, the display is blank and does not show running. (While the calculator is executing your function subroutine, running is displayed.) Therefore, you might avoid having to single-step through your subroutine by halting the calculator at a moment when the display is blank.

In summary, to obtain the current approximation to an integral, follow the steps below.

1.Press ¦ to halt the calculator, preferably while the display is blank.

2.When the calculator halts, switch to Program mode to check the current program line.

If that line contains the subroutine label, return to Run mode and view the LAST X register (step 3).