1-8 Getting started
• Pressing   displays a menu of physical 
constants from the fields of chemistry, physics, 
and quantum mechanics. You can use these 
constants in calculations. (See “Physical 
constants” on page 13-25 for more information.)
• Pressing   takes you to the beginning of the 
MATH menu.
See “Math functions by category” on page 13-2 for 
details of the math functions.
HINT
When using the MATH menu, or any menu on the 
hp 39gs, pressing an alpha key takes you straight to the 
first menu option beginning with that alpha character. 
With this method, you do not need to press   first. 
Just press the key that corresponds to the command’s 
beginning alpha character.
Program 
commands
Pressing  CMDS displays the list of Program 
Commands. See “Programming commands” on 
page 18-13.
Inactive keys If you press a key that does not operate in the current 
context, a warning symbol like this   appears. There is 
no beep.
Menus
A menu offers you a choice 
of items. Menus are 
displayed in one or two 
columns.
• The   arrow in the 
display means more 
items below.
• The   arrow in the 
display means more items above.
To search a menu • Press   or   to scroll through the list. If you press 
   or    , you’ll go all the way to 
the end or the beginning of the list. Highlight the item 
you want to select, then press   (or  ).
!
HP 39gs English.book  Page 8  Wednesday, December 7, 2005  11:24 PM