That's probably fair. It likely would have taken me a minute to do the mental math. The burst force approach took 15 seconds of typing and very little mental effort.

I think the real answer is that in the competition only pencil & paper is allowed. No computers.

They are using tablets on the pictures. Surely those have calculators.

The ipads are locked down to run the contest app.

Besides, calculators have rather poor programming support...

"Speak for your self" said the HP-48 owner, tapping into a decades-old bank of accumulated smug.

Mmmmmm... delicious, delicious RPN smug. I haven't tasted this in years. Not as fresh as it used to be, but still sweet.

I think those are the source of the questions? But ya, you might be right.