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Is the era of the $100 graphing calculator coming to an end?

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Re: Is the era of the $100 graphing calculator coming to an end?

#91

Post by decoyworker »

jmcphers wrote: post #16
jedberg wrote: post #7

This can be summed up pretty easily. The TI graphing calculator has no internet access and no ability to store notes. Neither ability can be easily added. As long as that is the case, they will win, because the test companies don't want to deal with people having internet access and notes. Now if Apple/Android made a simple way for a test proctor to put your phone into a single app only that you couldn't easily break…

You can easily store notes on a TI calculator. I had a TI-85 in college, and was occasionally guilty of writing TI-BASIC programs to make tests easier (for example, I had one which computed Euler's method).

This is a contributing factor as to why I'm still shit at math to this day. I'd just spend all class writing programs in the calculator that did the work for me.

Re: Is the era of the $100 graphing calculator coming to an end?

#92

Post by znpy »

pkaye wrote: post #39
jedberg wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most test proctors make you clear your memory before a test in high school. In college they don't care as much because they are used to making "open book tests".

Yes most of my engineering classes back in college allowed you to use a cheat-sheet. Cheat sheets are way faster than thumbing through a book or notes in a calculator. And most problems required you to show your work. Maybe you could cross-check your results and fix something. The funny thing is to an extent, the performance of the student seems to be inversely proportional to the density of the cheat-sheet. The wors…

> The funny thing is to an extent, the performance of the student seems to be inversely proportional to the density of the cheat-sheet.

This brings back the memory of the circuit theory exam. You could bring a cheatsheet but it was mostly useless. The test had very simple numbers (1, -1, 2, 1/2, -i or things like that) because the professor didn't want to be bothered checking complex formulas and the difficulty was mostly in keeping all of the subject in your head and applying all of the procedures without messing up the signs.

Needless to say, that exam by that professor had a reasonable passing rate and there was prettu much no way around it: you had to study.

Re: Is the era of the $100 graphing calculator coming to an end?

#93

Post by 0xdeadbeefbabe »

jedberg wrote: post #7

This can be summed up pretty easily. The TI graphing calculator has no internet access and no ability to store notes. Neither ability can be easily added. As long as that is the case, they will win, because the test companies don't want to deal with people having internet access and notes. Now if Apple/Android made a simple way for a test proctor to put your phone into a single app only that you couldn't easily break…

The Android/Apple device has internet access and ability to store notes. Neither ability can be easily taken away.

Yeah, it's true if you emphasize "easily".

Re: Is the era of the $100 graphing calculator coming to an end?

#95

Post by mcphage »

jmcphers wrote: post #16
jedberg wrote: post #7

This can be summed up pretty easily. The TI graphing calculator has no internet access and no ability to store notes. Neither ability can be easily added. As long as that is the case, they will win, because the test companies don't want to deal with people having internet access and notes. Now if Apple/Android made a simple way for a test proctor to put your phone into a single app only that you couldn't easily break…

You can easily store notes on a TI calculator. I had a TI-85 in college, and was occasionally guilty of writing TI-BASIC programs to make tests easier (for example, I had one which computed Euler's method).

> You can easily store notes on a TI calculator. I had a TI-85 in college, and was occasionally guilty of writing TI-BASIC programs to make tests easier

You're thinking in the wrong direction—testing companies don't really care if you can access notes that you wrote, they don't want you to be able to quickly type up new notes as you take the test. Specifically, they don't want you to be able to copy down the test questions, because they charge money to get old test questions. They don't want the test itself to get out.

Re: Is the era of the $100 graphing calculator coming to an end?

#97

Post by the_pwner224 »

adrianpike wrote: post #9

Timely thing - I actually dusted off my TI-89 over the weekend doing taxes. There was something about a focused tool with a physical number that I was really desiring. I have fond memories of tapping around on it in high school. Turns out it sucks, and I wound up just buying one of the $5 solar basic calculators and was way happier. I can't wait for this monopoly to get blown up.

I had a TI nSpire CX CAS in high school (like the 89 but with a color LCD screen and hackable with Lua and C - it runs Doom and GBA/NES emulators).

In the final year of high school I was taking a class that did not require a graphing calculator, so I bought a TI 36X Pro, an advanced scientific calculator. It has excellent 'UI', tons of functionality, and the buttons feel great to type on (though after a long time they will still start to get mushy). I actually used to carry both of my calculators with me, the CAS for when I needed it and the 36X for normal usage since it felt better to use.

It's not a school monopolozer like the 84/89 so it's priced well, at <$20. I bought another one in college after I lost the first one. I'm doing CS so I don't need it often, but I find it to be worth keeping around.

Re: Is the era of the $100 graphing calculator coming to an end?

#98

Post by daotoad »

jordache wrote: post #24

HP 48g FTW! Seriously considered it's IR data sharing capabilities with other classmates... imagine beaming messages across the room!

I had an HP28c ( https://www.hpmuseum.org/hp28c.htm ) that saw me through high-school calculus and undergraduate work. In it's day, it was a revolutionary product.

I never got to play with the data sharing stuff, since none of my classmates had such an expensive or geeky piece of kit (I got mine used, but it was still expensive).

Re: Is the era of the $100 graphing calculator coming to an end?

#99

Post by saddestcatever »

imglorp wrote: post #89
therealrootuser wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was the little known, but powerful combo called "GROUP" and "ARCHIVE". GROUP allowed you to package together a set of programs. Archive would allow you to take that group and store it in the long term memory of the calculator. You can then "clear the memory" of the calculator, but can then immediately unarchive the grouped programs and get everything back how it was. That said, I don't recall my teachers ever g…

Plus you probably learn more coding the algorithm into a calculator than you would learn regurgitating something from memory. That's a win either way.

Yes. For those that actually write the algorithm. For every other student in the class, copying someone else's code doesn't quite have the same benefit.... Students are humans. They will find the path of least resistance...

Re: Is the era of the $100 graphing calculator coming to an end?

#100

Post by cpwright »

roland35 wrote: post #11

I am not a fan of the lobbying side of this story, but I do think that the TI graphing calculators are good products. They are very durable and easy to use. I fondly remember programming a multiplayer poker game in TI-BASIC on a road trip complete with a CPU player! I also would browse TIcalc.org to look for new games and utilities. I later bought a TI-89 Titanium which opened up the gaming possibilities! Check out s…

I agree that they are super durable. My kids are now using the same calculator that I used in high school in the late 90s.
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