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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?

#131

Post by avgDev »

LgWoodenBadger wrote: post #119
avgDev wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did this. Oddly enough in a computer science class we had an old professor. He accused me of cheating. He was right. However, he physically inspected my calculator like under the cover and where batteries are lol but did not check the programs. He apologized. I did well on the test.

I'm having trouble figuring out what type of material in Computer Science would require a calculator.

It was weird. It was a course that had some assembly language and I'm pretty sure he wanted us to do some calculations. We were writing the code on paper, therefore, he allowed calculators.

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

#132

Post by zosterops »

The article mentioned that:

> In its annual reports, TI wraps calculator revenue into a larger category (“Other”), which includes additional products. Since 2014, this category has seen a 35% decline, from $2.2B to $1.4B.

But didn't mention the fact that "Other" accounts for only 3% of TI's revenue.

http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/investor_relations/annual_report...

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

#133

Post by naikrovek »

qubex wrote: post #44

I am ambivalent about using either MathWorks on my iPad or iPhone and my HP Prime . As far as I’m concerned, to be a valid competitor for my attention the solution must have a Computer Algebra System (CAS). Something that can merely manipulate numbers through various forms of arithmetic is far short of what should actually be expected.

The HP Prime has CAS. Maybe you need to update your firmware or something.

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

#134

Post by ineedasername »

mandevil wrote: post #70
ineedasername wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> doesn't excuse..." At least for widespread standardized tests that allow or require a calculator, the obvious solution would seem to be providing students with one at the beginning of the exam. In addition to preventing cheating with unauthorized programs when students bring their own, it ensures there's a level playing field for poorer students who might not be able to afford one. Add an extra $1 to the cost of th…

The SAT II Math exam is administered 6 times during the 2019-2020 school year. To be used 100 times, it would have to last over 15 years. For IB/AP Calc it's even worse, that is literally given on one day to the entire country (modulo a very small number of makeup exams), so would get two days of use per year (one for AP, one for IB). If you used the same set of calculators for both, we're talking about the hardware…

You're neither adding all of the College Board tests that use a calculator nor accounting for the discounted wholesale price (or maybe better considering the volume) that would be paid.

The SAT II Math isn't the only test. The normal SAT math component also allows calculators and is generally administered on different dates. The SAT is offered on 21 dates in 2019, so that's a total of 27 tests. Even at a full ~$100 per calculator, charging an extra $1 per test would still cover the cost in a little more than 3 years.

AP Exams: Unlike the SAT which has regional test locations, AP exams are generally administered in the school you attend, and the school should provide a calculator. For that matter, the whole issue could be solved if schools issued them as standard equipment that same way they do textbooks.

Finally, the whole point of these tests is to establish the level of knowledge a student has. That hasn't really been done if the test takers aren't on the same level playing field. All else being equal, the same score for a test taker with a calculator compared to one without would mean very different things. It's supposed to be a standardized test. All students should have the same equipment.

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

#135

Post by vkou »

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.

You're measured on test scores, not on how much you learned.

If the rules say 'no computer assistance', and you break those rules in a way the test monitors didn't expect, the only people you are cheating are other students.

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

#136

Post by vkou »

thayne wrote: post #45
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…

That is an argument against allowing phone apps. But doesn't excuse requiring students to pay $100+ for antiquated technology.

Have we considered the radical option of, you know, not allowing calculators on tests? And not writing tests that rely on the use of a calculator?

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

#139

Post by mattbreeden »

mcphage wrote: post #95
jmcphers wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 que…

You can do this just as easily as it was to make your original notes

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

#140

Post by mattbreeden »

michaelmior wrote: post #35
jedberg wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why I said "easily". Yeah you can store programs, but they're really hard to write, and most test proctors know how to clear the memory on a TI calculator, which they require you to do before a test.

Is the program required to be syntactically valid? I assume not in which case you can just type your notes into the program editor.

No, it's not. This is exactly how I used mine. They weren't hard to write at all because they were just direct notes. It wouldn't run as a program but I didn't need/want it to, I'd just 'edit' the program again to see my notes.
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