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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?

#291

Post by madengr »

jacobolus wrote: post #250
cydonian_monk wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cheat-sheets are also far more "real world" than the fake environment many schools cling to. I don't know a single practicing engineer that doesn't have a note scribbled somewhere. My engineering school recognized this decades ago and adjusted accordingly. Now the math department? They were a different story. No calculators. Period. Ever. Made higher-level calculus... interesting. Thankfully I'd already had it in hig…

> Now the math department? They were a different story. No calculators. Period. Ever. Made higher-level calculus... interesting. There is no reason for any math course at any level to ever need a calculator, period. The point of math courses is learning to think, not learning to avoid fat-fingering tiny buttons or learning the specific crappy interface of some anachronistic antique machine. Without an electronic calc…

Couldn’t agree more. Though this was 1990, the professor for the calc classes could care less if you had a calculator, as it “won’t be of any use”.

Even in engineering and physics courses, you had better show all your work. If a numerical calculation was made in error, and you should all your work, you could still get a good amount of partial credit.

30 years later, I still just use a basic RPN calculator.

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

#292

Post by enjoyyourlife »

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…

Class Calc (https://classcalc.com/) is trying to do just that

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

#293

Post by teddyfrozevelt »

thayne wrote: post #236
vkou wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

For higher level math classes that means that the students have to spend more time doing mundane things like arithmetic and graphing rather than using the higher level skills they are being tested on.

No, once you get to university level math classes, you don't use calculators at all.

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

#294

Post by m0zg »

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…

IMO notes should be allowed in all exams. That's just how people work. Moreover I'd argue working with notes is a more critical skill than rote memorization. Exams without notes is like coding on the whiteboard: sheer idiocy which has nothing in common with real-world skills, unless you're hiring/testing specifically for memorization skills or whiteboard penmanship.

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

#295

Post by Paul-ish »

hamandcheese wrote: post #228
mattbreeden wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Which is not particularly easy. No way could anyone both pass a test and copy the questions into a ti84.

I don't think you would go in with the intention of passing. Just of recording all the questions.

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

#297

Post by Gaelan »

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…

Interestingly, the SAT doesn’t bother with clearing calculators. I guess they don’t think it’s that big of an advantage.

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

#298

Post by csande17 »

dTal wrote: post #274
asperous wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just tried it on mine and it worked fine.

Yes, it worked for you - but surely in an adversarial context, there's absolutely no way to trust a previously untrusted device. In the extreme case, the entire interface might simply be a simulacrum app designed to feign success at locking.

Yup, a student could easily write an app that fakes the Desmos Test Mode confirmation screen, just like how a student could write a TI-BASIC program that displays "MEMORY CLEARED" on the screen. What's old is new again...

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

#299

Post by wlesieutre »

madengr wrote: post #286
wlesieutre wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The TI-89 is definitely not fair in a calculus class because it can solve most of the problems for you

Back when I was in calc, you actually had to show your work, so a calculator was pointless.

Still helpful to have a calculator verify your answers even if you have to solve the problems yourself

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

#300

Post by Baeocystin »

the_pwner224 wrote: post #97
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 the…

The 36X Pro is my surprise modern favorite of the non-graphing 'cheap' sci calcs I use. The keys really do feel good to use.

(I still consider my HP 48SX My Precious, though. Yay RPN and all that.)

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