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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?

#331

Post by tasogare »

wlesieutre wrote: post #249
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…

Back in Algebra 1 my teacher had a policy that you were allowed to use any program that you wrote yourself. More teachers should do that, though it'd get challenging to enforce if it weren't just the one or two nerdy kids taking you up on it.

I get away using a smartphone (without internet access) during a translation test because dictionary was allowed and I’d wrote the dictionary software myself.

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

#332

Post by phreack »

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…

I sort of get banning internet access but I've always been baffled at exams not allowing notes. At least in engineering, we should encourage students to be able to solve difficult problems with notes rather than solve minimal ones with barely memorized formulas and phrases.

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

#333

Post by nwallin »

Bedridges law of headlines: If the answer to a question posed in the headline of a news article is either "yes" or "no", the answer is "no". (paraphrased)

I think the problem here is that this is ultimately left up to individual teachers, and 15% of them will take the easy way out and say "you can only use the ti-84. Not the Casio equivalent, not the HP equivalent, the ti-84”. Word goes around to not bother with the 1/3 price alternatives because you have to pay for the ti markup eventually anyway. Better to pay $150 up front than pay $50 now and $150 later.

I would like to see, for instance, the State of California sitting down and establishing three levels of accredited calculator:

1. Scientific calculators. Roughly equivalent to the ti-36.

2. Graphing calculator. Roughly equivalent and compatible with the ti-84.

3. Symbolic calculator. Full symbolic computation is acceptable, but notably lacking wireless connectivity.

Require that publicly funded education systems choose a calculator level for all their classes. No ad hoc individual teachers fucking the system for everybody.

That being said, playing dumb is a really good option. I went back to school in my 30s, and my military service taught me the value of begging forgiveness instead of asking permission. I was an objectively good student, (sat in front, paid attention, asked questions, responded to teacher prompts) and had both a 90s ti-84 and ti's latest and greatest CAS calculator. Only got called on it once, and got away with it, because I knew exactly how to navigate "just following orders, sir".

Honestly, the military is a great way of learning the important stuff a middle class upbringing breaks us of.

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

#334

Post by fulldecent2 »

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…

I have previously been on site for an SAT II reading session (this is the part following the proctoring). It was hard enough to get the logistics right for getting all the scantron sheets and papers to where they needed to go. And overnight shipping printers and other equipment on failure.

Adding any more logistics into this process would increase costs and provide no headline-worthy benefit.

* The teachers, not the students, use scantrons

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

#336

Post by sliken »

jordache wrote: post #24

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

Heh, and keep imagining after you get one. The range is extremely poor, even an inch is tough. It's so limited there's an arrow on the calculator so you now EXACTLY how to align the calculators for a transmission. No way a reflection is going to work.

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

#338

Post by duxup »

nwallin wrote: post #333

Bedridges law of headlines: If the answer to a question posed in the headline of a news article is either "yes" or "no", the answer is "no". (paraphrased) I think the problem here is that this is ultimately left up to individual teachers, and 15% of them will take the easy way out and say "you can only use the ti-84. Not the Casio equivalent, not the HP equivalent, the ti-84”. Word goes around to not bother with the…

At my first good job, it took me a good year to figure out that my boss's policy about telling the truth and about how they don't point fingers was all about doing what it took to get the job done outside the rules....and then if you were honest about what you did nobody really cared as long as your story made sense in some way and effectively nothing bad would happen.

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

#339

Post by shp0ngle »

This is a baffling article.

It starts with description of the current monopoly and how is it caused, which is fine. And then it pivots to "but this app is changing everything."

I don't think an app will change anything, there are existing apps that are sufficient. The only reason TI has the monopoly is because it is not internet connected, another calculator app will not change anything.

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

#340

Post by tanr54ok »

therealrootuser wrote: post #71
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".

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…

Lol In the 90s the venerable ti82, 83, 85 just had battery backed ram. No long term memory.

Get off my lawn.

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