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Casio Graphing Scientific Calculator Fx-9860GIII Comes with MicroPython

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111–120 of 128 posts

Re: Casio Graphing Scientific Calculator Fx-9860GIII Comes with MicroPython

#111
post #12

I had NumWorks[1] calculator, which also has Python support. Based on STM32F4 series MCU. Had a decent battery life. Unfortunately it died some time ago, after a year of usage, and I have not been able to use it any more. Using quite common Sharp EL-W506XVL[2] on desk and HP-42S clone Free42[3] on the phone/PC nowadays. [1] https://www.numworks.com/ [2] http://www.sharp-calculators.com/en/category/6-educational-c...…

I use free42 on my phone, have been tempted to get DM42 for ages, but not sure I can justify it. It'd be nice to have a little 4 function RPN calculator for my desk that is cheap enough for me to allow it to stay there.

Re: Casio Graphing Scientific Calculator Fx-9860GIII Comes with MicroPython

#112
post #40
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "bits that are missing" relate to Python's standard library, which is huge. MicroPython has svelte versions of many of Python's standard library modules... Pick and choose what you need, given your specific context. MicroPython is pretty friendly in that respect. FWIW, MicroPython, as a language, is a complete reimplementation of Python (and an amazing feat of engineering on the part of Damien and his collaborato…

> MicroPython, as a language, is a complete reimplementation of Python But there are plenty of differences between MicroPython and CPython [0]. Many of them (listed under “Syntax”, “Core language” and “Builtin types”) relate to the language itself rather than the standard library. Not to mention that the baseline for those lists is CPython 3.4 - MicroPython is also missing most of the new features of CPython 3.5 - 3.…

> But there are plenty of differences between MicroPython and CPython

Are there any differences there that you'd consider significant? They are generally quite minor and usually have workarounds. Typically a difference is only introduced when additional memory (either adding complexity to the parser or in runtime use) is the consequence of absolute compatibility. They all seem like a reasonable trade-off.

> Not to mention that the baseline for those lists is CPython 3.4 - MicroPython is also missing most of the new features of CPython 3.5 - 3.9.

The baseline was 3.4 during development but more modern features have continued to be added, particularly if they can be shown to be implemented with low memory use. For example there is solid asyncio support (based on 3.8 [0]), the assignment operator has been implemented and, care has been taken to ignore type annotations correctly. fstring support is _almost_ there too (it ought to make it in to the next release).

The development team listens to requests for new language features so please raise a ticket (or comment on an existing one [1], [2]) to help prioritise upcoming features.

[0] https://github.com/peterhinch/micropython-async/blob/master/...

[1] Python 3.5 support: https://github.com/micropython/micropython/issues/1329

[2] Python 3.6 support: https://github.com/micropython/micropython/issues/2415

Re: Casio Graphing Scientific Calculator Fx-9860GIII Comes with MicroPython

#113

Is there a market for these calculators? They were super cool in the 90s and early 00s but why would one buy these over a... laptop? Or a tablet/smartphone?

I still prefer tapping numbers into real buttons - it's more reliable for one thing.

Re: Casio Graphing Scientific Calculator Fx-9860GIII Comes with MicroPython

#114
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have one and I encourage anyone looking for a modern calculator to buy one. One of the best purchases I have ever made. Happy to answer any questions.

How would you compare it with a TI Nspire or similar calculators. In other words why Numworks? What is special about it? My use case is high school students, if you have any thoughts on that.

Hi! My answer is obviously going to be biased, but I think our calculator is very different from a TI Nspire.

We actually designed it with high school students in mind. We interviewed a lot of them, and we reached the conclusion that on average they were using less than 10% of the features of their calculator.

So we designed ours trying to make it as intuitive as possible. You'll notice it borrows from gaming consoles and mobile phones: that's because high schoolers already know how to use those!

As an example that might seem like a minor detail, we're the only graphing calculator on the market with anti-aliasing. It might not sound like much, but it's a lot of work to get right and that's the kind of detail we like to pay attention to.

Anyway, you can judge by yourself: our (free) simulator is just a click away: https://www.numworks.com/simulator

Re: Casio Graphing Scientific Calculator Fx-9860GIII Comes with MicroPython

#115

It has been a great wonder for me that why US highschools seems to require expensive programmable/graphing calculators especially those made by HP/TI. I assume it was some deal made by these companies with the education departments of the states and administrations. In most other countries, students complete university undergraduate courses, let alone high schools with only needing a cheap non-programmable calculator…

This was the case in Australia in the 2000s. A basic scientific calculator was all that was allowed for the highest grade of maths. Graphing or advanced symbolic features were not allowed.

Re: Casio Graphing Scientific Calculator Fx-9860GIII Comes with MicroPython

#116
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That looks really cool but unfortunately they seem to ship only to Europe and US. Does anyone know of an Australian re-seller?

It looks like you can order it from Amazon AU shipped from the US: https://www.amazon.com.au/NumWorks-N0100-Graphing-Calculator...

I'm in Australia and just ordered one off of Amazon AU (fulfilled by Amazon US) - AU$157 delivered.

Re: Casio Graphing Scientific Calculator Fx-9860GIII Comes with MicroPython

#117
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My professor at the University used to let me use an HP Prime emulator on my laptop for tests, and to some of my peers, they would be allowed to use HP Prime emulators on their phones, it's really difficult to cheat on the kinds of tests where you need these calculators, you can't simply copy your classmate's answer and be done with it, you need procedure to back that up. And it was $15 the emulator app by hp was wor…

Theoretically, you can resell the calculator, but not the app.

I'd figure that by adding the value I'd get by selling it still wouldn't be as cheap as buying the app

Re: Casio Graphing Scientific Calculator Fx-9860GIII Comes with MicroPython

#118

It has been a great wonder for me that why US highschools seems to require expensive programmable/graphing calculators especially those made by HP/TI. I assume it was some deal made by these companies with the education departments of the states and administrations. In most other countries, students complete university undergraduate courses, let alone high schools with only needing a cheap non-programmable calculator…

As a student, it always felt like a mixture of "better to have it and not need it" and bog standard corruption. Most teachers didn't use the advanced featutes, disliked that students played games on them during class, and had to jump through hoops to tamp down on cheating during exams. Many parents also had difficulty finding an extra $130 per child to pay for them; the schools wouldn't provide returnable ones like t…

Outside of education (where your lobbyists can ensure they are required by all students), there really are very few use cases for a complex graphing calculator. If you have access to a computer, Octave, Maxima, and Python (or any non-free equivalent) will run rings around any graphing calculator. For field use, the only point in favor of a graphing calculator as opposed to a phone app seems to be ruggedness.

Re: Casio Graphing Scientific Calculator Fx-9860GIII Comes with MicroPython

#119
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That looks really cool but unfortunately they seem to ship only to Europe and US. Does anyone know of an Australian re-seller?

It looks like you can order it from Amazon AU shipped from the US: https://www.amazon.com.au/NumWorks-N0100-Graphing-Calculator...

Nice thank you

Re: Casio Graphing Scientific Calculator Fx-9860GIII Comes with MicroPython

#120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks like you can order it from Amazon AU shipped from the US: https://www.amazon.com.au/NumWorks-N0100-Graphing-Calculator...

I'm in Australia and just ordered one off of Amazon AU (fulfilled by Amazon US) - AU$157 delivered.

Thank you for confirming this!
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