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Casio Graphing Scientific Calculator Fx-9860GIII Comes with MicroPython

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

#121

Post by ChuckMcM »

Ecco wrote: post #105
ChuckMcM wrote: post #94

Well my Numworks[1] calculator comes with Micropython, is open source, and has a color display for $100 which is less than what Casio is asking for this one. I actually have two of these, one that is "stock" and one where I added access to the internal jtag port so that I could run my own code on it. [1] https://www.numworks.com/

Hi! NumWorks founder here. Thank you so much for the mention! We’re trying our best to make a great calculator, so it’s always a pleasure to get this kind of feedback! As a note to the HN crowd: we’re facing an intersecting UX challenge. The vast majority of our users aren’t very technical - they’re high schoolers really. But we also want to cater to a more advanced audience such as engineers. Initially we thought it…

I think the only thing I would do differently would be a 'dark theme' case option as I find the yellow on white lettering to be nearly impossible to see (older eyes I guess).

In the category of "all different", my all time favorite calculator is the TI-92+ which was a landscape style calculator with a qwerty keyboard. Building something like that with the 5" 800 x 480 IPS screen that STM has on the STM32F469i-Disco board would be heaven. It is on my long list of things which I will likely not get around to before I die :-). You could swap the STM32F769 for the 'F469 if you wanted more mips. I'd pay $300 for one of those, if you're wondering.

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

#122

Post by rambojazz »

rambojazz wrote: post #72

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 wish down-voters would say a thing, because their downvotes are not answering the question and did not give me anything useful to change my mind.

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

#123

Post by djeiasbsbo »

Ecco wrote: post #114
yumraj wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 console…

Having that simulator is absolute awesome! The fact that this product was merely mentioned in a comment and the you showed up here is the true magic of HN. It always amazes me again when it happens.

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

#124

Post by ajsnigrutin »

kergonath wrote: post #109
ajsnigrutin wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Graphic calculators are extremely expensive for what they provide (compared to a cheap phone). Only thing holding them up is regulation (ie. being allowed in class and at certain exams), because otherwise, even a cheap phone can emulate a classical calculator (eg. hp 49g for us RPN fans), not to mention more advance tools (from apps to wolfram alpha).

Right. Please show me one single app with an UI half as good as a bog standard graphing Casio or TI.

I use HP (because i want RPN), and i use this: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.ab.x48

This one is better for newer models:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.emulator.f...

Yes,i know it's an emulator, but for the same price as a calculator, i get an emulated calculator + a bunch of other stuff, including wolfram alpha, huge database of knowledge online (wikipedia) + of course a phone.

...and on the other hand, i have this always in my pocket.

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

#125

Post by treesknees »

f311a wrote: post #93
asciimov wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Graphing calculators solve a couple of problems: they are fairly standardized, equally capable, have a known cost, run a long while on AA batteries and probably most import they don't get on the internet. Phones, while more than computationally capable, aren't equally capable, have a battery life measured in hours, have access to the internet, and require software of an unknown cost and quality.

When I studied at a university, only calculators were allowed to perform some exams. Most of them can't run other software, and it's hard to cheat by using them. When using a phone, you can install a lot of things. Math olympiads only allow specific models of calculators for the same reason.

Not sure when you studied at university, but you can take a calculator like a TI-83/84/89 and plug in a bunch of text onto a stored program, essentially a free notes field. It's tedious to do but doesn't take too long. And unless the teacher is paying close attention, it's hard to spot.

I recall in high school teachers would actually go over and look through or reset your calculator if they thought you were spending too much time looking at it.

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

#126

Post by indymike »

to11mtm wrote: post #78
indymike wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every kid at my children's school have a Chromebook. The exact same model. Calculators are really relics of a bygone era and it is time education realizes there is greater value in embracing better tech than trying to stop a bogeyman.

> Every kid at my children's school have a Chromebook. That's Great. What about every kid in Detroit, Flint, or Chicago? Solutions need to make sure we don't widen the digital divide.

Chicago is a case study for Chromebooks (literally, on Google's marketing site for Chromebooks). They supply them to students.

Detroit just got a donation of 51,000 chromebooks for students who's families could not afford them.

Flint, Mi issued iPads and Chromebooks to students in August.

Requiring a $120 calculator seems to be more of a digital divide issue than a $200 computer that can be used for every class.

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

#127

Post by sneeuwpopsneeuw »

f311a wrote: post #93
asciimov wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Graphing calculators solve a couple of problems: they are fairly standardized, equally capable, have a known cost, run a long while on AA batteries and probably most import they don't get on the internet. Phones, while more than computationally capable, aren't equally capable, have a battery life measured in hours, have access to the internet, and require software of an unknown cost and quality.

When I studied at a university, only calculators were allowed to perform some exams. Most of them can't run other software, and it's hard to cheat by using them. When using a phone, you can install a lot of things. Math olympiads only allow specific models of calculators for the same reason.

Casio calculators also have a seperate exam mode where they clear all memory and do not allow the user to get to advanced function such as programming or derivative guessers. On the newer models a special led light on the top would indicate if the calculator is in this mode. You can disable this mode only by plugging in a usb cable and connect it to a pc or other calculator.

On all dutch state exams they simply checked this light on my calculator. But a friend of mine showed me already that there exsics special firmware that can fake this light so yhea 100% security will never exist.

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