[feh1325]

ti 89 titanium

that thing got me into college

 

[logwed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by feh1325 /img/forum/go_quote.gif ti 89 titanium that thing got me into college

Isn't it an illegal calculator on all standardized tests?

 

[Basil101]

Still using my TI-85.

It will never die!

 

[Nonchalance]

SATs and ACTs, but on AP calc it's fair game.

 

[appophylite]

Another HP49+ here. I guess its a function of the fact that I come from a family background where my Father still uses his HP calc from college days and my mom learned RPN on it as well. They got me a predecessor to the HP49+ a year before I came back here for high school and I spent all of High School working HPs and RPNs while everyone else was using the Ti 83+

I've also owned the HP48 (my high school calculator) and the Casio GFX3800 (I think that's the correct serial number-the thing is gone now).

 

[ljokerl]

Ti-86. Mario, Tetris, DrugWars, Snake: Everything I need in a calculator

.

Oh and some games can be played head2head via interconnect. I remember high school: running a cable through your clothes and under your friend's desk to play tetris for 52 minutes. Those were the days.

 

[aristos_achaion]

TI92+...the thing barely looks like a calculator. It's got the innards of an 89, but a bigger screen and a QWERTY keyboard.

 

[linuxworks]

my hp-41 repair photos (they made it into the hp41.org site)

Index of /hp41-repair

got it for free and just fixed it up. not that I use it anymore

came with option packs, card reader, spare cards.

 

[linuxworks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by logwed /img/forum/go_quote.gif What do you mean, 'digits' and 'calculations?' Everyone knows that graphing calculators are only for playing games.

OT but I was overhearing a friend talk to his daughter; she tells him that she NEEDS this graphing calc for school. 'everyone in the class has to have one'.

really?

not in my day! I'm mid 40's and calcs were, at best, tolerated in school and never REQUIRED.

what the heck is happening, that calcs are REQUIRED (?).

this can't be good. I hate to be the 'get off my lawn' guy (lol) but this is not a good sign.

and, what about the poorer kids in school who can't afford $40 for a calc?

I worry that we don't tech THINKING anymore; but mostly just button pressin'.

 

[aristos_achaion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by linuxworks /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm mid 40's and calcs were, at best, tolerated in school and never REQUIRED. what the heck is happening, that calcs are REQUIRED (?).

Keep in mind that the average graphing calculator these days is pretty sophisticated...especially since high school math (algebra through calculus) tends to be more practical than college-level stuff, things like equation-solving, derivative-approximating, and statistical programs could probably be useful; in fact, some derivatives you set up in single-variable calc aren't solvable by techniques you learn in the class, so the teacher relies on calculators. It's also easier on the teachers, not having to make sure problems are solvable by hand, and, like requiring certain textbooks, requiring a minimum level of calculator keeps a certain homogeny to the class. Even some AP tests require calculators.

Colleges, on the other hand, tend to forbid calculators. (At least Amherst did...) Then again, college-level math tends to be more abstract.

 

[beerguy0]

I'm an RPN guy all the way. I've got an HP11 I bought back in the 80's, and still use. I also have the HP48 SX and HP48GX, but unfortunately both have died (the ON button no longer functions). I've been looking at one of the newer HPs, but I still like the older ones better. I do a fair amount of math at work, so a good calculator is real asset.

Just to show how old I really am, when I was in my sophomore years of HS, we used slide rules in physics class. You had to pass a slide rule test in order to be allowed to use a calculator. I was actually one of the few that even had a calculator, some old Casio my parents got for opening a checking account. Add, subtract, multiply, divide, and square roots. Oh, percentages too. And it ate batteries like no tomorrow.

 

[aristos_achaion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by linuxworks /img/forum/go_quote.gif I worry that we don't tech THINKING anymore; but mostly just button pressin'.

Calculators actually help thinking. No calculator (even with a computer algebra system) can set up an equation or derivative for you; you have to know what to tell it to solve. By definition, calculators can only do mechanical calculations. You have to know enough to tell it what to solve and how to interpret the data it gives you; you're just saved the tedium of doing what's in the middle, which you've probably already done many times.

 

[logwed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by linuxworks /img/forum/go_quote.gif OT but I was overhearing a friend talk to his daughter; she tells him that she NEEDS this graphing calc for school. 'everyone in the class has to have one'. really? not in my day! I'm mid 40's and calcs were, at best, tolerated in school and never REQUIRED. what the heck is happening, that calcs are REQUIRED (?). this can't be good. I hate to be the 'get off my lawn' guy (lol) but this is not a good sign. and, what about the poorer kids in school who can't afford $40 for a calc? I worry that we don't tech THINKING anymore; but mostly just button pressin'.

In precalc this year, a graphing calculator was required. It was certainly a godsend.

 

[Nonchalance]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aristos_achaion /img/forum/go_quote.gif Calculators actually help thinking. No calculator (even with a computer algebra system) can set up an equation or derivative for you; you have to know what to tell it to solve. By definition, calculators can only do mechanical calculations. You have to know enough to tell it what to solve and how to interpret the data it gives you; you're just saved the tedium of doing what's in the middle, which you've probably already done many times.

Indeed. Times have changed. Practically, you're never going to have to solve a system or differentiate/integrate etc by hand, and Calculus is all about real life applications. And no more flipping through tables of values for all kind of stuff.

Most of my tests, pre-calc or calc, forbid the use of a calculator though to make sure that the students understood the concepts.

 

[ljokerl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by linuxworks /img/forum/go_quote.gif what the heck is happening, that calcs are REQUIRED (?).

Not only that, instructors sometimes request a PARTICULAR model of a calculator to be purchased by the students, often so that their job of explaining which combination of keypressed achieves a certain result is easier.

This can reach absurdities though, as I recently encountered a teacher who came down on a student for having the correct model calculator in the wrong color

.