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What really kind of blows my mind is that TI hasn't yet produced a $59.99 pro-level TI-Calc app for tablets and smart phones. There's enough people who grew up

by bane 11y ago

What really kind of blows my mind is that TI hasn't yet produced a $59.99 pro-level TI-Calc app for tablets and smart phones. There's enough people who grew up through school on TI calculators and would love to have a pro-level app to do their real work on. Toss in a $39.99 physical USB calculator keyboard (as an alternative to the on-screen) and TI could also reap the benefits of the accessory market. There has to be (or where) literally millions of buyers for this kind of thing. The k-12 training pipeline is the perfect way to lock people into the "TI-way" of calculating. (and yes I know you can install Octave and Matlab on Android devices these days, but people turn to those because there isn't a TI licensed pro-level app. And yes, I have several TI-calc emulators on my phone I use frequently).

jacobolus 11y ago
TI calculators are basically a racket. They are entirely unnecessary (I’d argue distracting and counterproductive) for student learning in the classroom, but via partnerships with the standardized test and textbook publishers, they’ve convinced American parents, students, and school administrators that they’re essential tools, and can thereby charge $100 for laughably antiquated hardware. It’s even sillier when you consider most students have a dramatically more capable smartphone in their pockets already. We might as well be teaching students to use Palm Pilots or 15-year-old point-and-shoot digital cameras. Calling them “pro level” is a joke.. real pros use (e.g.) Matlab, R, Mathematica, or Python.
- wslh 11y ago
  I remember Steve Wozniak comments about being influenced by a HP calculator, and I ask if we can reinvent the calculator. Probably there is no business here but a short term challenge in UX.
- lfowles 11y ago
  I think GP might have been getting at TI89 level calculators, which have CAS. That's a significant feature in my book.
  - jacobolus 11y ago
    The CAS in the TI-89 is a toy compared to Maple, Mathematica, Sage, etc., and typing complicated expressions into a calculator keypad is something mathematical sinners are forced to do eternally in hell.
  - bane 11y ago
    I'm talking even better, but designed with the TI-like way of doing math. Something Matlab/Mathematica-level, but with a more reasonable input interface than something like Python for Android. I had a TI-92+ I used for years instead of fighting with Matlab since I had using it down to muscle memory. It worked well enough (until I needed more pro-level tools). For example, adding better support for matrix math than the TI-89/92 series, and some built in image processing tools...the platform already even has image acquisition hardware. Or a line of USB connectable voltmeters or other data acquisition hardware. For field use, lots of people still use these middle-school calculators because they have a decent combination of power and an interface they've been using for 6-7 years. Heck, I use emulators for TI-83/85/89 on my phone for quick calculations in the field or when I don't want to have to fire up an overpowered tool. The CAS on the 89 is almost magic in lots of cases.
- anon4 11y ago
  Aren't they required for standard tests because you have to calculate a final answer, which is hard by hand, but you can't be allowed to use a full tablet, because it's impossible to secure against cheating?
  - hga 11y ago
    Except for the minor detail that you can sufficiently test someone's math abilities without the use of a calculator? Or so was the case for me in the '70s when demanding one was out of the question, and e.g. MIT had to figure out if I, and the N thousand other students they offered admission to, could hack the calculus required by the core curriculum (one term beyond the AP Calculus BC sequence (single variable through infinite series)).
mcphage 11y ago
> What really kind of blows my mind is that TI hasn't yet produced a $59.99 pro-level TI-Calc app for tablets and smart phones. Why would they, though? They sell their calculators by the bucketload, still charge more than $59.99, and since they're pretty much the same obsolete hardware they've been peddling for 20 years, it probably costs next to nothing to produce. What you're suggesting is more work (since they'd actually have to design something again, god forbid), they'd make less money, and it would just help people to realize what garbage they've been selling as gold for years. Once people started buying graphing calculator software for their phones, why would it have to be TI's? I really hate TI as a company.

by bane 11y ago

jacobolus 11y ago

TI calculators are basically a racket. They are entirely unnecessary (I’d argue distracting and counterproductive) for student learning in the classroom, but via partnerships with the standardized test and textbook publishers, they’ve convinced American parents, students, and school administrators that they’re essential tools, and can thereby charge $100 for laughably antiquated hardware. It’s even sillier when you consider most students have a dramatically more capable smartphone in their pockets already. We might as well be teaching students to use Palm Pilots or 15-year-old point-and-shoot digital cameras. Calling them “pro level” is a joke.. real pros use (e.g.) Matlab, R, Mathematica, or Python.

wslh 11y ago
I remember Steve Wozniak comments about being influenced by a HP calculator, and I ask if we can reinvent the calculator. Probably there is no business here but a short term challenge in UX.
lfowles 11y ago
I think GP might have been getting at TI89 level calculators, which have CAS. That's a significant feature in my book.
- jacobolus 11y ago
  The CAS in the TI-89 is a toy compared to Maple, Mathematica, Sage, etc., and typing complicated expressions into a calculator keypad is something mathematical sinners are forced to do eternally in hell.
- bane 11y ago
  I'm talking even better, but designed with the TI-like way of doing math. Something Matlab/Mathematica-level, but with a more reasonable input interface than something like Python for Android. I had a TI-92+ I used for years instead of fighting with Matlab since I had using it down to muscle memory. It worked well enough (until I needed more pro-level tools). For example, adding better support for matrix math than the TI-89/92 series, and some built in image processing tools...the platform already even has image acquisition hardware. Or a line of USB connectable voltmeters or other data acquisition hardware. For field use, lots of people still use these middle-school calculators because they have a decent combination of power and an interface they've been using for 6-7 years. Heck, I use emulators for TI-83/85/89 on my phone for quick calculations in the field or when I don't want to have to fire up an overpowered tool. The CAS on the 89 is almost magic in lots of cases.
anon4 11y ago
Aren't they required for standard tests because you have to calculate a final answer, which is hard by hand, but you can't be allowed to use a full tablet, because it's impossible to secure against cheating?
- hga 11y ago
  Except for the minor detail that you can sufficiently test someone's math abilities without the use of a calculator? Or so was the case for me in the '70s when demanding one was out of the question, and e.g. MIT had to figure out if I, and the N thousand other students they offered admission to, could hack the calculus required by the core curriculum (one term beyond the AP Calculus BC sequence (single variable through infinite series)).

mcphage 11y ago

> What really kind of blows my mind is that TI hasn't yet produced a $59.99 pro-level TI-Calc app for tablets and smart phones. Why would they, though? They sell their calculators by the bucketload, still charge more than $59.99, and since they're pretty much the same obsolete hardware they've been peddling for 20 years, it probably costs next to nothing to produce. What you're suggesting is more work (since they'd actually have to design something again, god forbid), they'd make less money, and it would just help people to realize what garbage they've been selling as gold for years. Once people started buying graphing calculator software for their phones, why would it have to be TI's? I really hate TI as a company.