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That is insane. Why? But then, a lot of things about the College Board are pretty nuts: It is the reason that graphing calculator companies can continue to sca

That is insane. Why? But then, a lot of things about the College Board are pretty nuts: It is the reason that graphing calculator companies can continue to scam the public by selling overpriced machines running at absurdly low speeds (Their most popular calculator is a 6-15MHz Z80, with 48-128K ram (but YOU, the programmer, can only access 24K): That's pathetic, and yet you can buy a chromebook (a LAPTOP capable of running the famously resource-hungry Chrome) for the same price). The Plus CE did a bit to improve this, but it's still less capable then the phone in your pocket: That is inexcusable).

zokier 10y ago
> Their most popular calculator is a 6-15MHz Z80, with 48-128K ram (but YOU, the programmer, can only access 24K): That's pathetic, and yet you can buy a chromebook (a LAPTOP capable of running the famously resource-hungry Chrome) for the same price). The Plus CE did a bit to improve this, but it's still less capable then the phone in your pocket: That is inexcusable). The Nspire line isn't that bad.. It's not high-end by any means (it's still a damn calculator), but it at least got the lineup to 21st century.
- qwertyuiop924 10y ago
  Yes, but firstly, the Nspire line is nowhere near as popular, and secondly, everyone who would ever need such a calculator is already carrying around a phone that's more powerful, and can run better software (Android has ports of Maxima (the open source descendant of MACSYMA) and REDUCE, as well as simpler CASes), as well as full support for all the calculator software (Android runs Wabbit)
  - closeparen 10y ago
    K12 teachers don't want students distracted by phones in class. It's much easier to police which physical device a student is handling than which capability they're exercising. Even in BYOD netbook world, you can bet all social networking and messaging is blocked at the web filter. (Sometimes time-based restrictions open it for lunch and after school, sometimes not).
    - qwertyuiop924 10y ago
      >K12 teachers don't want students distracted by phones in class. It's much easier to police which physical device a student is handling than which capability they're exercising. ...Which is why they get away with it. But the calculators are still absurdly overpriced. Besides, any student can load all sorts of software onto those calculators fairly trivially.

zokier 10y ago

> Their most popular calculator is a 6-15MHz Z80, with 48-128K ram (but YOU, the programmer, can only access 24K): That's pathetic, and yet you can buy a chromebook (a LAPTOP capable of running the famously resource-hungry Chrome) for the same price). The Plus CE did a bit to improve this, but it's still less capable then the phone in your pocket: That is inexcusable). The Nspire line isn't that bad.. It's not high-end by any means (it's still a damn calculator), but it at least got the lineup to 21st century.

qwertyuiop924 10y ago
Yes, but firstly, the Nspire line is nowhere near as popular, and secondly, everyone who would ever need such a calculator is already carrying around a phone that's more powerful, and can run better software (Android has ports of Maxima (the open source descendant of MACSYMA) and REDUCE, as well as simpler CASes), as well as full support for all the calculator software (Android runs Wabbit)
- closeparen 10y ago
  K12 teachers don't want students distracted by phones in class. It's much easier to police which physical device a student is handling than which capability they're exercising. Even in BYOD netbook world, you can bet all social networking and messaging is blocked at the web filter. (Sometimes time-based restrictions open it for lunch and after school, sometimes not).
  - qwertyuiop924 10y ago
    >K12 teachers don't want students distracted by phones in class. It's much easier to police which physical device a student is handling than which capability they're exercising. ...Which is why they get away with it. But the calculators are still absurdly overpriced. Besides, any student can load all sorts of software onto those calculators fairly trivially.