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There is quite the gulf between learning how to program and having to look up cosines and so on in mathematical tables (which I once had to do when my calculato

There is quite the gulf between learning how to program and having to look up cosines and so on in mathematical tables (which I once had to do when my calculator stopped working five minutes to the start of an exam), a gulf which handheld calculators occupy very comfortably. > Learning to fluently navigate a handheld calculator is not an important life skill It very arguably is. Contrary to what HNers seem to think, not everybody wants or is inclined to picking up Python to tally up a receipt or similar, and that's quite okay. (Sure, the handheld calculator is often now a phone, but that's a difference without much distinction)

jacobolus 7y ago
Nobody needs a $100 Texas Instruments graphing calculator to tally up receipts or compute the cosine of 28° (the latter is something a carpenter might need to do, but should not be showing up extensively in high school math classes). If people want to buy $5 “scientific calculator”, a 4-function calculator with a paper tape, use a free calculator app on their phone, type their arithmetic into google, ...., that’s just fine. These devices are simple and straight-forward, and do not need extensive practice to understand. If schools really want to spend class time practicing computations with a portable calculation device, learning how a slide rule works is much more pedagogically valuable. At earlier ages, learning how to use a soroban or counting board is also worthwhile. These devices have no hidden parts, and learning to use them is, in itself, mathematical.
- filleduchaos 7y ago
  Amazingly, I have said nothing about having to buy $100 graphing calculators. You on the other hand called _all_ handheld calculators a waste of time.
  - jacobolus 7y ago
    Using a handheld 4-function or scientific calculator can save time. There is nothing wrong with the existence of calculators. The problematic part is their pervasiveness in school. Spending nontrivial amounts of classroom time on practicing using a handheld calculator is a waste. Assigning high school students long lists of exercises where they punch numbers into calculators and then write down the answers is a waste of time and attention.

jacobolus 7y ago

Nobody needs a $100 Texas Instruments graphing calculator to tally up receipts or compute the cosine of 28° (the latter is something a carpenter might need to do, but should not be showing up extensively in high school math classes). If people want to buy $5 “scientific calculator”, a 4-function calculator with a paper tape, use a free calculator app on their phone, type their arithmetic into google, ...., that’s just fine. These devices are simple and straight-forward, and do not need extensive practice to understand. If schools really want to spend class time practicing computations with a portable calculation device, learning how a slide rule works is much more pedagogically valuable. At earlier ages, learning how to use a soroban or counting board is also worthwhile. These devices have no hidden parts, and learning to use them is, in itself, mathematical.

filleduchaos 7y ago
Amazingly, I have said nothing about having to buy $100 graphing calculators. You on the other hand called _all_ handheld calculators a waste of time.
- jacobolus 7y ago
  Using a handheld 4-function or scientific calculator can save time. There is nothing wrong with the existence of calculators. The problematic part is their pervasiveness in school. Spending nontrivial amounts of classroom time on practicing using a handheld calculator is a waste. Assigning high school students long lists of exercises where they punch numbers into calculators and then write down the answers is a waste of time and attention.