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NumWorks – An open source Graphing Calculator
- ta2234234242 5y agoNot only is the software open, the hardware is too.
- ptrott2017 5y agothe online simulator is worth playing with to get an idea of the functionality and code on github makes for an interesting read. fantastic project.
- mkl 5y agoIt took me a while to realise you can type with the computer keyboard, not just with the calculator keypad.
- elkos 5y agoInterestingly the license in the software and hardware is the: "Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License"
- msla 5y ago> "Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License" The NonCommercial part makes it incompatible with the Open Source Definition: https://opensource.org/osd https://opensource.org/osd > 6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor > The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research. Ditto the Debian Free Software Guidelines: https://people.debian.org/~bap/dfsg-faq.html https://people.debian.org/~bap/dfsg-faq.html > Q: Can I say "You must not charge [much] money for distributing the program"? > A: This is non-free. We want Debian to be distributed by for-profit CD vendors and improved by corporate resellers. We can only include programs whose authors allow this. > For many users buying Debian on disks is more convenient (and cheaper) than downloading. For-profit distribution is the most reliable and convenient way to ensure that Debian disks are easily available everywhere where there is a demand. Because everyone can download the CD images and start producing their own disks, competition ensures that nobody will make an undeserved fortune distributing Debian. > Q: Can I say "You must not use the program for commercial purposes"? > A: This is non-free. We want businesses to be able to use Debian for their computing needs. A business should be able to use any program in Debian without checking its license. It also goes against the Creative Commons people's guidance on the matter: https://creativecommons.org/faq/#can-i-apply-a-creative-commons-license-to-software https://creativecommons.org/faq/#can-i-apply-a-creative-comm... > Can I apply a Creative Commons license to software? > We recommend against using Creative Commons licenses for software. Instead, we strongly encourage you to use one of the very good software licenses which are already available. We recommend considering licenses listed as free by the Free Software Foundation and listed as “open source” by the Open Source Initiative.
- kergonath 5y agoDebian and NumWorks obviously have different perspectives. The points raised in your comment are more ideological than practical. Personally I am happy that a company that cares about source accessibility is making decent calculators, and slightly amused that Debian and the OSI seem to find that worse than copyleft.
- msla 5y agoIn case anyone sees this as an exercise in a technological "false ceiling" (as in, why make a physical calculator with limited RAM and display instead of a more capable calculator app for a modern cell phone) consider this page your answer: https://www.numworks.com/calculator/exams/ https://www.numworks.com/calculator/exams/ > Can I use the NumWorks calculator on my test? > We've got you covered! The NumWorks graphing calculator is approved for use on most exams. It includes SAT, ACT, and AP exams, which pretty well hits the high points for college-bound teenagers in the USA.
- qubex 5y agoI have one of these. It’s a nice little device but it falls a bit short in one key area: it lacks a CAS (Computer Algebra System) for symbolic calculations. That functionality was available in an earlier release of the software (Epsilon) but it was at best rather rudimentary. I’ve flashed Omega (a fork of Epsilon that preserves the rudimentary symbolic capabilities of earlier Epsilon) which also allows running third-party apps (including Xcas). You can check it out here: https://getomega.dev https://getomega.dev I’m a strong believer in calculators and I understand the restriction on CAS systems in order to facilitate assessment in exam environments, but almost all calculators (including NumWorks) have Exam Mode settings anyway so… I don’t really see why not. It’s a critically important tool.
- tgv 5y agoI don't think it primarily competes with CAS calculators, but rather with the TI84: graphing, statistics, table of function values, plus elementary programming in Python, but faster, and at a lower price. CAS is the cherry on the cake, which you can enable by flashing another version of the OS. And as you probably know, it's not harder than upgrading the OS, so I'd say it's a pretty decent compromise.
- FriedrichN 5y agoPretty much this. This calculator is meant to break the hegemony of TI in high schools by providing a (cheaper) alternative. You'll end up having to disable CAS in school anyway, sometimes you're not even allowed to have it, even if you can disable it.
- sekao 5y agoI had no need for one but got it anyway. The OS is really easy to build and install. Amazing work. Try booting it up next to your smartphone. There is no perceptible boot time -- and its arm cortex processor is probably much weaker than your phone's. It reminded me what computing could be like if you're willing to cut out the layers and build from scratch.
- tgv 5y agoThe Nokia "brick" would boot up really quickly too. But a modern smart phone is such an "enabling" device, that I don't think you could realistically build a competing platform without wholesale incorporating something like Linux, with all its startup processes. It would take ages to write a minimal OS with the functionality and compatibility that modern apps (and thus users) expect. BTW, I have an N0100 too. I completely agree there's something pleasing about the immediacy of a calculator.
- adiM 5y agoIntriguingly, log is computed by first doing a prime factorization. Perhaps that gives slightly more precision, but I always thought that prime factorization is way harder than computing log (say via an approximation of the infinite series).
- snvzz 5y agoDespite claims in the title: This is not Open Source, nor Free Software, due to the choice of a license that does meet neither OSI nor FSF definitions, as it has restrictions on commercial use.
- snvzz 5y agoUsing a lithium battery in place of AA/AAA batteries, and having a backlit screen should be two obvious red flags. To anyone reading, I'd suggest a used TI-89 or Voyage 200 instead, 68000-based TI calcs. They cost next to nothing used these days, and there's to my knowledge no better calculators out there. It is old, but that means it is proven and well-understood.
- dan-robertson 5y agoHP-48 is a better calculator for example.
- saagarjha 5y agoIt's not even in the same league without a CAS.
- dan-robertson 5y agoIf you want algebra, use a computer. I’m talking about doing calculations and I think it is hard to beat the efficiency when entering them into an HP–48-like device
- saagarjha 5y agoΣ(1/n^2,n,1,∞) is a calculation. That TI-89 evaluates it to π^2/6 makes it good at doing them.
- dan-robertson 5y ago1. That’s not a calculation. It’s a special case you either need to know or have to be clever to compute. A calculation might be, say, compute zeta(2). But I don’t really want to argue about semantics. 2. This can evaluate this correctly on the (slightly later) HP-49G+ So given this new information, will you change your mind or try to find some other silly example?
- BrandoElFollito 5y agoThis is one of the typically recommended calculators in high school in France. The schools usually get a reasonable deal to promote it to pupils. It is a good calculator, but the Python part (that was supposed to be a strong asset) is not that well managed. I just tried a few things on my son's calculator but gave up. i was expecting some kind of live interface between the REPL or an editor and the calculator but it really looks like an Arduino that you have to update with code all the time.
- ilaksh 5y agoA device like this should exist for $20 or less. There must be something keeping prices high.
- snvzz 5y agoAt that amount, it is possible to actually get a good calculator such as the TI-89, used. And I would very much recommend doing that, over an unproven new device that claims to be Open Source while actually using license that is not.
- syockit 5y agoActually, the only page in the site to claim "open source" with regards to the calculator is a blog article[1] by a non-technical staff. Elsewhere, it is only referred to as an "open" graphing calculator. The HN submission is titled incorrectly. [1] https://www.numworks.com/blog/interview-kevin-from-virginia/ https://www.numworks.com/blog/interview-kevin-from-virginia/
- snvzz 5y ago>the only page in the site to claim "open source" with regards to the calculator is a blog article[1] by a non-technical staff. They should fix this immediately and keep their employees under check. It is a PR disaster.
- elkos 5y agoThey should also inform their non-technical personel during on-boarding about the significance of the "open-source" term in terms of licensing. There are organizations and corporations that focus on such terms during on-boarding either because that's their development model or they are aware that using such a term while not adhering to it could draw valid criticism.
- zepto 5y ago> And I would very much recommend doing that, over an unproven new device that claims to be Open Source while actually using license that is not. This demand for ideological purity is why open source is a complete failure and the market is dominated by closed systems.
- chrisBob 5y agoI would love something like this to become standard, but I recall needing a specific calculator in HS. Our math classes were based on the TI-83, and people with an 84 or 86(?) would struggle because the interface isn't exactly the same. Maybe there is more variety now and classes can better handle other calculators. My wife is still using my old TI-89 about 20 years later, but if that ever dies I will probably pick up something like this for general use. I would also much rather my 6-year-old learn python instead of spending her time making goofy games in TI-BASIC like I did.
- FriedrichN 5y ago> I would also much rather my 6-year-old learn python instead of spending her time making goofy games in TI-BASIC like I did. There is something about programming in very restrictive environments though (granted it's for fun). Trying to see what you can make a small device do if you're creative enough can be a lot of fun. Btw, the newest TI-84s and Nspires also have Python.
- pjmlp 5y agoCasios already had it first. :)
- salamandersauce 5y agoI find it wild that US HS classes seem to demand specific calculators at all, let alone graphing calculators which can do a bit too much of the work for you IMO (for education purposes obviously). In HS we used the class set of TI-83s for like 1 week to easily play around graphing some functions something that could probably be done on most student's phones with a free app these days. My HS classes let you use a scientific calculator but I think honestly that's a bit too much too for most purposes. In university we were almost never allowed a calculator for the exam on tests and questions were just designed to be doable without one which is a much better test of how well you know concepts than how well you know your TI.
- chrisBob 5y ago
- sathomasga 5y agoNot quite open source, but SwissMicros provides more evidence of the utility of stand-alone calculators. I love my DM42 https://www.swissmicros.com/product/dm42 https://www.swissmicros.com/product/dm42
- robomartin 5y agoLooks neat. Will support it (buy them as gifts). However, I started with the original HP41 RPN calculator and just can't make myself use an algebraic calculator unless I have absolutely no other option. I probably own a dozen HP calculators of different vintages. I bought my kids HP calculators as well, which they love.