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Let me try in hope calculator enthusiasts are in the room: I have a need for a specific calculator for young teenager with ADHD. It has to show input and outpu

by xlii 3y ago

Let me try in hope calculator enthusiasts are in the room: I have a need for a specific calculator for young teenager with ADHD. It has to show input and output at the same time (or at least full input), be ergonomic (backlight, nice keys) and not looking childish. Right now I’m borrowing my SwissMicro RPN which is awesome gadget but outside of complete overkill - its not backlighted display is hard to read. Context is that the kid has very short working memory. Whereas they understand the concepts really well (I help with tutoring) due to frequent mistakes and forgetting numbers mid-flight the grades are awful which negatively impacts attitude etc. I noticed positive impact with calculator because not only they start to memorize some basic calculations, they also start to feel general result correctness based on those visual inputs. As mentioned before - SwissMicro works but maybe there’s something with backlight and not RPN based. It has to be calculator not an app because I hope to convince school to let them used daily.

_trampeltier 3y ago
As someone who also likes RPN, I think for Texas Instruments TI-30XS MultiView is a good calculator. You can see the input at once, but I don't know any calculator with backlight, exept when you want something like HP Prime.
ycombinete 3y ago
I submitted an Ask HN a few months back about handheld calculators: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36975021 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36975021 There are some great comments and discussions there. I ended up buying the Casio fx-991 ES PLUS as a result.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- gljiva 3y ago
  If ES plus is the type of calculator you want, fx-991EX classwiz is a more capable version in every way except maybe the price. If you don't want a graphing calculator, programming and CAS on it, the fx-991EX is one of the best, if not the best scientific calculator out there (haven't seen many, though). Includes beautiful UI (roots, exponents and fractions are displayed like we write them, so more is visible, and the navigation is easier), spreadsheets, printing out values of a real function, solving any real equation for X (one solution at a time, gotta give it different starting Xs for optimization, though), some very basic probability (Gauss) statistics (e.g. linear regression), up to 4x4 matrices, finding derivative in a point, sum over a range, integral over an interval, arithmetic with complex numbers etc. It doesn't render graphs, but, it renders a qr code that a phone can scan and then the phone shows the graph, so some graphing is there for studying, but not an exam.
  - ycombinete 3y ago
    Thank you. I mostly use it for very basic calculations. I had started to re-teach myself linear algebra with the hopes of heading into trig and calculus. But ended up losing interest/energy. Practically speaking, I probably would have been better off getting a much simpler calculator with bigger number buttons. But I do love the aesthetic of the scientific calculator, it seems to hold so much potential.
stefanpie 3y ago
If you look under Casio's website under the category of "Standard Scientific Calculators" (https://www.casio.com/intl/scientific-calculators/standard-models/ https://www.casio.com/intl/scientific-calculators/standard-m...) they have some calculators where you can see the input and output at the same time and navigate the input with arrows. I had one that was like the "fx-350ES plus" (https://www.casio.com/intl/scientific-calculators/product.FX-350ESPLUS/ https://www.casio.com/intl/scientific-calculators/product.FX...) in high school but they have a selection of newer looking models that support the same kind of many-featured (fractions, exponents, integrals, ...) pixel graphic inputs rather than the simple 2 line LCD.
arpafaucon 3y ago
You might be interested in the one made by NumWorks (https://www.numworks.com/ https://www.numworks.com/) This fits your checklist I think: - notably more intuitive than the classical Texas Instrument / Casio - calculations input are shown - ( not that it seems to matter for you, but it also has python on it )
- xlii 3y ago
  Thanks for the recommendation. I played couple minutes with the simulator and decided to order it. Seems exactly like something I was looking for.
baz00 3y ago
The calculator in the article, the fx-cg50 is just what he needs. It's like the FX-991ex mentioned elsewhere but it remembers more things and has history and a display that is decent. I own one and have been using it for a couple of years now.
snvzz 3y ago
If you can let go of the backlight requirement, then the TI-89 is great value used. They go 15-30€ range. They were TI's flagship calculator at some point. Well-known, and extensively reviewed. Many consider its TI nSPIRE successors to be flawed. Avoid TI-83/84, despite fancy-looking backlit screen and smartphone-inspired UX, they are ultimately the successors of TI-82, the "high schooler" stripped down functionality version of the TI-85.

by xlii 3y ago

_trampeltier 3y ago

As someone who also likes RPN, I think for Texas Instruments TI-30XS MultiView is a good calculator. You can see the input at once, but I don't know any calculator with backlight, exept when you want something like HP Prime.

ycombinete 3y ago

I submitted an Ask HN a few months back about handheld calculators: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36975021 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36975021 There are some great comments and discussions there. I ended up buying the Casio fx-991 ES PLUS as a result.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
gljiva 3y ago
If ES plus is the type of calculator you want, fx-991EX classwiz is a more capable version in every way except maybe the price. If you don't want a graphing calculator, programming and CAS on it, the fx-991EX is one of the best, if not the best scientific calculator out there (haven't seen many, though). Includes beautiful UI (roots, exponents and fractions are displayed like we write them, so more is visible, and the navigation is easier), spreadsheets, printing out values of a real function, solving any real equation for X (one solution at a time, gotta give it different starting Xs for optimization, though), some very basic probability (Gauss) statistics (e.g. linear regression), up to 4x4 matrices, finding derivative in a point, sum over a range, integral over an interval, arithmetic with complex numbers etc. It doesn't render graphs, but, it renders a qr code that a phone can scan and then the phone shows the graph, so some graphing is there for studying, but not an exam.
- ycombinete 3y ago
  Thank you. I mostly use it for very basic calculations. I had started to re-teach myself linear algebra with the hopes of heading into trig and calculus. But ended up losing interest/energy. Practically speaking, I probably would have been better off getting a much simpler calculator with bigger number buttons. But I do love the aesthetic of the scientific calculator, it seems to hold so much potential.

stefanpie 3y ago

If you look under Casio's website under the category of "Standard Scientific Calculators" (https://www.casio.com/intl/scientific-calculators/standard-models/ https://www.casio.com/intl/scientific-calculators/standard-m...) they have some calculators where you can see the input and output at the same time and navigate the input with arrows. I had one that was like the "fx-350ES plus" (https://www.casio.com/intl/scientific-calculators/product.FX-350ESPLUS/ https://www.casio.com/intl/scientific-calculators/product.FX...) in high school but they have a selection of newer looking models that support the same kind of many-featured (fractions, exponents, integrals, ...) pixel graphic inputs rather than the simple 2 line LCD.

arpafaucon 3y ago

You might be interested in the one made by NumWorks (https://www.numworks.com/ https://www.numworks.com/) This fits your checklist I think: - notably more intuitive than the classical Texas Instrument / Casio - calculations input are shown - ( not that it seems to matter for you, but it also has python on it )

xlii 3y ago
Thanks for the recommendation. I played couple minutes with the simulator and decided to order it. Seems exactly like something I was looking for.

baz00 3y ago

The calculator in the article, the fx-cg50 is just what he needs. It's like the FX-991ex mentioned elsewhere but it remembers more things and has history and a display that is decent. I own one and have been using it for a couple of years now.

snvzz 3y ago

If you can let go of the backlight requirement, then the TI-89 is great value used. They go 15-30€ range. They were TI's flagship calculator at some point. Well-known, and extensively reviewed. Many consider its TI nSPIRE successors to be flawed. Avoid TI-83/84, despite fancy-looking backlit screen and smartphone-inspired UX, they are ultimately the successors of TI-82, the "high schooler" stripped down functionality version of the TI-85.