OT $100 calculator for school!?!?

On Wed, 20 Aug 2003 19:12:04 GMT, "Sneaks" left Mt Vesuvius in a state of jealous awe as he began spewing from the mouth thusly:

I placed out of having to take the first semester in calculus in college even though I'd never even been exposed to a calculator like this, and I was not sunk. I made A's and B's. We had a very good calculus teacher in high school. Never used a calculator like this the whole way through college. I think the problem is that teachers are pressured to teach the kids more and more these days and that this calculator is a "cram tool." The kids pass the class because they have a tool that helps them pass, but they don't really learn as much. That's what I think. My opinion is based on my own experience. I've taken some decently advanced math (a helluva lot more advanced than beginning algebra, that's for sure) and never needed a calculator like this to learn it and to get through the classes, and I'm not the only one. Practically everyone who was in those classes with me somehow got by just fine without a $100 calculator, too. Been there, done that, got the degree. Sorry, I'm just not changing my way of thinking on this one. Standard disclaimers, etc, etc, yadda yadda.

-- Travis (Shaggie) '63 VW Camo Baja...

I do agree with you, I tested out freshman calc in college....and we didn't use calculators then......but we did use slide rules......don't remember how to use one now....never used one as an ME afterward either.....go figure.....when I was designing telephone headsets....we didn't use a computer with a pen plotter either....we used a drafting table and rules......now all my engineer and architect clients use Autocad or TurboCAD or SomethingwithCADinthenameofit......most don't even have a table in the office.....Travis....times are a changin' and we be gettin' older......next thing you know.....dem crazy kids will be hopping up Civics and other Jap cars......wait.....damn....too late:)

math....then

On Wed, 20 Aug 2003 20:04:27 GMT, "Sneaks" left Mt Vesuvius in a state of jealous awe as he began spewing from the mouth thusly:

There's no accounting for tastes.

-- Travis (Shaggie) '63 VW Camo Baja...

I got by with a Casio fx-180P, I think you still can, if you want that is...

J.

Sucks getting old.....anyway......I do see your point, requiring you to spend $100 for a required course in public school is crap....I'd be pissed too......of course I can be a little more casual about it since we inherited my Dad's TIs when he passed away.....packed away safe for the kids when they need them..... .....and I'm a cheap b*stard too....and damn proud of it.....of course.....with my wife....I have to be cheap....out of necessity....not choice.....

That's Watch Batteries John,......................Big ones but watch batteries......................LOL

( gimme a jigsaw puzzle over math anyday.)

Remove "YOURPANTIES" to reply MUADIB®

Just wait till college comes around... My engineering books usually cost $400-500 bucks per semester, YIKES. And if I try to sell them back at the end of the semester, I will be lucky to get $75 for the lot; what a joke! But that's just the way it goes,

happens then the batteries fail and you still need to

You ALWAYS carry an extra set! After spending a LONG time calculating a diff eq problem they come in very handy to check your work. BTW, they run on AAA's :-)

OMG. My first computer - TRS-80 Model 4. AKA: "trash-80". Mine still worked as of a few years ago :-).............. I still have an '80 micro' magazine from (you guessed it) the '80's! This particular one has a column about some software my DAD wrote for it; lol.

--Eric

I can see Travis now, sitting on his spot on the bench at the retirement home saying:

"Yep you young whipper snappers, we ate dirt when we were kids, drank the water and seeds.... we didn't have that fancy bread stuff.... we grew it in our stomachs AND WE LIKED IT! (crazy old man then starts to mumble to himself, drool, and starts to become fascinated with moving his fingers in front of his face....)"

math....then

older......next

WHOA! that hit a nerve with me... It torques me the wrong way when some bonehead kid at the store will look at the register and see how much change i get, THEN they just place the bills in my hand and place the coins on top of the bills where they want to slide all over the place, especially bad in a drive through where the coins most always fall on the ground of the floor of the car!

my kids say i am so old - we learned from scrolls and used stone tablet and chisels....AHHHH but we learned to use the grey matter in our head, and not to just push buttons.

My kids complain that I dont let them just type and print a report...Yeah I make them hand write it! ( she uses spell checker way toooooo much, i told my 12 year old to get the dictionary. Then she complained that how was she going to find the word when she didnt know how to spell it...lol )

hehe just on a side note.... they arent allowed to do a report on the computer at school... some kids last years ruined it when one student did a report and printed it 6 times in different font and font pitch and gave it to 5 friends...LOL!

remember getting in trouble and having to write 500 times "I will not chew gum in class" or something similar?! jeez where was cut and paste then?!

On Thu, 21 Aug 2003 13:06:13 -0500, "dragenwagen" left Mt Vesuvius in a state of jealous awe as he began spewing from the mouth thusly:

We had a computer set up (trs-80) in a room with a printer when I was in about 8th grade. I remember I had to write about 500 times something like "I must not talk in class and should pay attention to the teacher" or some garbage like that. I asked if I could type it up and was told I could. I threw together something like this:

That way it would introduce a random "typo" every now and then and look authentic. Yep, it worked. :-D My "BASIC" is kinda rusty but I think most of it's correct.

-- Travis (Shaggie) '63 VW Camo Baja...

....................You can turn off the Windows spell checker (it's not very reliable anyway). When your daughter is in college or for sure when she's a working adult, she won't be writing anything by hand! Using a keyboard on a pc is the way of the world now, more so every day. Eventually, many grade schools will have every student sitting at a desktop during classes. It's already occuring in some places.

.........BTW.........I work in a hospital and there is a movement gaining speed around the country to get rid of written patient charts and digitalize/network everything. Like it or not, the world is being transformed.

On Thu, 21 Aug 2003 14:19:39 -0400, travis left Mt Vesuvius in a state of jealous awe as he began spewing from the mouth thusly:

Got it to work but can't post the full sized image right now...

-- Travis (Shaggie) '63 VW Camo Baja...

I curse the day when that happens.

On Thu, 21 Aug 2003 14:42:03 -0400, travis left Mt Vesuvius in a state of jealous awe as he began spewing from the mouth thusly:

Got it.

-- Travis (Shaggie) '63 VW Camo Baja...

I know PhD engineering students who use old school Casios without graphing because when you have to do some heavy duty calculations, it's called a COMPUTER! You formulate the problem on paper, and you crunch it with some real computing horsepower.

Sounds like your kid has a bad math teacher. But, what do you expect from high school.

Mrs. Krabapple: Can anyone tell me with their calculator what 2 x 5 is? Millhouse: Low Battery!?!?

Well, apparently, some engineers don't believe in higher math, either. I once saw a friend of mine trying calibrate a speedo by literally measuring the circumference of the tire with a string. He was having quite a time holding the tire in his arms and wrapping the string around it. I looked at him funny and asked him what he was doing. When he said measuring the circumference, I told him the manufacturer's website has all that info. My other friend did a quick estimate and said the circumference was about 75". He measured the string... 75.5". I just sat there laughing at him. I mean, engineering background... and he failed to use something as simple as C=pi*D. I still give him a hard time about it.

You're other points about teaching more financial math skills I agree with as well. But, then again, most high school math teachers aren't that bright.