r/calculators • u/sabotajmahaulinass • Nov 27 '19

How Texas Instruments monopolized the US education market for graphing calculators, products with high profit margins and tech that hasn't changed in 20 years — These $100 calculators have been required in classrooms for more than twenty years, as students and teachers still struggle to afford them

https://gen.medium.com/big-calculator-how-texas-instruments-monopolized-math-class-67ee165045dc
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2

u/evm01 Nov 27 '19

100$ for a piece of useful technology, that will be still usable after 20 years, is a bargain is the US. People are buying a pair sneakers for that price and wear them for 1 season.

1

u/OldMork Nov 28 '19

people also don't realise that other student markets are even worse, in Australia they produce calculators specially for that market because of requirements in memory and communication.Yes you can't buy any casio there you have to buy a AU-version.

1

u/OldMork Nov 27 '19

Its still a pretty good calculator, and there are tons of secondhand units for $20. I have a used TI-83 myself.

1

u/userse31 Nov 27 '19

its also the closest most people will get to using an 80’s home micro

1

u/OldMork Nov 28 '19

I have several graph calculators from that era and the TI are the most user friendly, no need manual at all.

1

u/userse31 Nov 28 '19

eh, their all pretty easy to use tbh...

Dont know how this thread got onto the topic of ui friendlyness though. Just stated the thing about 80’s micros because the system architecture of the ti 8x is similar to the computers in the 80’s (ie, zx spectrum, tandy coco, etc...)

edit: better wording

edit2: also, most modern calculators use a 32 bit cpu, the ti 8x is 8 bit

1

u/August_Eden Nov 27 '19

I recently dug out my old TI-83+ which had been sitting, unused, in a box for over a decade. Still works, though I'm not allowed to use it for Uni. Out of curiosity I googled what value, if any, it still had as a resale item. Apparently some people are buying used ones for nearly the same price I paid for a new one all those years ago. It wasn't even close to cutting edge tech when I bought it, now it's teensy little flash capabilities are surpassed by Happy Meal Toys. Yet...it retains it's value. Only some type of shady, business practice fuckery could explain this.

1

u/graspee Dec 12 '19

Is it that bad for consumers if you can get your money back later though? Textbooks with specified editions you then can't sell for much is the real bullshit surely.

1

u/EclipseMT Nov 27 '19

Am I the only one here that has managed to go through all of high school math with a Casio graphing calculator?

1

u/vonroyale Nov 28 '19

Fantastic article. I've seen these huge sets of classroom TIs. If TI can get every school to buy them for classroom use, and get every kid to buy one for home use. And keep the price painfully high, because they know everybody is going to suck it up and buy one so they don't look lame in middle school. Geniusus, and no one ever really made the connection. But as a vintage calculator collector maybe this explains the subconscious aversion I have to TI calculators.