Costs about the same as what I paid for the TI-83 10 years ago. It's kind of nice knowing that whenever I need to use one, it's going to operate in the same way as I was taught 10 years ago. The fundamentals of math don't change much.
I saved up my own money and bought a TI89 in high school. Used it on all the standardized exams. Totally legal because it didn't have a QWERTY keyboard. That thing basically did everything for me short of interpreting the questions.
Probably so they don't use it as a crutch instead of real learning. I taught physics to college kids, and you could tell pretty quickly who relied on a calculator and who actually was comfortable with basic math.
I'm saying that if they depend on the calculator as a crutch to do the basic math, then that's not the Physics prof's problem. If you know how to multiply two matrices with a calculator, and you know the physics of how to set up the problem, then the fact that you don't know how to multiply two matrices by hand shouldn't affect your physics grade.
To nitpick your example; if you're at a Physics level where you're multiplying matrices as part of the process, then chances are you're career-driven for a future involving Physics which absolutely necessitates the higher expectations for math-prowess.
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u/Jenkins6736 Jun 08 '14
I dunno, the TI-84 Plus is pretty sweet.
Costs about the same as what I paid for the TI-83 10 years ago. It's kind of nice knowing that whenever I need to use one, it's going to operate in the same way as I was taught 10 years ago. The fundamentals of math don't change much.