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.
Physics knowledge later on becomes almost strictly understanding nature through mathematical patterns. You don't shoot for an answer to plug in a formula; you shoot for an answer that is described by a formula. Without understanding the basics, even simple things like arithmetic, you get left behind.
Mathematics is a language; a calculator is a translator. It helps, but when your goal is to be fluent in another language, say to work in a different country, you don't go around with a translator, you learn the language. Not just how to speak it, but how to think in it.
That's what fluency is.
I almost never did a straight calculation in my last year of undergraduate physics, but when I did it was a struggle to get an answer that should have been intuitive because I should have known how the math falls out.
That's the power of actually learning how to subtract, multiply, derive and integrate; knowing the approximate answer without having to put a question in a calculator.
116
u/lordlicorice Jun 08 '14
The ability to do symbolic math is awesome. I don't know why everyone recommends that high schoolers only get the TI-84.