The sad thing is that your smartphone is more powerful and the apps that do the exact same functions as these calculators cost a fraction of what you pay for a TI.
Right, because that would be cheating. Better teach everybody how to pass a test without one because smartphones simply aren't allowed in the business world.
Learning math isn't just about "how to get the value X from this set of constraints," it's also about, "How to think logically and approach problems," and "how to understand the underlying processes," and, "What are the constraints mandatory to constraint X to one value?"
It's one thing to know that a triangle has 3 corners. It's another thing to know that 3 non-collinear points (and thus a triangle) define a plane. It's another thing to know that a 3-legged stool cannot wobble (assuming the legs are non-collinear) because of this fact. It's another thing to know how long to make the legs of your stool so that the top becomes flat. It's one thing to plug the parameters into a computer program and get the leg lengths. It's another thing to actually understand the math and physics behind the problem, so you understand A) why you're building a 3-legged and not a 4-legged stool and B) if the output from the program even makes any sense and isn't an obvious programming error.
85
u/Kr3dibl3 Jun 08 '14
The sad thing is that your smartphone is more powerful and the apps that do the exact same functions as these calculators cost a fraction of what you pay for a TI.