

1996, or what happened with TI calculators - billswift
http://www.xkcd.com/768/

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jff
I love my HP-50G calculator, although I think they could improve the screen a
bit... I'd appreciate higher resolution, faster refresh, maybe color.

However, having completed all the math and science courses for my degree, I'm
not using the HP much any more. Usually it's more convenient to fire up "bc"
instead of hunting up the calculator, despite the limitations of bc.

Oh, and I just can't see smartphones replacing graphing calculators. I like a
calculator because it has all those buttons conveniently placed--for most
things, I don't have to go through any menus. You simply can't fit all that on
the screen of a smartphone and still be able to press the buttons on-screen. I
ran an HP-48 emulator on a Droid, and while it was good, it was certainly no
replacement for the real thing

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troygoode
I recently, on a lark, looked up graphing calculators on Amazon to see what
the state-of-the-art was (I was super into my TI-83 in high school). Wow,
color me dissapointed...

At least there is one with a "touchpad" now:

[http://www.amazon.com/Texas-Instruments-Ti-nspire-
Graphing-C...](http://www.amazon.com/Texas-Instruments-Ti-nspire-Graphing-
Calculator/dp/B003FVGERY) (No referral code.)

I wonder if smartphones are/will replace dedicated graphing calculators? Any
current students or teachers/profs/TAs that have an insight on the matter?

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mooism2
I can't see people being allowed to use a smartphone during an exam --- how
can the invigilator know they are using the approved calculator app and not
asking the internet for help?

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daychilde
Apparently, there are calc apps you can easily get that will store text.
Apparently, a number of my classmates used this ability for tests - storing
various information and formulas we were required to memorize.

I'm not tooting my own horn in saying I didn't participate - I'm no noble man,
but one thing I will not do is cheat in college. I was, however, very
disappointed to learn that apparently such cheating is rampant.

~~~
jff
You certainly don't need any special app. The TI program editor makes it
extremely easy to store your notes as programs. HP calculators are a little
more annoying for editing, but it's still easy to store text in a string
variable.

I did it on occasion, because sometimes there's such a ridiculous number of
complex formulae that I'd rather spend my time practicing their use rather
than memorizing them.

The students who bank their whole grade on the notes in the calculator...
typically can't pass anyway, because they don't know how to use the formulae.

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billswift
I think part of the point is that the price didn't go down like all the other
stuff they were looking at in the old Computer Shopper ads.

