> This is probably the most overly pedantic, nitpicky reason for not using a program I've ever heard.
If you found learning math easy, you're fortunate. But lots of people find learning math difficult and frustrating, and things which might not have bothered you can be big deals for those folks. If I used a program in teaching which has a convention about basic arithmetic operations that is the opposite of the convention that mathematicians use, it is one more source of confusion and frustration for people.
Student: "You said that -3² was -9, but Excel says it's 9."
Me: "Well, mathematicians use a different convention than spreadsheets."
Student: "So which one should I use on a test? Can we use both?"
Me: "Since this is a math class, you should use -9, not 9."
Student: "How am I supposed to remember that? This is why I hate math ..."
Everyone will weigh costs and benefits differently. There is plenty of good math software out there like Mathematica, R, Geogebra, or maxima. Spreadsheets didn't seem to offer much, and there was this arithmetic convention thing that I knew would be an issue.
I'm sorry if you find it pedantic and nitpicky. I always tried to minimize unnecessary causes for upset, because there were difficulties enough learning math without my adding to them. If you saw people getting extremely angry or in tears because they "didn't get it", I think you'd understand. Math is really hard for some people.
If you found learning math easy, you're fortunate. But lots of people find learning math difficult and frustrating, and things which might not have bothered you can be big deals for those folks. If I used a program in teaching which has a convention about basic arithmetic operations that is the opposite of the convention that mathematicians use, it is one more source of confusion and frustration for people.
Student: "You said that -3² was -9, but Excel says it's 9."
Me: "Well, mathematicians use a different convention than spreadsheets."
Student: "So which one should I use on a test? Can we use both?"
Me: "Since this is a math class, you should use -9, not 9."
Student: "How am I supposed to remember that? This is why I hate math ..."
Everyone will weigh costs and benefits differently. There is plenty of good math software out there like Mathematica, R, Geogebra, or maxima. Spreadsheets didn't seem to offer much, and there was this arithmetic convention thing that I knew would be an issue.
I'm sorry if you find it pedantic and nitpicky. I always tried to minimize unnecessary causes for upset, because there were difficulties enough learning math without my adding to them. If you saw people getting extremely angry or in tears because they "didn't get it", I think you'd understand. Math is really hard for some people.