TI-84 Plus Released

clear issue writes "The TI-84 Plus has now been shipped, and is avalible through a few distributors. (Try froogle) Besides the new stylish interface, when compared to the 83+, the 84+ has a number of technical advancements including a 2.5 times faster processor speed. To see how this new device compares to your current calculator, check out ti's comparison pdf chart. TI has even dedicated an entire web site for the promotion of the 84 Plus."

Comments

Re:calculators are dead

[pyite]

Ugh. For the Nth time, you can't use a Palm on an exam. Plus, using a stylus on a calculator is like using a wooden spoon to do open heart surgery.

TI and the Calculus Scam

[Walker]

Before I begin this rant, I should mention that Texas Instruments does not actually make these things anymore. They sold off their calculator division long ago. Hence these things are TI's, not Texas Instrument calculators.

The company that does make them makes a good deal of their total revenue of these things. And in order to keep this revenue coming in, they have made themselves the official Calculator of Calculus (TM). Every major textbook is geared for this calculator, and even the AP exam requires it (or something very much like it) these days. I get students in Calculus straight out of high school who ask me to tell them what the "official calculator for the course" is.

Now, there are some really useful things you can do with a calculator in a Calculus class. The problem is 90% of all high school calculus teachers are not trained enough to use them properly. And using them improperly is worse than not using them at all.

I use to be head proctor for the placement exams for the Engineering school at Cornell. The year calculators were added to the Calculus AP, we saw a statistically significant drop in scores. However, when I complain about these problems, I get called a technophobe.

God, how I hate these things.

Re:TI and the Calculus Scam

[Kainaw]

However, when I complain about these problems, I get called a technophobe.

Whatever name you are called, it is only by the ignorant. Computers of all kinds are making humans dumber in many areas. Most students cannot answer simple questions, like what is 7 times 8? They also cannot spell because Word will correct the spelling for them.

It is considered a minor problem in the United States. I have been studying reading and writing Chinese for many years and the 'computer assistance problem' is considered far worse over there. Without computer help, kids in the US can figure out some sequence of letters that makes them understood (I can't tell you how many times I've graded a Computer Science test with 'integer' spelled 'interger'). In China, missing a few strokes or adding one in the wrong place will completely change the meaning of the character. So, students there have trouble getting understood without having a computer help them pick out the correct characters.

While I don't like it, I think of it as the slide-rule example. Who is required to learn to use a slide-rule anymore? It isn't required because it isn't needed. With the same argument, why should Chinese kids learn to write all the Chinese characters from memory when a computer picks out the correct words for them? Then, why should any student learn 7*8 when they have a fancy calculator (really a mini-computer) that will do the thinking for them? When these little computers do enough of our thinking about the unimportant stuff, we can spend more time thinking about important stuff, like the Simpons.

Need to Convince Mom and Dad?

[Avian visitor]

Am I the only one that is disgusted by all these "Need to Convince Mom and Dad?" buttons (see bottom left) that are popping up everywhere?

I mean, how long before companies begin to advise children to cry out loud and shout that their parents don't love them if they don't want to buy them their product?

Yeah, it's a bit offtopic. I know.

Re:calculators are dead

[cybermace5]

I like having my calculator batteries last for months, if not years, on end. My ancient TI-85 is always near, always ready.

Plus, the input area on a TI calculator is much larger than even the screen on a PDA, which has to display both the input interface and the results.

Hardcoded keys are fantastic for memorizing quick patterns. Would you try to replace a computer keyboard with a few square inches of touch-sensitive LCD and a stylus?

Re:Convince your parents!!!

[Abcd1234]

Well, from a purely pragmatic standpoint, it helps you work faster... the guy/girl who can do sin(0) in their head will inevitably finish a test faster, and hence have more time to check his/her work, than the guy/girl who has to punch it into a calculator, meaning better grades. And that ignores the benefits of actually *using your brain*...

Frankly, I don't understand how you can defend the idea of needing to punch sin(0) into your calculator. I mean, honestly, if that isn't a symptom of the tool being used as a crutch, I don't know what is. How far does it need to go before you'll admit that the tool is being misused? Hey, maybe we should give calculators to the really young and screw teaching them how to add. After all, they've got *so much work* these days, why should they have to do it themselves when there's a tool to do it for them?

And as for the idea that school is somehow harder these days, I'd love to see proof of that. I'll guarantee you that the curriculum in school hasn't changed much in the last ten years, if anything, because such things just move slowly (changing curriculum is not a trivial operation).

Re:Convince your parents!!!

[joshki]

The point is, if you don't know why the sin of 0 is 0, then it doesn't matter whether you got the answer right or not. I can understand not wanting to do derivatives and integrals -- but if you don't want to learn how to do them, why bother doing them at all? Calculus isn't required for IT degrees, at least not where I study, and if it is required, it's because someone who's probably a whole lot smarter thinks there's a good reason for it.
I find calculus in many things outside a calculus classroom -- just because you don't use it in your job doesn't mean it's useless. Calculus is a way of thinking more than just a problem/solution kind of math -- learning how to do those derivatives and integrals teaches you how to think better than anything else I know of. And those engineers -- you may be right that they do them with computers and calculators all the time, but that doesn't mean they don't need to understand what the computer is doing to solve the problems. If you don't understand how to set up the problem correctly, the computer can't give you the right answer.

Re:RPN?

[alienw]

Yeah, yeah, whatever. Real engineers hardly ever use calculators, considering there are things like Matlab around.