Survey posted 2000-09-12 16:16 by Andy Selle.

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Depends on the calculator. I wouldn't venture into anything but basic 2 digit math without my trusty TI-83+ or another Happycalc as my teacher calls them. However some calcs like the TI-89 basically do 8th grade math for you. Either way it is hard on teachers because people play games on them.

Overuse of calculators in math classes seriously inhibit math skills. I'm not talking about arithmatic; I'm talking about graph visualizion, complicated algebra, and trigonometry. If you use a calculator for years and then try to take a non-calculator-based calculus class, you will find that you aren't as well prepared as you think you are.

I believe calculators should be used in the classroom, because, they are part of life. Everyone will use at least one or two in their lifetime. Educators should plan their classes so that the calculator is used as a tool, not a crutch.

For elementary math, any basic (+,-,x,/) will do just fine. For algebra, geometry, and trig (7th-9th grades) something like the TI-30IIS or TI-36X should be sufficient. Grahing calcs should be considered around Algebra II. I'd reserve the TI-89/92+ for those who really like mathematics, finance, stats, or number crunching (at least senior year of high school at the earliest).

I voted "yes." However, I don't mean to say that you should use your calculator for EVERYTHING. In 6th grade during Pre-Algebra my teacher REQUIRED a scientific calculator. We basically just used them for problems with Sin,Cos, etc. She didn't care if we used them for addition, subtraction, multiplication, whatever, because everyone already understood how to do these things perfectly. Up until 6th grade, I had not been allowed to use any calc whatsoever. Then in 7th grade I took algebra 1, and the class had a set of ti-83's. Again, we basically just used them for simple, tedious stuff that any idiot can do without a calculator. Then in 9th grade, in Algebra 2, I got a TI-89. Besides the ti 92's and 89's, I dont really think any of the other calcs can do too much harm to your mathematical abilities because none of them have a CAS. However, I've been using the 89 for a while now, and I can CERTAINLY say that it could really screw you up if you use it as a crutch. You have to be really disciplined when you have an 89 or 92. My rule is that on homework I only use it for stuff that I understand really well, and on tests I ALWAYS do everything out by hand and then use the calc to check the answer. It can actually be very helpful and a good learning tool because sometimes when I'm confused on a specific step, I can ask the calculator for the answer, and go "ooooooooh, THATS the rule I was forgetting." I don't really care if someone uses the CAS for something stupid like factoring, because, as far as I know, it has no real world application. If anybody can think of one, even if its something for rocket science, PLEASE, be my guest, and post it. I would really LOVE to think that there was actually a REASON we learn stupid stuff like factoring, BESIDES the fact that its on standardized tests. BTW, last time I checked, the 89 was allowed on the SAT's and the AP exams. Basically, I say that if you are disciplined, and only use the calc to help you remember rules or understand a problem in depth, or on problems that you are SURE you understand well, go ahead and use it. On the SAT's, if you have an 89, POWER TO YOU. The only thing that can screw you up is yourself. You absolutley MUST have the discipline to follow some simple guidlines/rules, and you'll be ok.

"Very early in our mathematical education--in fact in junior high school or early high school itself--we are introduced to polynomials. For a seemingly endless amount of time we are drilled, to the point of utter boredom, in factoring them, multiplying them, dividing them, simplifying them. Facility in factoring a quadratic becomes confused with genuine mathematical talent."
-I.N. Herstein, "Topics in Algebra", (from pp.279 of the 4th edition of Gallian's "Contemporary Abstract Algebra")

Trust me, you'll find innumerable situations in which you'll want to factor a polynomial. I was picking through the relativistic doppler shift formula derivation the other day and remember breaking up one polynomial there...when you get to the eigenvalue/eigenvector problem you'll also appreciate having learned how to factor polynomials (and also calculate determinants by cofactor expansion!) Today we factored operators to break a second-order differential equation into two first orders, much easier to solve! Don't get frustrated, ask your teacher for applications. Factoring itself has no "applications", only mathematical modeling has applications; factoring however is a great tool to use whenever polynomials are involved.

yes FOIL is a cuss word, why dont they just teach distributive prop. it helps the studens better

YES! I LIKE TI'S! I LIKE THEM! RIGHT NOW, I'M THE HERO OF MATH CLASS JUST BECAUSE I'M THE ONLY -GOOD- PROGRAMMER IN IT!!! HAHAHA!



PS I'm in 7th grade, yet I'm in 8th grade advanced Algebra.

I program for the Ti89, and have been programming for a long time on the PC(6 years)
I have, for the last 4 years known EVERYTHING I was to be taught from being a programmer. You HAVE to learn math to work with varibles in programming!

do u realise your shooting your fellow students in the foot

Calc's are the dumbest student with the best memory. A calc is go for number crunching and symbolic manipulation(well, some of them), but it can not replace the learning of the math.
I've used calc's in Alegbra I(a US$1 4 function), Alegbra 2(TI-82), Gemoetry(TI-83), Prob and Stat(TI-83), Pre-calc(HP-48G/TI-83), Calc(HP-48G/TI-85), and AP Calc(HP-48G/TI-89). The calc could never replace what we need to do.
I believe only a complete fool would rely on calc.

I don't think that calculators should be used in any math class where arithmetic is one of the principle focuses. Graphing calculators should be used when a class is expected to have a firm understanding of how to graph functions.

I agree. It all depends on whats being taught. Calculators shouldn't be used when students are learning how to add and multiply. On the other hand, they *should* be used in precal; I would never try to evaluate sqrt(481-40*cos(41.8°)) without a calculator.

Graphing calculators should be used for Algebra II and up, but not below when you should be learning how to do them in your head or on paper. The survey should have been a little more specific, since what I think they want is whether college professors or high school teachers should allow them.

~Robert

Hmmmm...I'm in Calculus 2 at GA Tech, and we aren't allowed to use calculators. Calculators give you answers, not processes. If you get the process (truthfully, now), then why not use one? However, when learning new material, you're pretty much screwed if all you use is a calculator.

Overuse of any tool can completely destroy any knowledge of how to complete the process by hand. Remember in Star Wars when Luke was being trained with a lightsaber? His eyes told him one thing, and he was hurt. Obi-Wan told him to close his eyes, rely on instinct, and he came through unscathed.
You can use the lightsaber, but you must be able to trust instinct when the lightsaber breaks.

Most of the time when you get a problem, it is easier to just do it by hand, because the second you put a square root or imaginary number into your calculator it gets way to complicated. Even though I am in Calculus the only reason I use my calculator is to check my answers, or sometimes if im lazy and don't feel like doing 3 or 3 digit multiplication or division.

DaBaxiBOMB.....
P.S. I would rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy

I think it depends on the calc used and the class taken

and the teacher

I dont care what any of all of you say, but for the most part, if a kid can program a program that does the work for him, than he must know how to do the work or else he wouldn't know how to program it. Bottom line, if you want a calculator for math go get one, the choice is up to you.

On the other hand, if the kid can't program the program that will do the work for him, then he doesn't know how to use the equation, and therefore would just use the calc for simple arithmetic. He shall then be hunted down and killed by the TI Secret Service for misuse of a graphic calculator and will never be heard from again.

so thats what happended to the rest of my class, no wiat the Collage Prep monster took them. :) this is math, the study of logic, we are too creative