What Made you Smile/What Ticked you off Today?

[muhanad]

If you're in a high enough level of math that requires that calculator, I highly doubt that you would be playing games in class lol.

[dsheinem]

Can modern calculators do equations that can't be done in other contexts (e.g. a web browser)? High level calculating: is there not an app for that?

[MrPopo]

Can modern calculators do equations that can't be done in other contexts (e.g. a web browser)? High level calculating: is there not an app for that?

In general I've found that easily-found web calculators tend to be specialized with a fairly narrow range of inputs. Your typical graphing calculator has spent the last 30 years refining the art of being able to calculate and graph whatever the hell you want. Which is not to say that a phone/tablet app to replicate the functionality isn't possible; it's just that a graphic calculator is engineered at the processor level to do what it does much faster than a general purpose CPU, and most apps are developed by a handful of people at most. If you threw the engineering team at Texas Instruments at making a fully fledged graphing calculator app I'm sure they could pull it off, but TI isn't going to do anything like that.

Also, writing calculation software is deceptively difficult due to the inherent limitations on how computers store and manipulate data (my numeric methods class finally has relevance in something, even if it's just a forum discussion). Computers can do whole numbers pretty easily (assuming you aren't going to get close to the size of your address bus) but decimals are a fantastic way to introduce errors if you simply try to port over all the methods you learned in math class. There's an entirely separate mathematical discipline bent towards coming up with "good enough" algorithms that can run complicated mathematical operations in a reasonable amount of time for some defined value of "good enough".

[dsheinem]

Can modern calculators do equations that can't be done in other contexts (e.g. a web browser)? High level calculating: is there not an app for that?

In general I've found that easily-found web calculators tend to be specialized with a fairly narrow range of inputs. Your typical graphing calculator has spent the last 30 years refining the art of being able to calculate and graph whatever the hell you want. Which is not to say that a phone/tablet app to replicate the functionality isn't possible; it's just that a graphic calculator is engineered at the processor level to do what it does much faster than a general purpose CPU, and most apps are developed by a handful of people at most. If you threw the engineering team at Texas Instruments at making a fully fledged graphing calculator app I'm sure they could pull it off, but TI isn't going to do anything like that.

Also, writing calculation software is deceptively difficult due to the inherent limitations on how computers store and manipulate data (my numeric methods class finally has relevance in something, even if it's just a forum discussion). Computers can do whole numbers pretty easily (assuming you aren't going to get close to the size of your address bus) but decimals are a fantastic way to introduce errors if you simply try to port over all the methods you learned in math class. There's an entirely separate mathematical discipline bent towards coming up with "good enough" algorithms that can run complicated mathematical operations in a reasonable amount of time for some defined value of "good enough".

Really interesting info, thanks.

I assume TI folks wouldn't make that app because it would hurt their calculator sales. What's stopped some competitor from doing it? Are TI's engineers just that much better than everyone else's?

A related question: do HS kids really need fancy calculators anymore? At what point in training does the dedicated machine with better algorithms become a necessity?

[Jmustang1968]

There are some advanced series and equations in higher level calculus that required us to use a calculator and we were instructed to do so. Of course we learned the theories and calculus behind the equations first.

[MrPopo]

If you're really curious about just how badly computations can fuck up in a computer, check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_p ... y_problems

The main thing that stops people from creating a calculator app is you need a lot of really smart people to optimize things, and you're going to fall quite short of a dedicated graphing calculator due to using specialized vs. general purpose hardware. Think of the difference between running your graphics off the CPU vs. a GPU. A GPU can do a ton more work than a CPU for a given unit of time, but it's restricted to doing things related to calculating and rendering a scene. That legion of smart people you need to develop the app is going to translate into needing to charge a fairly high price to break even. Sure, it'll be cheaper than a graphing calculator (say, $25-50 app vs. $150 for the calculator), but is someone going to pay that much for a phone/tablet app? Or would they rather stomach the extra cost of the dedicated calculator for the performance increase? I see it as a risky market to get into with a high initial cost, so that's why we aren't seeing things beyond the basic trivial problems like compound interest and mortgage calculators.

As for whether or not people need the fancy calculators, it's an interesting question. It's great for the beginnings of calculus as you teach limits, derivatives, and integrals as a way of giving students a really good idea of what these concepts are. But once you get to actually solving the various equations you don't want them to have a fancy calculator because a TI-89 or better can fully solve the equations for you, so the student isn't learning anything. They're also really good for physics classes which are attempting to derive the various equations of motion from experimentally gathered data, since you can get a good plot derivation from them, rather than having to go to a PC and use Excel/Mathematica. And any other time in a science/math class where you're working in decimals on complex equations they're fantastic, since you can get a good look at your parenthesis and order of operations (not to mention unit conversions in the better models) and avoid silly errors there.

[Hobie-wan]

If you're really curious about just how badly computations can fuck up in a computer, check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_p ... y_problems

On a related note, this is why textures and polygons were "jumpy" on the PS1 and assorted early 3D game systems. There were a lot of "good enough" calculations going on in order to try to keep the frame rate up in those early years.

[CFFJR]

I flew a plane today.

It was absolutely spectacular.

[KitKatCara]

I flew a plane today.

It was absolutely spectacular.

When I was in high school, I was in AF JR ROTC and we would volunteer at small airports on the weekends, and my instructor had a plane. After the event was over, he would take us up to fly and let us copilot. It was amazing! I will never forget flying over the woods and dive bombing his house. (he did it to mess with his neighbors, he was an awesome instructor)

I'm really glad that you got to experience that, it is truly a breath taking experience.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

I flew a plane today.

It was absolutely spectacular.

If I wasn't going off to college I would still be flying. It's just nothing short amazing. It's also nothing short of extremely expensive.

Watched some old Star Mazda races. Such a good series. Gonna miss it.

My FMA:Brotherhood DVD set came. Gonna watch that next!