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Ask HN: Should there be new RPN calculators to replace the TI-84?

28 points idatum | 2 comments | 09 Mar 25 05:02 UTC | HN request time: 0.411s | source

I took an exam today where only TI calculators were available. I felt I was caught between some older models where the TI interface was not quite worked out.

And I don't see much progress then trying my daughter's TI-84.

1. lo_zamoyski ◴[12 Mar 25 15:07 UTC] No.43344068[source]▶
The TI-84 is not an RPN calculator. But what would be the advantage?

And what is this "progress" you speak of? Frankly, I don't know that these calculators should be used in instruction anyway. It smacks of attempts to "modernize education" by throwing computers are it, without justification. Why? Computing devices have their place, but their utility is practical, and their pedagogic value in primary education is limited to specific applications. Using them to teach math seems off. You shouldn't be wasting time on things that have little educational value but that would require a computing device to expedite tedious work.

replies(1): >>43346966 #
2. gperkins978 ◴[12 Mar 25 19:48 UTC] No.43346966[source]▶
If you want to get REALLY angry, go to school in poor neighborhoods and watch teachers "teach" children how to search the web. Computers in schools was a mistake. If there were to be computers, they should all be Unix or Linux or BSD distros run from the command line.

There are key phrases that a school is scam central. Any time they try to say "X percent of students went off to college" that school is a scam. If they speak of creating "computer literate" or "technology literate" students, the school is a scam.

Check out how easy many of the reading and math tests are, then you will know how horrible it is when schools only have 20-30% of students getting to their grade level. It has been a bizarre transformation where schools went from being oriented around student learning to being oriented around teacher wellness and teacher preferences.

We should be hiring teachers from Singapore and Hong Kong to fix our schools. Instead we hire creepy education consultants that get rich peddling idiocy. It iw a crime against children.