The calculator is dead.

[stomachmonkey]

Photo Math.

https://photomath.net/en/

from MicroBLINK on Vimeo.

[sc_rufctr]

Very cool!

[Arizona_928]

Eh, I love my Ti-89

[BE911SC]

The calculator is dead? Apparently so is the brain.

"The brain is the new appendix. You just don't need your brain anymore." --Dennis Miller

[rattlsnak]

That technology has been out for a few years now but still impressive!

[WolfeMacleod]

Prepare for a new generation of even dumber kids. At least before, they had to know how to operate a calculator to get a result.

[tabs]

In my day it was my 8 fingers and 12 toes.

[widgeon13]

Slide rule!

How times have changed.

[Geronimo '74]

Hp Prime here, love it. I'm not smart enough to understand even 10% of its functions.

[Jim Richards]

RPN or nothing! Luddites rule!

[wdfifteen]

"Better to remember a spare battery for your calculator than to remember the sine of 30." So said my calculus professor in 1975.

I do think grinding out the calculations can get in the way of understanding the concepts.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Agreed but I worry about our society bring limited by the minds of low-bid Indian computer programmers. By "outsourcing" the way we think to software, we impose constraints on our own minds and thought processes whether we consciously know we're doing it or not.

All things have their use but we're becoming frightfully over-reliant on technology. When an EMP wipes out part of our electrical grid someday (and fries most electronics in the affected area) many people are going to be helpless and more vulnerable than they realize.

You DO realize this is exactly what North Korea is seeking to develop right now, right (orbital EMP / nuclear weapon)? Probably other countries too. If they can do even limited damage to our digital infrastructure (not hard) they'll leave us more crippled than most people realize.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Jim Richards

RPN or nothing! Luddites rule!

I do love my RPN. I still have the Christmas gift (HP 32Sii) from my college girlfriend in 1989, and it still works. I do use it a bit less since for at least 7 years or so I've had an RPN calc app on my various phones.

Originally Posted by BE911SC

The calculator is dead? Apparently so is the brain.

"The brain is the new appendix. You just don't need your brain anymore." --Dennis Miller

Yep. Many/most kids know crap about math these days.

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

"Better to remember a spare battery for your calculator than to remember the sine of 30." So said my calculus professor in 1975.

I do think grinding out the calculations can get in the way of understanding the concepts.

Meh, .5, and I didn't even have to look it up, except I do think more in terms of radians than degrees when you start throwing that stuff around. Way too much math over the years.

[fanaudical]

Agreed - Most "users" no longer understand the concepts behind how their technology works (at least in my profession). I've had the pleasure of reviewing a few FEA calcs by "experienced engineers" in the past year where the proposed answers were bordering outlandish. (Nobody did an "easy calc verification" to check reasonableness of their results.)

There's an HP-42s on my desk...

[BE911SC]

Bill Maher's closing rant last night talked, in part, about how American kids are dead-last in math skills among western countries but first in having confidence about their math skills. To paraphrase Bill: We think we're awesome at math but we actually suck at math.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by fanaudical

Agreed - Most "users" no longer understand the concepts behind how their technology works (at least in my profession). I've had the pleasure of reviewing a few FEA calcs by "experienced engineers" in the past year where the proposed answers were bordering outlandish. (Nobody did an "easy calc verification" to check reasonableness of their results.)
.

One of the best thinks I took away from my engineering career was to give everything the smell test which is what I was taught to call the "easy calc verification". I've taught that to my employees, and it gives me pleasure to hear one of them ask the other, "OK, but how does it smell?"

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Originally Posted by BE911SC

We think we're awesome at math but we actually suck at math.

Dunning–Kruger effect

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by Jim Richards

RPN or nothing! Luddites rule!

RPN for president!!!

Very cool app.

Of course you know they have also been predicting the death of the wrist watch for some time now... and what happened? The smart watch!

[KFC911]

Was at a register the other day and guy owed me 90 cents change and I guess he entered the amount incorrectly. He had to call a co-worker over...
Give him 3 quarters, a dime, and a nickel...

Then the co-worker said to the cashier...don't feel bad...blah blah blah

WE ARE SO SCREWED

[devodave]

Originally Posted by fanaudical

There's an HP-42s on my desk...

Loved my 42S, best calculator I ever had. Stopped working and couldn't find another. Settled for 48S, which just isn't as handy. But I did find a 42S emulator program for the computer at work that gets used quite a bit.