Am a fan of calculators. My fond memory is HP-28S that i bought in ≈1991 for some ≈$250 USD, and wrote my first program to solve the 8-queens problem without knowing anything about computer science or programing.
I also wrote a large program to play any musical chords and scales. See: HP-28S Advanced Scientific Calculator.
But that calculator is basically my last one as well. Mathematica and computer took over. Since the HP-28, the next generation the HP-48 came along, but i never got into it (and am out of college as well). However, now and then i look at the calculator scene as a arm-chair philosopher. Checking their current capabilities, their design, placement of buttons, symbols on the keys, user interface, and muse over the issues of tech advance, education, futurism.
Been always fascinated by calculators. You know how in scientific calculators where some buttons are labeled {sin, cos, log}? Seeing them, around age 11, my thought was that they are very advanced things, that to know what they are would mean something like a rocket scientist. While in college, i have this fantasy of bringing a basic scientific calculator and show it to Euler, Gauss, them 1700s guys. I would tell them, “Look at this! you see this sin log buttons?” and they would go “huh? what?!?”. Then i would proceed to explain the magic on my hand.
Today i took a hour to gander at today's calculator scene. Here's some summery.
The HP calculators, once was the love of true tech geeks since 1970s, but in the past 10 years they have degraded so badly to universal bad reviews. The latest series is HP-49 series, but not worth your money. Lousy buttons, lousy features, slow, lousy look.
The TI calculators, made inroads starting in early 1990s, and just gets better and better. Today, if you in college, your best buy is a TI calculator. The current bleeding edge model is TI-Nspire series. You want the model with CAS (for computer algebra). If you don't want to be that fancy, go for “TI 84” amazon.
What about Casio? They are the best. The latest model, is a touch-screen based Casio ClassPad 300. According to some reviewers at amazon who owns all the HP and TI ones, they say this is the best, beats TI-Nspire. I tend to believe it.
Where did the “sin” button go?
I tend to prefer lots of physical buttons with weird symbols on them than a large blank touch screen. Physical buttons give me a sense of math, the esoterism, and offers fast direct access than screen menus. You know? kinda like old fashioned rocket scientist who prefer intricacies of mechanical devices than digital stuff that you can't see and touch (how ironic). But i suppose touch screen is the way to go for the future.
Actually, i think calculators are going the ways of the dinosaur. These days, the cell phones, iTouch amazon, iPad stuff are all just unified hand-held little computers. It can play video, music, take photo, as telephone, connects to the internet, GPS, and thousands of applications. Who needs a single-purpose gadget to carry around?
In you look at the classroom situation, calculators are good. Because, it's easier for students to learn and teachers to teach of a single-purpose device. And there are even lots of text books written for calculators.
But if you look at calculators as a tool in general, it's probably heading towards the grave. A roughly same sized and same priced handheld device, iTouch or other fancy mobile phone device, can run math applications that makes it more powerful than dedicated calculators, then it can do hundred other things too. In the same way, computers replaced dedicated word processors in the 1980s.
If you let students use iTouch etc in classroom instead of calculators, it becomes a problem because: ① How do you know students are not playing games or chatting to friends on it? ② How do you know they are not runnnig cheatsheets during exams? ③ How do you teach them to solve a equation with calculator when everyone is running a different application?
Calculators are good basically just in classrooms. Though, i wonder how many more years they'll last.