>As for graphics calculators, I rarely see them. When I walk through LAX or
>Dulles, I do see a lot of laptops. I'm part owner of a $12M/yr dollar
>company and every engineer there strongly prefers his Pentium with 21"
>monitor over any calculator. Most of the machinists use either 4 banger
>or cheap scientifics. I asked a scientist at SAIC (~$1B/yr) if anyone used
>graphics calculators there. The response was, "What's that?" NO ONE that
>I know uses graphics calculators. Most employees have a computer on their
>desk and everyone has access to at least one computer. I work with a
>second company of about the same size and I have seen a graphics calculator
>there once: a technician was taking a course at a CC and he had to learn
>how to use the stupid thing. Now that the course is over he is irritated
>at the waste of money. Laptops are now selling in the $700 range. Given
>that laptops can support email, spell checkers, web browsing, GUI
>interfaces, CDROM drives, and a very long list of related things that will
>be useful in Literature, History, English, Chemistry courses, and life
>after graduation, my advice would be to use the money that might go into a
>graphics calculator to buy the best laptop you can or to upgrade one that
>you already own. There may be a few isolated companies where the graphics
>calculator culture is strong and I would advise CC instructors to survey
>industry in their area before devoting much time to using these devices.
>
>Ray M
>raypublk@san.rr.com
__________________________________________
Ray,
You missed a few very important points about graphing calculators. You seem
to have the impression that their only function is to do mathematics. The
main function of the graphing calculator is that it is a teaching tool. The
problem is that many teachers don't yet know how to use it in this way, so
it becomes a math tool to them - to do things like checking pencil and
paper work, a use of lessor importance. Perhaps this was the experience of
your technician. Also, if the technician was in a class where the
instructor was using a traditional text with a graphing calculator, this
may have caused the irritation because these materials were just not
designed for the calculator, and are many times inappropriate. Another
point is that the number of CC students who can afford a notebook at $700
will fit in a thimble (OK, maybe a room or building). So, a notebook isn't
feasible. Finally, calculators now come with FLASK ROM, thus we can now buy
educational "software" for our calculators. This will soon include software
(applets) in all disciplines. Please note ephasis on the word "educational
software." The graphing calculator is a teaching tool that happens to do math.
I understand your position on the calculator in industry, but I think you
mis-judged its function in teaching. There is no need to survey local
industry for their use as a math tool. It is a teaching tool.
Ed
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