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Ti really needs to stop with the artificial product differentiation. There's no reason 15 years after the Nspire CX CAS came out that everyone of their calculat
by Yossarrian22 5mo ago
Ti really needs to stop with the artificial product differentiation. There's no reason 15 years after the Nspire CX CAS came out that everyone of their calculators can't do CAS.
- NetMageSCW 5mo agoThe reason is exam requirements - some professional certifications don’t allow CAS calculators and have other restrictions.
- alfalfasprout 5mo agoHeck, you could do a decent amount with the CAS back in the TI-89.
- selectodude 5mo agoDecent? I'm not sure the new CAS models do anything that the TI-89 didn't.
- 15155 5mo agoWhich is why it was notoriously banned from exams.
- metadat 5mo agoTI-89 is the GOAT!
- loeg 5mo agoIt doesn't help students learn if the tool does everything for them. This isn't a tool for professionals.
- JoshTriplett 5mo agoAdvanced calculators are in an unusual space with external constraints on it. Some of the features or differentiation they add serves the constraint of "if you don't, we won't let students use it in the classroom". When a calculator is used in a classroom, there's a concern about people using the calculator to replace the skill that's being taught. So, for instance, there's space for a calculator with no CAS, for a class that's trying to teach you to do algebra. That is in some ways easier than "don't use this function of the calculator".
- ndriscoll 5mo agoMy linear algebra class used F_2 as our field probably half the time that it was specified. Realistically almost any course probably doesn't need calculators at all (or they could at least be kept for homework). If you're not teaching arithmetic, you keep the arithmetic simple. If you're not teaching algebra, you keep the algebra simple. etc.
- Ekaros 5mo agoIt is not really classroom. It is more so setting testing standard that matches the standardised testing that schooling aims for. This ofc then extends to testing in classroom tests as that is best way to prepare students. Not that any of this matter anymore as it can be entirely replaced with LLMs in near future.
- ndiddy 5mo agoYeah there's not really a purpose for advanced calculators anymore (apart from the niche market of people who just enjoy using them). Calculators are basically only a thing now to make it harder to cheat on exams. If you don't have that constraint, you might as well use Wolfram or Matlab or whatever.
- vkou 5mo agoOr, here's a wild idea - exam problems should be structured such that they do not require any advanced calculator. Math problems should not require any calculator. Physics problems should require a scientific calculator. Overcomplicating the arithmetic shouldn't be the point.
- saagarjha 5mo agoCalculators can do a lot of things; a lot of physics is greatly improved by access to a good calculator.
- nickelpro 5mo agoThat rules out classes of problem which we want to teach, or falls back to using lookup tables which is more arduous and limits the number of problems which can be put on an exam. Teaching students to use lookup tables at all is a largely pointless exercise. Teaching students to graph or use statistical functions on an advanced calculator transfers very well to other environments.
- xp84 5mo agoI don't think it's been about costs or CPU for at least 20 years, but isn't it more that for kids to learn to do math, it's better not to have CAS always at hand? So that's why there are some in the lineup without it.
- sosborn 5mo agoCAS capabilities are prohibited in the SAT: https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/sat/what-to-bring-do/calculator-policy#:~:text=Calculators%20with%20CAS%20(computer%20algebra,students%20who%20take%20the%20SAT. https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/sat/what-to-bring-do/calcu...
- hatsunearu 5mo agoWow, they used to be allowed back when I was in high school. It came in super clutch for SAT but much more importantly AP. Our school mandated the original CS CAS and drilled us on how to use it effectively and I got good mileage out of it through high school testing and college. I lost it at some point and got the version 2 and I would occasionally use it for work. I wish it had USB-C because who has a mini-B cable for charging these days
- frostiness 5mo agoAs someone who also menu-3-1'd their way through the SAT, I'm surprised it was ever allowed. Super useful outside of school but knowing that a good portion of my classmates using Ti-84s were doing the same problems on paper felt rather unfair.
- hatsunearu 5mo agoForgot what menu-3-1 is lol, I would use solve() all the time though. Got super good at typing that with my thumbs really fast
- peesem 5mo agoCollegeBoard only seemed to realize recently, the ban on CAS calculators on the SAT, PSAT, and AP exams came last September if I remember correctly, maybe August or October
- BoorishBears 5mo agoI vaguely remember they were banned by a proxy that stopped working after the Ti-89 came out: no QWERTY keyboards Originally that blocked the Ti-92, but then the Ti-89 and Nspire line had numeric keypads + CAS
- dheera 5mo agoHonest question: Why do we need physical graphing calculators anymore? Can't this just be a phone app? That screen resolution for one is horrible for 2026.
- loloquwowndueo 5mo agoMostly for students in settings that may disallow either smartphones or calculators with specific advanced features (schools, SAT exams etc) Also I don’t know about you but these days I welcome stuff that allows me to stay away from the damn phone.
- 8note 5mo agoi moved my ti-89 to be a phone app, but it was much much slower to type on the soft keyboard than it is to press the actual buttons.
- mkprc 5mo agoIt's about ensuring "academic honesty" on exams. Also, it's nice to have buttons rather than a touchscreen. Also, there is something to be said about using a device with a different form-factor than the one on which a student also scrolls TikTok/IG and distracts themselves otherwise.
- akgoel 5mo agoYou don't. Most academic uses are now replaced by desmos, which is also used on the SAT. It's free, it's fast, and it does most of what you need.
- saagarjha 5mo agoI am pretty sure I could use a TI-89 Titanium in the dark even now