Serious Math

Three Hundred Sixty Sixth Post: Serious Math

As I was taught in high school, serious math requires a proper math pencil. A pencil that is comfortable to hold, writes neat, and will write long and erase cleanly. The calculator however wasn’t needed as much. Fractions should be figured out and reduced. The calculator gave students that false assumption that math was just “plug and chug.” I believe that this is the proper way to learn. But once you learn to think through the problem a good calculator is just as important as a good pencil. This is especially true that calculators graph, can be programmed, and store the lines of calculations. Storing the lines of calculations is important to preserve and document your findings.

So the story is I went out and bought a serious calculator. My old one, a 10 year old graphing Casio fx-7400G, was the best calculator I ever had. If only I could replace the LCD screen. I bought a Texas Instruments TI-89 Titanium. This calculator is vastly more powerful. But there is one draw back. The buttons are hard to find. My Casio had them arranged by group. The Texas Instruments has so many functions it doesn’t have any simple way to arrange them. However, there is one important thing that makes the Texas Instruments nice to use and that is the huge amount of books and documentation about it. Ten years ago the Net was new making information take more effort to find. Most math books had calculator tutorials, but used the Texas Instruments as the standard.

So I have to learn the input system of the TI-89. I guess companies are trying to give advanced features will still making an affordable calculator. I have a much easier calculator for the Palm, but the Palm wouldn’t be allowed on a standardized test.

In my college chemistry class, I saw how students made use of the TI features. I saw little cheats like storing formulas. And if you had a cable you could share those formulas before a test. I don’t know if anyone shared info, but occasionally, little notes were added to the calculator. It is more humorous than it is serious cheating, but sometimes these advanced calculators aren’t allowed.

I have some math problems in the works, but that is just what it is, a math problem. I have notes of hunches and ideas, but sometimes it is hard to put them into order. I still haven’t forgotten about the Math Wiki. I see that I am getting spam on the message board. I still check it for messages often. Within 2 weeks I want to present a new problem on Constructor’s Corner. It will be something that can be worked on together. But meanwhile the contest is still on. It concludes on the end of July, so there is still plenty of time.

But until then... May the Creative Force be with You