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The NumWorks graphing calculator

The NumWorks graphing calculator

Posted Sep 29, 2017 17:54 UTC (Fri) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523)
In reply to: The NumWorks graphing calculator by sytoka
Parent article: The NumWorks graphing calculator

I still don't understand why you even need a calculator for a math exam.


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The NumWorks graphing calculator

Posted Sep 29, 2017 18:11 UTC (Fri) by gutschke (subscriber, #27910) [Link] (1 responses)

You only need it, if the instructor is too lazy to pick problems that can be solved with pencil and paper. It doesn't take much more effort. But it does take non-zero effort when designing the test.

And then of course, you could have a professor like the one I had in my first year in university. For some inscrutable reason, he thought it was a good idea to give 20% of the test score to anybody who successfully computed the value of a 4×4 determinant. I still don't follow his thinking on that.

The NumWorks graphing calculator

Posted Oct 5, 2017 13:19 UTC (Thu) by droundy (guest, #4559) [Link]

I'm right there with you on this. It's amazing how long my 3rd year university physics majors take to solve for the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a diagonal matrix using pen and paper *after* having taken linear algebra. Many don't know the solution to an equation like 3a = a. These kinds of problems shouldn't require a calculator, but if you don't require students to think, why would you expect them to do so?


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