Calculator Flaw Forces Recall in Virginia

Jivecat writes "CNN is reporting that TI is recalling 11,000 calculators issued to students in Virginia because of a flaw that would give them an unfair advantage on standardized tests. A 12-year-old discovered that by pressing two keys at once, the calculators will convert decimals to fractions. The tests require the students to know how to do this with pencil-and-paper." So the calculator is being recalled because it's not crippled enough. Maybe it's a good time to question the wisdom of issuing expensive electronics to students in the first place, though I'm sure the calculator companies would rather you didn't.

log books

[Audent]

I remember (back in the day - mid 80s) asking a teacher why we weren't allowed to use calcluators at all. He replied that this was to train our minds so we could do these things ourselves without aid.

Someone else asked "So WTF is with these log books?". He got detention.

Teachers... you've got to love them. Well, someone does.

Re:Hmm

[fireboy1919]

I feel the same way with web development. Let them lean html and then teach them about bbcode.

If you just give them bbcode right from the beginning, they'll think they can just always use that, and not preview their posts.

ruined

[pintomp3]

that fat fingered 12 yr old should have kept his mouth shut. ruined for anyone else who knew but was smart enough to keep it to themself. seriously though, who is buying calculators for kids learning basic math? pretty soon, the answer to all math problems will be "press the #s on the phone that dail your favorite geek". at least that's what my fiance does.

Re:Hmm

[giminy]

Same thing about spelling. Let them learn to spell, then teach them about spellcheck.

Expensive?

[MushMouth]

They were $8.00 each.

Flaw?

[centauri]

It sounds like an undisclosed feature, not a flaw.

Hello?

[Lord Kano]

Why in the fuck would someone return anything because it worked too well?

It reminds me of that 200 mpg car urban legend.

LK

No, it's right.

[fireboy1919]

On a similar note, Microsoft will be recalling 3 billion instances of RedHat from the market. Apparently all you have to install it, and the secret "doesn't crash or get hacked" function starts working, giving administrators an unfair advantage over other administrators.

It is suspected that Microsoft may make other recalls in light of this recent events, including the Playstation 2, Google's search engine, and the United States government.

In other news, any of you that have hot girlfriends (yeah...you're probably not real, but I can pretend) will have to hand them over. I'm recalling them.

Re:Hmm

[DaveJay]

In soviet russia, all of the above things are done in the reverse order.

Re:Hmm

[WilliamSChips]

And in Korea, only old people do those things.

Re:Next To Go: '+' Sign

[Anonymous Coward]

.999 = 990/1000

Wow, thanks for teaching me that. Here I've been incorrectly assuming it was 999/1000.

Re:log books

[iminplaya]

Ever tried decontaminating a calculator when you spilled some biological crap on it?

No. It goas straight to the hazmat bin. So should the slide rule. Who knows what kind of "Andromeda Strain" you would be unleashing upon us :-)

Re:log books

[Anonymous Coward]

"Being able to quickly add simple fractions in your head: Very Important."

Are you joking? Or is this just a skill needed for D&D dungeon masters?

Re:No Calculators Util College

[mmusson]

Hopefully it will actually spit out x^4/4 + C or there needs to be another recall. =P

Re:Next To Go: '+' Sign

[KillerCow]

The one got up left the room went to our advisors room grabbed a book and came back to class with the answer.
He got the A that day cause the test wasnt the problem, it was who was going to waste their time trying to figure it out on paper when the answer was staring you in the face on the bookshelf.

It's too bad that the dean expelled him later that week for "cheating" on this in class quiz.

Re:Hmm

[jericho4.0]

Actually, it's the Polish [wikipedia.org] that do calculations in reverse.

Features should be in the manual!

[Anonymous Coward]

"A 12-year-old discovered"...?

The damned calculator should have been recalled if that feature wasn't already in the manual.

If it was, then give the kid a cookie for actually bothering to RTFM.

Re:Next To Go: '+' Sign

[Anonymous Coward]

Unfortunately, you ended up with a GPA of 1.7 because of all the F's, and had to get a job working at McDonald's. However, your newfound proficiency in mathematics will help greatly when you have to COUNT BACK MY CHANGE, BITCH.

Me too...

[FhnuZoag]

In my old school, there was a rule where we had to clear the memories of our calculators before each exam. Presumeably, it's in case we invented some fractal compression algorithm that allowed us to store all our lecture notes as a 10-digit signed number.

Re:Me too...

[pla]

Presumeably, it's in case we invented some fractal compression algorithm that allowed us to store all our lecture notes as a 10-digit signed number.

I take it this happened before the days of modern graphing calculators?

My physics and calc classes let us use our calculators (I had an original TI-85, overclocked via the capacitor removal trick, of course), and you can quite easily fit the formulae needed for six courses in 32k of memory...

Of course, that made me wonder why they didn't just let us do the tests open-book - To which, I discovered the answer that most professors give you test questions that come straight from the unassigned chapter questions (the better ones will actually change the numbers, but still the same question).

I couldn't, however, fit six classes worth of chapter questions in 32k of memory.


And for the record - This didn't count as cheating. The math and (real)science professors realized we could store massive amounts of info in our calculators, and just didn't care.

But boy-oh-boy did my intro to cultural anthrpology prof look at me funny when I pulled out a calculator... ;-)

Re:This brings back memories

[puetzk]

I took a physics exam using a sliderule a few years back, when the HP48's batteries gave out about 15 mins into it (d'oh!). The monitor didn't recognize it and challenged me, luckily the professor was older and did. I think he got a chuckle out of it too :-)

No, I won't comment on why I had the sliderule in my bag. There was a perfectly good reason, I assure you...

The Worst Kind

[AvantLegion]

Oh boy, look. A math nerd pissing contest.

Re:Next To Go: '+' Sign

[nospmiS remoH]

Therefore? ....... A WITCH!!!