Hmm, I may have to look into that. Most of our engineering learning involves a big lecture (where we learn nothing) and two smaller lectures every week where we learn about excel and solidworks. We do a bunch of small projects that I have been using excel for, but if mathcad is really much better than it I may want to invest in a copy.
The problem with spreadsheets is that they’re difficult to debug. If you have an error in a cell formula, or something like a formula referencing the wrong cell, it can be difficult to find the error or even recognize that there is an error.
There are other problems inherent in spreadsheets that get complicated. It’s just a horrible environment to program in or do engineering style analysis.
For simple problems you can get away with it and deal with spreadsheets. But when things get complicated they quickly become the wrong tool for the job.
I had a TI-83+ plus (in 9th grade), but someone stole it while I was at lunch. I thought it would have been safe on my desk (because everybody was out of the room) but it wasn’t. Whoever has it also has a pretty nice sized collection of programs that will do about anything Algebra II requires
White-N-Nerdy funnyness…
I made it through high school AND college with a standard scientific calculator:
Did I mention I studied Physics? That included multi-dimensional calculus, calculus of variations, complex algebra, linear algebra, probability, the whole works. Aced my classes… well every one except for planetary mechanics
I think the kids that used the fancy-schmancy TI graphing calculators did worse 'cause they were depending on their calculators too much. If you just want to skate through your math classes, okay, get a sophisticated computer for a calculator, but if you really want to LEARN the material, your calculator spending limit is $10. Anything more is excess.
I used a TI-83 through high school, but when I started engineering we had to use a scientific calculator that was approved by the engineering department at the University of Alberta.
I had the same calculator, except mine didn’t have solar power. It became kinda faulty towards the end. The display would stop working, so I’d have to hit it against my knee. I used it for all my As exams even though I had the graphics one, because they said they would reset the calculators before the exam and I had loads of useless programs on mine(they never did). So anyway, it stopped working during the exam so I had to hit it against my knee again. That got a lot of disaproving looks from everyone, as I was doing it quite loud.
Anyway, I guess what I’m trying to say is, I outlived my calculator and got another one. It’s got loads of useless features which I use to make more useless features and programs. It’s bulky, but fun. And I never use it for differentiation or integration, it’s too much of a pain in the ass. The only significant advantage is the ability to draw graphs, which is why I got it in the first place. I’m also going to study physics.
That’s the difference between physics majors and engineering majors. In physics you took the tests without a need for a calculator and could do the calculations by hand. The problems were made to use round numbers so the hand calculations would be easier to do. In engineering you use and rely on a calculator.
My physics professor for the physics class required for physics majors and engineering majors always made fun of the engineering students in the class.
Hmmm… can’t say I’d agree with that one… although statistics-based problems would have been a lot easier if P = 0 or P = 1, that just doesn’t reflect reality.
Either we did problems symbolically, ignoring numbers altogether (as theoretical physicists love to do), or we did problems with real-world numbers (for the experimentalists).
This was just for the 200 level physics courses that the physics majors and engineering majors had to take. I’m sure the calculators became more needed for tests as the courses got beyond the basics.
But there is a distinct difference in calculator use between the physics majors and the engineering majors. That was the main point of my comment.