dl1@ukc.ac.uk (D.Langford) (11/17/89)
My daughter is 12. She's been using a - very basic - solar calculator for maths at school, and the time has come to replace it with something a little more advanced. Her teacher has advised a pretty limited Casio Scientific, suggesting that this'll be enough for the next four years or so. I'm not so sure, given the uses a handheld can be put to; but i don't have the knowledge to advise her. Ought I to go for the most expensive and feature-full machine I can afford, in the expectation (Maddy's keen on maths) that she'll grow into it? Or would it be more sensible to buy a cheap calculator, and wait a few years until she /really/ needs programability, and won't get confused by too many options? I really want to encourage her use of computers, but I don't want to put her off... anyone out there with advice? - duncan ----------------------------------------------------------------------- dl1@ukc.ac.uk duncan langford computing lab., university of kent, uk -----------------------------------------------------------------------
mark@hpcpbla.HP.COM (Mark Simms) (11/20/89)
I don't know what the current state of the education system is, but
the single most important thing is to ensure that the calculator can
be used on all the courses that she intends to take. Back in the dim
dark days when I was doing O-levels, you were not allowed to use a
programmable calculator or one with a permanent memory in any exam.
Things may have changed, but check.
If she is really keen, then get her the best that you can afford for
the subjects she is intending to do. It will encourage her, and maybe
give her a bit of status in school. Programmability is a good feature
to have even if she never uses it, but don't sacrifice a rich set of
functions or functions that are tailored to the subjects she wants to
do.
If you want a recommendation for a specific product, I would consider
the HP-42 to be a great machine for scientific and engineering
disciplines. Alternatively, the HP-27 has a mixture of business and
scientific functions and the HP-17 is a business only calculator.
Mark Simms
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Please note that all opinions expressed are my own and are not
intended to be an official statement by Hewlett-Packard Company. Note
also that I have no connection with Hewlett-Packard's calculator
business other than as a user of their products.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Mark Simms
Position: Software Development Engineer
Organisation: Hewlett-Packard Computer Peripherals Division
Email US: mark%hpcpbla@hplb.hpl.hp.com
UK: mark%hpcpbla@hplb.hp.co.uk
Address: Filton Road, Bristol BS12 6QZ, United Kingdomalonzo@microsoft.UUCP (Alonzo Gariepy) (11/21/89)
In article <3154@harrier.ukc.ac.uk> dl1@ukc.ac.uk (D.Langford) writes: > > My daughter is 12. She's been using a - very basic - solar calculator > for maths at school, and the time has come to replace it with something > a little more advanced. > [...] > I really want to encourage her use of computers, but I don't want to > put her off... anyone out there with advice? I can certainly recommend the HP28S. I'm not sure of your price range. This calculator is not the least bit intimidating, but is the most powerful and flexible thing going. It will certainly encourage anyone interested in mathematics to play around with number bases, trig, algebra, statistics, graphing, matrices, and programming. I learned to program at about your daughter's age and this calculator has more computing power than either of the machines available to me then. Do not be too surprised if she turns into a calculator hacker... Alonzo Gariepy alonzo@microsoft
bartho@obs.unige.ch (PAUL BARTHOLDI) (11/23/89)
In article <3154@harrier.ukc.ac.uk>, dl1@ukc.ac.uk (D.Langford) writes: > My daughter is 12. She's been using a - very basic - solar calculator ... > > Her teacher has advised a pretty limited Casio Scientific, suggesting ... Having three mathematicaly oriented children about the age of your daughter, and a wiffe teaching math to similar age students, although living under a different 'climate', here would be my experience : 1. all calculators they had desapeared for some reason (broken, stolen, lost or ...) before 2 years. things seams to improve when they enter high school (15 here). So make a choice for NOW, and expect to buy an other one, better and bigger, in some near future (1-3 years) 2. considering both Texas, Casio and HP of similar power, we have found the Casio the more robust, the Texas the most breakable ('large' statistics with my wife students for both Casio and Texas, very small with HP). 3. children (and parents) are at first afraid of RPN, but usualy get used to it very rapidely, specialy of they are 12, but you may have to help her because most of the teacher and students will probably have infix calculators. From experience, when they have understood the way to use them, they make less errors with RPN, specialy for complex operations. 4. if you want to make a nice gift to your daughter, keeping open the choice for a more professional calculator when she will be in a more mature environment, then i would choose either an HP22 or an HP32. I find them very easy to use, powerful but simple, with a nice and didactic 'solve' function that helps a lot looking at equations. The main difference is that the HP22 is an infix calculator, while the 32 is an RPN (postfix) one. The 22 has a set of preprogrammed functions that are, in my opinion, just gadget. The 32 has also a 'integrate' function that your daughter will probably not use for the next two years. Both have good statistic functions, that mathematicaly oriented children love to play with ... Both are some how programmable (much better with the 32, but the 22 is definitely easier to write simple equations) I hope this may help you and your daughter. Good luck ! Paul Paul bartholdi - Observatory of Geneva - CH-1290 Sauverny - Switzerland.
amason@marcie.axion.bt.co.uk (Ann Mason) (11/25/89)
In article <3154@harrier.ukc.ac.uk>, dl1@ukc.ac.uk (D.Langford) writes: > > My daughter is 12. She's been using a - very basic - solar calculator > for maths at school, and the time has come to replace it with something > a little more advanced. > [...] > Ought I to go for the most expensive and feature-full machine I can > afford, in the expectation (Maddy's keen on maths) that she'll grow > into it? Or would it be more sensible to buy a cheap calculator, and > wait a few years until she /really/ needs programability, and won't get > confused by too many options? I have been out of teaching for four years, but when I was teaching some examining boards were fussy about programmable `calculators' and they were not allowed in what were then O Level exams. It would be a pity if this was the case with your daughter's examining board and she was not able to use the one you bought. My suggestion, which is entirely personal, would be to choose a reasonably priced scientific calculator with a few functions (eg stats functions) that she has not yet met. This would be something which still opened new areas of interest without making it a disaster if the machine was ever lost. The HP28S would be great fun, but I'm not sure I would want to let her take it to school. Ann Mason amason@axion.bt.co.uk
tomm@voodoo.UUCP (Tom Mackey) (11/28/89)
I was in the same spot...showed my daughter how to use my HP-25 and my Sharp EL-506H and let her decide which entry method she preferred. She liked the RPN method, so since I was too emotionally attached to my trusty ol' HP-25, I started looking for HP calculators in the local free ads (Little Nickel). I found her an HP-33 for $25 bucks so she has the best of 2 worlds... a good calculator that will last her until I can't get battery packs and a cash outlay that I don't have to worry her about. She likes it, the other kids think its cool, and I'll start her programming on it pretty soon. By the way, I couldn't stop looking and found myself an HP-41CV + some goodies for $80 shortly after I found hers. HP calculators are VERY sturdy and I have no qualms about buying one used. If it works when I look at it, it'll most likely continue to work as long as you can keep electrons flowing in it. -- Tom Mackey (206) 234-7767 (wk) Boeing Computer Services ....uw-beaver!ssc-vax!voodoo!tomm M/S 6M-17, P.O. Box 24346, Seattle, WA 98124-0346