Posts
Yo, what is 3 plus 3 cube 3?
So easy to do it on a paper. So damn tough to do it on a TI 84 Calculator. For $130, you get to see RB struggling with his new toy, trying to learn how to use a fancy-schmancy calculator. It comes with a 90 page instruction manual and I think, if not for the cost, the thing would have been hitting the wall several times already.
I'm not calculator-smart. I've always used paper and mind myself, and my calculators tend do be the cheap Walmart kind because I only need the plus and multiply functions for long-ass additions. However, RB is the ONLY person in his class who doesn't use a calculator and it's time to own one for the really tough calculus math he will be doing this semester.
So the poor dude is sitting in the restaurant trying to understand it by doing simple calculations for now. I'm helping him, in my limited way. Limited, because my patience with instruction manuals is equal to the thickness of silk thread. Plus, I'm no good when it comes to looking at calculus formulae and even duplicating the sum into a calculator looks harder than putting a roof on. It took me twenty minutes to get the answer for the above question (3 plus 3 cube 3), a problem that I can do in a few seconds, and that's with a lot of guessing at button pressing.
Poor RB. Which is harder? Running with the bulls or learning how to use a TI 84? ;-)
Bear with me while I learn. The first button likes the POST. The second button likes the BLOG site. Please help me by "liking" me. Thanks!
6 comments:
I think running with the bulls is easier!
Writers of user manuals must own stock in companies that sell aspirin - I usually need some after trying to figure out how to use the product. There are some products in the house that have never been used because the manual could not be deciphered.
I was thinking of RB yesterday when I was watching TV - not only is there the Running of the Bulls, but men also enter an arena where they jump over the bull as the bull charges - some even tie their legs together!
Glad to hear the girls are doing better.
I think running witht he bulls is easier too. I had to use that in gr.11 and 12 for calculus. If it weren't for the teacher's knowledge of how to use them, we all would've been clueless. lol
the instruction manuals dont help. i havent taken a math class in a while but these helped a lot during the exams. they got all sorts of cool functions. im sure if RB asks someone in class, they'll be nice enough to show him :D
oh i dont know what you did but this is much nicer, i hated that popup asking me if i wanted to display the pics. what i was gonna say is wait til all the students start beaming each other games :) our teacher made us clear out the memory in front of her before our exam for calc cuz you could store all the formulas and she wanted us to memorize them. didnt make any difference to me since i didnt really understand calc anyway ;p those calculators were way smarter than i was, in the right hands... ie not mine
Well, I can see that I'm going to have to find someone who can show him how to do the math equations and formulae stuff. He can certainly do that on paper, which kills me, but I guess it gets so complicated that one would eventually need a calculator. His question is (and mine too), how did we all do it pre-calculator days? yeah, on paper ;-).
I can sympathize with RB. My son had to get a TI 84 for his fifth grade advanced math class, and I (not an uneducated person) didn't have a clue about how to use the darn thing, much less how to do the problems he was assigned, even the old way on paper. Way beyond me. He's figured out how to download games to it, like a geography game, and you can even download different languages apparently. Good luck RB, and glad you're home unscathed.
Cecily
Post a Comment