mechanical digital calculator

calculator Use in education

Student using an calculator.

In most developed countries, students use calculators for schoolwork. There was a first resistance to this idea due to fear that basic arithmetic skills would suffer. There's still disagreement over how important it is to work with your hands or "in the head," while some courses restrict calculator use until a certain level of proficiency has been achieved Some focus more on teaching estimation skills and problem-solving.

Other concerns are, for instance students may use the calculator in a wrong way but still believe this was the answer provided by the calculator. Teachers try to combat this by encouraging students to calculate the result manually and ensuring it roughly agrees with the calculatedresult. It is also possible for a child to type in the formula -1 x 1 and get the correct answer, 1 but without knowing the fundamentals involved. In this case, the calculator can become a tool for a child rather than a tool to learn, and it can slow down students at exams when they try to check even the smallest minor of numbers on the calculator.

Other concerns related to the use

The error isn't just limited to pupils in school. Anyone who uses a calculator can blindly trust the calculator's output without double-checking the magnitude of the result--i.e. which decimal point is placed. This problem was all but nonexistent in the era of slide rules and pencil-and-paper calculations, as the process of establishing the magnitudes of results had to be done through the use of.

Certain fractions, like 2/3 are difficult to show on a calculator display because they are usually rounded to 0.66666667. Some fractions, like 0.14285714... may be difficult to discern in decimal format. In fact, this number is 1/7. Some of the most advanced scientific calculators can calculate in vulgar fractions however the method in use can be awkward.Basic calculator

Calculators vs. computing

The main difference between calculators and the majority of computers is that calculators are only tools for numeric calculations computer programs can use numbers to directly manipulate words, images or soundsfor instance.

It is true that the market of calculators is extremely price-sensitive. most of the time, users are concerned about the least expensive model having a specific features set. However, the user does not pay attention to speed (since speed is primarily constrained by how fast the user can use the buttons). Therefore, the developers of calculators strive to minimize the number of logic elements in the chip, and not the number of clock cycles needed for a calculation.

For example, instead of the use of a hardware multiplier, a calculator might be able to implement floating point mathematics with code in ROM, and compute trigonometric calculations using the CORDIC algorithm, since CORDIC does not require floating point. In the same way, bit-serial logic designs are more common in calculators whereas bit-parallel designs dominate general-purpose computers. A bit serial design lowers the complexity of a chip however it requires a lot more clock cycles.

Personal computers and personal digital assistants are able to perform general calculations in many ways:

• Numerous programs are available to do calculations. They range from basic calculator emulators, to scientific calculators such as Microsoft Calculator, to advanced spreadsheet applications like Excel as well as OpenOffice.org Calc.
• Computer algebra programs , such as Mathematica, Maple, or Matlab can handle advanced calculations.
• Client-side scripting can be utilized for calculation, e.g. by entering "javascript:alert(calculation written in Javascript)" in a web browser's address bar (as opposed to "http://website name"). Such calculations can be embedded into a separate Javascript file or HTML file too.
• Online calculators such as the calculator feature of Google's Google search engine can perform calculations on the server side.