Are Graphical Calculators Pointless?

An anonymous reader writes "Texas Instruments and Casio have recently released new flagship graphical calculators but what, exactly, is the point of using them? They are slow, with limited memory and a 'high-resolution' display that is no such thing. For $100 more than the NSpire CX CAS you could buy a netbook and fill it with cutting edge mathematical software such as Octave, Scilab, SAGE and so on. You could also use it for web browsing, email and a thousand other things. One argument heard for using these calculators is: 'They are limited enough to use in exams.' Sounds sensible, but it raises the question: 'Why are we teaching a generation of students to use crippled technology?'"

Because

[Charliemopps]

Teachers are lazy. They expect students to come up with original un-plagiarized answers to test questions the teacher/professor hasn't updated in 20 years and probably copied wholesale from a textbook somewhere. If you really want original answers, come up with some original questions.

Re:Yes and No

[IQgryn]

You made your point about the keyboard being difficult to use quite eloquently.

Re:Obvious

[metamatic]

Personally, I think as far as math education should go, the more crippled, the better.

Well, that's why they're using TI calculators rather than RPN...

Re:Obvious

[SpasticWeasel]

After yesterday, the only way I can write a sort routine requires lots and lots of folk dancing