IMPORTANT - Mafs sux - surely u agree (2 Viewers)

[Li0n]

Normal calculators are also introduced too early imo. I think calculators should be introduced in year 10ish, if anything much later than year 7.

 

[sub]

yep...li0n is right...afterall u cant use them in the sc either...u dont need em in junior years either. (not that often anyway)

 

[mojako]

Agree with that. As they won't let us 2 and 3U students use graphics calculators, this is much safer. Reasonably straightforward sort of course even if it doesn't have exactly what you want.

many other maths topics wont benefit from graphics calculator

Normal calculators are also introduced too early imo. I think calculators should be introduced in year 10ish, if anything much later than year 7.

true mr Li0n
completely agree with you
we should use brain and paper
and everything should be expressed as nice whole numbers or exact values

 

[acmilan]

we should learn how to work out irrational numbers to x decimal places without calculators

 

[withoutaface]

we should learn how to work out irrational numbers to x decimal places without calculators

I reckon you could express pi as a limiting sum of the perimeter of polygons with a large number of sides.

 

[Li0n]

a limit on the number of sides on the polygon too

edit: *infinite sides

 

[withoutaface]

a limit on the number of sides on the polygon too

edit: *infinite sides

Ill try and work it out later tonight, I'll get back to you if it can be done.

 

[withoutaface]

You end up with an undefined limit, but you can get a nice estimation of pi from 10000sqrt(1/2-1/2cos(360/10000))

 

[Slidey]

Actually, I don't think calculators should be used at all, except in rare cases - where grpahics calculators should actually be used.

I do a parallel maths course to the HSC, and have since year 9. It covers things in more detail, with more variety, and is completely non-calculator (it's better than the HSC maths course, IMHO)