Millions of students are back in the classroom. New notebooks, fresh pencils, maybe even a laptop upgrade. But for many, there’s also an old friend tagging along: the graphing calculator.
"yOu WoN't AlWaYs HaVe A cAlCuLaToR iN yOuR pOcKeT" -- every math teacher when I was in high school
I still have my TI-83+, TI-89, and TI-89 Platinum from high school and College 1.0. Now that I'm back at College 2.0, there's pressure to get a TI Inspire CAS which has a bunch of new (and, admittedly, quite useful) features. But it's $170 and comes with a steep learning curve. The flagship offerings from HP, et al, are comparable if not superior, but that makes the learning curve even steeper. Fine at work, perhaps, but not something you want to be figuring out on an exam.
In the article, you state, “But their staying power comes from the ecosystem of teachers, tests, and classrooms that reinforce the choice year after year.” How is this different from ecosystems like Apple, Google, or Microsoft that have faced antitrust challenges from American and European government?
I'm glad you picked up on that! It's the same source of market power that Apple is being accused of abusing. There is a second level to it in that a lot of Apple products don't play nicely with competitors, which is also part of the complaint.
I can imagine that if the College Board outlawed every calculator except the TI ones, there would be more antitrust challenges.
"yOu WoN't AlWaYs HaVe A cAlCuLaToR iN yOuR pOcKeT" -- every math teacher when I was in high school
I still have my TI-83+, TI-89, and TI-89 Platinum from high school and College 1.0. Now that I'm back at College 2.0, there's pressure to get a TI Inspire CAS which has a bunch of new (and, admittedly, quite useful) features. But it's $170 and comes with a steep learning curve. The flagship offerings from HP, et al, are comparable if not superior, but that makes the learning curve even steeper. Fine at work, perhaps, but not something you want to be figuring out on an exam.
I know a lot of HS classes are pivoting toward Desmos, but I'm curious how long it will take to trickle up to the college ranks.
Strategic partnerships is what keeps them alive. Book publishers should be taking a page from this playbook (pun intended).
I can tell you one really large publisher that does it really well ;)
Which one?
I still remember mine!
In the article, you state, “But their staying power comes from the ecosystem of teachers, tests, and classrooms that reinforce the choice year after year.” How is this different from ecosystems like Apple, Google, or Microsoft that have faced antitrust challenges from American and European government?
I'm glad you picked up on that! It's the same source of market power that Apple is being accused of abusing. There is a second level to it in that a lot of Apple products don't play nicely with competitors, which is also part of the complaint.
I can imagine that if the College Board outlawed every calculator except the TI ones, there would be more antitrust challenges.
Too this day the only calculator i use are TI. Very clever capture brand loyalty when their young and hope to keep it for life
But did you name your calculator?
No but my 84 had my name tapped to the back of it. So we shared the same name