No wonder kids cant these days.....

[Tiny Spark]

Yeah we have all heard (and many said ime sure) Kids cant do ..... these days.

A while back I was talking to a college lecturer who said 90% of the kids they get these days cant do basic maths or even use a calculator.
Now I found this odd, not so much that they cant do maths but they cant use a calculator.
Now I was pretty good at maths back in the day and we were rarely aloud to use a calculator but lets face it they are not to hard to use....

Well I should say they never USED to be hard to use!

Now I think I may understand why kids cant use calculators, probably because you need a damn PHD to work it!
I had a test the other day which I was told I would need a scientific calculator for, Now ive had the same scientific calculator since I was at school, served me well through college and everything else now I couldnt find the damn thing the other day so went and brought a new one only to find when I sat this test that the answers this thing gave me were damn near useless!

I had to do 20 x 0.72, Now I know this is going to give me a answer somewhere near 15 but ime not good enough to work out exactly what.
So imagine my suprise when this bloody thing gives me a answer of 29/2!

Dont get me wrong ime sure thats a answer someone somewhere may need but I dont!
Hell I dont even know how to change that to a realistic answer I mean WTF!
Are you supposed to take instruction manuals into exam halls these days or what?

And before anyone says I know its a fractional equivalent but I could of worked that out in my head without the calculators assistance

 

[ian.settle1]

If you listen to half of them it's a wonder they can spell their name.

 

[Engineer54]

Haha, that takes me back a bit!!

I too can remember when calculators were not allowed into examination rooms. Virtually all the C&G exams and a good few others, they wanted to SEE your calculations, in fact if i remember correctly, the written calculations formed part of your point count...

I think i know what you mean though, you get used to using a particular calculator and when lumbered having to use a different make, things can easily go to pot!!

But i'll agree with Ian, with many (not all i might add) of these kids, it must be like trying to educate pork!! lol!!

 

[telectrix]

erm.....

 

[ian.settle1]

I too can remember when calculators were not allowed into examination rooms. Virtually all the C&G exams and a good few others, they wanted to SEE your calculations, in fact if i remember correctly, the written calculations formed part of your point count...

!0 marks for a question and you would get 1 mark for the correct answer the rest was from all the working out you had to show

 

[matt1386]

We have exactly the same problem at college !

We spend half the time working out how to put the sum in the calculator ! Even the tutor doesnt have a clue !

Not a casio fx -85GT by any chance is it Tiny ?

 

[Tiny Spark]

From what I gather from the yoth thats still the case where they get so many points for showing workings.
But thats on a Level 2 Maths exam he was allowed a calculator for some of the Level 3 one.

Whats worrying though is when he gave me a mock LV2 exam paper and asked me to help him as he was struggling with it.
I had a quick flick through and then looked at him with a raised eye brow and asked him why he needed my help to work out the area of Ben and Kerry's back yard....

 

[Tiny Spark]

We have exactly the same problem at college !

We spend half the time working out how to put the sum in the calculator ! Even the tutor doesnt have a clue !

Not a casio fx -85GT by any chance is it Tiny ?

Yes it was mate.
Take it they are renowned for it then??

God I wish I could find my 20 year old Casio.....

 

[LeeH]

Haha, that takes me back a bit!!

I too can remember when calculators were not allowed into examination rooms. Virtually all the C&G exams and a good few others, they wanted to SEE your calculations, in fact if i remember correctly, the written calculations formed part of your point count...

They still are, nothing has changed you still have to show your workings.

 

[matt1386]

Yes it was mate.
Take it they are renowned for it then??

God I wish I could find my 20 year old Casio.....

We are all just about getting used to how they work now mate, but they never give you a straight bloody answer !

Unless its a round number it always gives you the answer as a fraction, why ???

You then have to press the S<->D button to convert into standard form

Also if the tutor writes a sum on the board he wants us to work out, the way he puts it on the board, the calculator wont recognise, so we then spend 20 minutes working out how to input the sum to get a proper answer !

What a pain

 

[mark80]

There will be a button marked 'SD' (off the top of my head) press this, and the answer will convert to a number/decimal format. You can change the settings for the answer units the calculator will give you, but I can't remember how to change it

 

[shanky887614]

There will be a button marked 'SD' (off the top of my head) press this, and the answer will convert to a number/decimal format. You can change the settings for the answer units the calculator will give you, but I can't remember how to change it

Buy a casio (I think) scientific calc they come with instructions lol

Hold shift then press mode and go through till you find the one you want

 

[telectrix]

my scientific calculator proved newton's law of " every action produces an equal and opposite reaction". i threw it at the wall. the wall dented, the calculator shattered. QED.

 

[Silly Sausage]

Yeah we have all heard (and many said ime sure) Kids cant do ..... these days.

A while back I was talking to a college lecturer who said 90% of the kids they get these days cant do basic maths or even use a calculator.

Seems simple enough, but there are two schools of thought on facebook.

4x4+4x4+4-4x4=?

Apparently 73% of people get the question wrong.

Basic Maths!!!!
I've pulled the above quote from somewhere else.
Unbelievable!!!!!
But then again, that could just be representative of the mentality of Facebook users. :ciappa::smilielol5:

 

[telectrix]

i get 20 as the answer

 

[tidyboiler]

Well normally I would agree with you .. if it can't be downloaded, tweeted, facebooked or iphoned then kids just don't give a flying one.

Then daughter came home from school with the good news is she got A* in her Health & Social Care GCSE Exam and is the only one to get A*..... so my faith has been restored a bit. The flipside is a girl in her class who is 15 is 6 months pregnant and nobody is shocked at all, just matter of fact about it. ~

 

[SPARTYKUS]

Basic Maths!!!!
I've pulled the above quote from somewhere else.
Unbelievable!!!!!
But then again, that could just be representative of the mentality of Facebook users. :ciappa::smilielol5:

I hate all that "like if you want to support...." - its a trick, marketing. Wrapped up in a feel gulty if you don't trap.

even those click on your preferred answer things - not sure how it works but its probably just like old fashioned web page advertising - the more hits you have the more dollar you can command.

 

[Paul.M]

"Seems simple enough, but there are two schools of thought on facebook.

4x4+4x4+4-4x4=?

Apparently 73% of people get the question wrong."

A = 42. Thats the answer to everything lol. (ok its 320 without the use of a calculator or pen and paper).

I was shown the art of maths the old ways. eg:- the OP's question

20 x 0.72

0.72 x 10 = (just move the decimal up one) 7.2
7.2 x 2 = 14.4

Scientific calculators are a pain to understand but most of the time they are not needed but useful to have to hand.

 

[Paul.M]

..............

 

[Andy78]

I recall a full morning lost at college where the tutor tried to help everyone figure out how to express exponents on their various brands of calculator.

I use realcalc usually. A handy app on my phone that is a basic uncomplicated scientific calculator.