this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2024
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[–] [email protected] 182 points 2 months ago (3 children)

If a kid is smart enough to figure this out and make it work for them, they're gonna be fine...

[–] [email protected] 89 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yes, but the kids buying the modded devices may not be

[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 months ago

good. they will learn not to buy their way out of a problem at least.

[–] [email protected] 80 points 2 months ago (7 children)

Back when we were doing quadratic equations; I wrote a program on my TI-84 that would ask which parts of the equation you already had, and would fill in the rest for you.

My teacher liked it so much he bought a transfer cable for those calculators so he could get a copy for himself. Then used to to grade tests.

[–] Khanzarate 44 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I did the same thing. It was allowed in general, with the correct thought, "if you can code it yourself, you know the content"

I had another "program" that would fail to run but that's because I wrote notes into it. Doubt that was allowed.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Here in NZ they do a factory reset on your calculator at the start of every exam.

[–] piecat 18 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Oh I would have been so pissed. I was programming on my calculator 24/7 instead of my classes.

I wrote a sudoku "editor"

I put that in quotes because I had a grid that could be navigated, arrows moved, storing the numbers, had number entry down. And when it was time to implement the solver, I learned the hard way what p vs np is.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago (2 children)

They did that here too, but students would use a cheat program that made it look like teachers were resetting it, but really the memory was safe

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[–] linearchaos 17 points 2 months ago (4 children)

I could never remember the formula to calculate compound interest.

But I had no trouble writing a for loop.

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[–] roofuskit 8 points 2 months ago

As someone who was a kid who would do things like this to avoid putting in the work, no this kid will probably not be fine.

[–] [email protected] 108 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Oof getting ChatGPT to help on a test is likely to lead to some wrong answers.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (6 children)

Idk, if there is one thing it does consistently well its standardized tests.

Not that it can be used in any non mathematical class and if teachers do actually pay attention.

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[–] [email protected] 85 points 2 months ago (6 children)

Ok but calculators are only allowed in math class and if there’s one thing language models suck at, it’s doing basic math. Forget anything at least as complicated as algebra

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Time to build a wolfarm applet

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (3 children)

For me they weren't allowed in Calc I, II, III, Alg I, II and Differential equations. Every other class pretty much required it.

if there’s one thing language models suck at, it’s doing basic math.

If you're using a GPT 3.5 turbo level models, sure. Synthetic data is perfect for teaching LLMs, o1 will be good enough up to Calc III IMO, maybe even better.

The only thing I don't like about this is that it uses a TI, yikes.

[–] jacksilver 11 points 2 months ago (4 children)

LLMs do suck at math, if you look into it, the o1 models actually escape the LLM output and write a python function to calculate the output, I've been able to break their math functions by asking for functions that use math not in the standard Python library.

I know someone also wrote a wolfram integration to help solve LLMs math problems.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (3 children)

They let us use them for all my college math classes.

They really don't help much at all if you don't understand the math, and if you do understand, you don't need the calculator most of the time.

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[–] dual_sport_dork 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

TI, yikes.

Yeah, well, TI has spent bucketloads of money bribing textbook publishers to only include instruction for their specific models so they are now the de facto standard in American schools. This is apparently legal.

Anyway, team Casio represent.

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[–] nutsack 41 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I used to store formulas in basic programs in my ti84 but they were never useful because I didn't need help memorizig formulas

[–] SandLight 16 points 2 months ago

I did the same, but it was helpful because I'm terrible at memorization.

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[–] throbbing_banjo 39 points 2 months ago (1 children)

But can you still play Drug Wars?

[–] happysplinter 14 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Has anyone ever beaten that game? Is it even possible?

[–] AngryCommieKender 10 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

It's possible to get to the last day and have a lot of money, which is your "score." The world leaderboards have some ridiculous highscores on the remake called Dope Wars.

https://stevekola.tripod.com/dopewarsguide/id2.html

That is a strategy guide.

I have never managed to do it.

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[–] Siegfried 10 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

No one has beaten The Game, but it is possible. We just need to wait for the Pope to declare that it has come to an end

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Oh you fucker, its been over ten years. i just lost The Game.

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[–] Jackcooper 36 points 2 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 61 points 2 months ago

They added wifi with a extra circuit board hidden inside the calculator case. It's connected to the calculators communication port, and pretends to be another calculator. So they can use the calculator's built in "send" function to send variables/text/etc to the hidden card, which then uses it's internet connection to look up answers and send the results back.

[–] itsathursday 8 points 2 months ago
[–] finitebanjo 31 points 2 months ago (2 children)

"ChatGPT what is the formula for Work Done in an enclosed system expressed as a triple integral?"

"42"

"Ok cool ty."

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Not anymore since it's spreading news instead of remaining on YouTube

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[–] Etterra 12 points 2 months ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago

Not sure if it's the same thing but a few days ago I saw a youtube video where person modded it with a wifi card so it could communicate with your pc which is at home. It required internet access from your phone which needs to be near though.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

Saw the video. Quite cool mod.
https://youtu.be/Bicjxl4EcJg

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[–] partial_accumen 11 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Its been quite a while since I've taken a proctored exam, but then all the proctors would clear all the memory on your calc before they'd let you use it for test. Is that not the case anymore?

[–] Broken_Monitor 12 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Depends on the exam. Some don’t even allow programmable calcs because they don’t want to deal with possible shit like this. I have already seen a certification exam where they provide the calculators as well.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

The article said it can be download "on demand" so that might make the clearing pointless.

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[–] synapse1278 6 points 2 months ago

Bring your calculator to the Spanish exam. Trust me, this plan is flawless.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Yeah, nobody in class is going to suspect the kid with the arduino-type science project mess of wires duct taped to their calculator.

For those too lazy to read, that's how this works. An external micro controller talks to the calc through the IO port, and does the Wifi stuff, acting as a middleman.

Edit: I did not see the video.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I saw the video. It closes up nicely and is invisible. It can even re-download the programs if wiped before by the teacher.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Well, that teaches me to read AND click all links in an article.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

For those too lazy to watch the video, the whole thing is eventually concealed within the calculator.

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