RPN calcs should be a teacher’s recommendation

[JimP]

(11-08-2022 12:48 AM)Matt Agajanian Wrote:  Hi all.

Had a thought:

Since order of operations is the foundation of mathematics, I’d think that since it’s so vital, teachers would strongly recommend RPN calculators because it forces the students to understand how order of operations works.

For example, since an RPN calculator does not carry out the hierarchy and manual problem statement and entry are key, it challenges students to enter the calculation in the manner in which order of operations dictates.

Plus, since calculations are immediately returned, the student can see where the mistakes were made. And with Last X, a student can recover from mistakes and either start over or pick up where they left off and try to enter the calculation in which order of operations dictates.

In addition, RPN also structures learning about using parentheses and how they affect calculation evaluation.

You have a point, but I have to agree with some of the other posters here who recommend zero calculators until the mathematics are understood. Similar logic to software-based spell-checkers and grammar checkers: they are for people who can spell, not for those who cannot. Otherwise you'd have a bunch of led guitarists who boar people with they're musicality.

At the tender age of 13, I obtained my first four-functioned calculator (a Sinclair Cambridge -- yes, that was 1973). Prior to that we were permitted to use slide rules, which had the advantage of forcing us to understand significant figures (only three could realistically be used with slide rules) and for us to use common sense. One math teacher, to his credit, admitted once having used a slide rule, in his youth, to multiply by ten! Beyond that, we were instructed in the use of log tables, trig tables, and other tools such as "Oh, Sah, Coat" (a mnemonic to help us remember the relationships between sines, cosines, tangents, and the three sides of a right triangle). But we were not allowed to use calculators in exams, not even until later years in college and graduate school (the latter of which required zero calculus since I'd gone into a field not needing it). Statistics and linear regression, however, became useful tools, and operations of calculators providing those functions and more were well worth understanding.

But I do support your idea of recommending RPN -- in my sixties, this old dog's tricks are hard to displace with new ones, and having gotten used to RPN 30 years ago it might be harder to learn how to deal with other systems.