The death of calculator market?

[Benjer]

I'm in my final year pursuing a BS in civil engineering, and as someone with an interest in calculators, I've taken note of how the students around me use them, what they think of them, and why they use a particular calculator.

It seemed the most important consideration for most students was price. The cheapest calculator which can do the job was often the most popular. In higher level math this sometimes took a back seat to computing power (real or perceived) and in classes where graphing calculators dominated, the TI models (TI-83+ and TI-84 CE) were most common. In other classes where only scientific calculators were needed (lower level engineering and physics courses) Casios were more common.

My school's college of engineering has a calculator policy directly based on the NCEES policy (which administers the FE and PE exams). So only the handful of calculators allowed are present. Again, Casios are most common, with the TI-36x pro making up the minority. Besides myself, I saw nobody else using an HP-35s.

In my 5 years of school, I've seen only one other person using an HP calculator (HP-50g in ALG mode). Another person recognized my HP Prime, and mentioned his was stolen. Virtually everyone else was unaware HP even made calculators. Among those who expressed an interest, that interest evaporated upon hearing how much they cost.

I got the impression from most students that they would use Desmos on their smartphone or something similar if they were allowed to on exams.

The above is all anecdotal, of course, and should be taken with a grain of salt.