Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcsun!ukc!axion!news
From: amason@marcie.axion.bt.co.uk (Ann Mason)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: Handheld for school use..?
Message-ID: <1989Nov24.162936.16460@axion.bt.co.uk>
Date: 24 Nov 89 16:29:36 GMT
References: <3154@harrier.ukc.ac.uk>
Sender: news@axion.bt.co.uk (Root)
Reply-To: amason@marcie.axion.bt.co.uk (Ann Mason)
Organization: British Telecom Research Labs., Martlesham Heath, IPSWICH UK
Lines: 29

In article <3154@harrier.ukc.ac.uk>, dl1@ukc.ac.uk (D.Langford) writes:
> 
> My daughter is 12. She's been using a - very basic - solar calculator
> for maths at school, and the time has come to replace it with something
> a little more advanced. 
> [...]
> Ought I to go for the most expensive and feature-full machine I can
> afford, in the expectation (Maddy's keen on maths) that she'll grow
> into it? Or would it be more sensible to buy a cheap calculator, and
> wait a few years until she /really/ needs programability, and won't get
> confused by too many options?

I have been out of teaching for four years, but when I was teaching some
examining boards were fussy about programmable `calculators' and they were
not allowed in what were then O Level exams.  It would be a pity if this
was the case with your daughter's examining board and she was not able to
use the one you bought.

My suggestion, which is entirely personal, would be to choose a reasonably
priced scientific calculator with a few functions (eg stats functions)
that she has not yet met.  This would be something which still opened
new areas of interest without making it a disaster if the machine was ever
lost.

The HP28S would be great fun, but I'm not sure I would want to let her take
it to school.

Ann Mason
amason@axion.bt.co.uk