elfin8er comments on What did you get told as a child that you realised was a lie as you got older?

[–] elfin8er@lemmy.world 119 points 2 years ago (11 children)

"you're not going to carry a calculator with you everywhere"

[–] Ransack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 28 points 2 years ago (7 children)

The thing is I believe that statement is a bit misunderstood.

Calculators were already becoming pocket sized back in the day, but using it to calculate things if you don't know how to use it is where the actual problem is.

Hence the reasoning to learn how to math vs only having the device.

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[–] elfin8er@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

I'm not saying I disagree, but I had a different experience.

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[–] AtariDump@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

Calculators were already becoming pocket sized back in the day…

True, but I can count on 0 hands how many people I knew carried one in their pocket.

Now if the calculator were built into a beeper, everyone would have had one.

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[–] KreekyBonez@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

or a watch!

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[–] KreekyBonez@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

it's very easy to enter wrong numbers on a calculator, but you need some basic reasoning and familiarity to know when an answer is off, and you need to start over

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[–] TheWolfOfSouthEnd@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

I don’t think people realised how quickly tech would advance.

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[–] skulblaka@startrek.website 3 points 2 years ago

I was being fed that line in 2008 when everyone in the class did, in fact, have a calculator in their pockets

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[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 1 point 2 years ago

Yeah, in my experience "You won't carry a calculator with you everywhere you go" was what they said to justify pointless busywork.

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[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 7 points 2 years ago (1 child)

You may carry one now, but can you calculate percentages on it without your maths lessons? Can you convert fractions? I blame the technology, if it's going to math it needs to math all maths

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[–] skulblaka@startrek.website 3 points 2 years ago

Frankly, these days? Yeah you totally can. "Hey Siri, what's 3% of 235,889?" or "Hey Siri, what's 8/37ths converted to 300ths?" will most likely just feed you a correct answer.

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[–] morriscox@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

And you might not have a smartphone or smartwatch with you. I've seen people who needed a calculator to do basic math.

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