the electronic calculator made me feel so dumb..

[Dancing Fire]

before the electronic calculator days i use to be able to figure out mathematical stuff on a piece of paper,now i have forgotten how to do math on a piece of paper. feel so stupid !

 

[Irishgrrrl]

DF, don''t feel bad . . . I''m completely worthless at math unless I have a calculator!

 

[scarleta]

I have a solution for you DF.This is what I do on occasion you can do it as often as you wish.
Sometimes I choose not to use it and do it the old fashion way on the paper or in my head.Must say calculator is easier, but sometimes I won''t use it.Try it , it works.

 

[HollyS]

As someone in the field of accounting, I have found myself absent-mindedly entering very simple figures into the calculator and then asking myself "WTH???" It becomes a habit. I haven''t lost my ability to add sums in my head, just my ability to think before hitting the keys.

What drives me batty is trying to teach my cashiers to ''count back change'' instead of resorting to a calculator. Are they teaching anything in schools these days?

 

[choro72]

It''s why I use a pen and pencil whenever I have the time. I also practice at the grocery stores.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 4/1/2009 3:13:08 PM
Author: HollyS
What drives me batty is trying to teach my cashiers to 'count back change' instead of resorting to a calculator. Are they teaching anything in schools these days?

They are teaching math in school these days. My kindergartener knows the times table better than I do! Son asks, "mom, what's 4 X 6?" I respond, "Uhhhh!" Then he states, "it's 24, right?"

 

[DiamanteBlu]

I never was much for arithmetic - and I''m a mathematician! When I was a professor I''d make the students do out the arithmetic at the end of the problem when I was at the board [calculus, differential equations, etc. courses and no, I did not work out the problems ahead of time]! LOL! And I started teaching in 1973, when people were still using slide rules [which are completely useless when you need to add].

To this day, if I want to make sure my arithmetic is correct I have to use a calculator [if I am being lazy] or do it out on paper [which can sure get tedious!]

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 4/1/2009 3:13:08 PM
Author: HollyS
As someone in the field of accounting, I have found myself absent-mindedly entering very simple figures into the calculator and then asking myself ''WTH???'' It becomes a habit. I haven''t lost my ability to add sums in my head, just my ability to think before hitting the keys.

What drives me batty is trying to teach my cashiers to ''count back change'' instead of resorting to a calculator. Are they teaching anything in schools these days?

remember the pre computer days at the grocery store ? bananas 12 cents per lb X xx lbs and the cashiers had to do the math with their brain.

 

[choro72]

Once at a campus store, I was buying stuff during a "10% off entire store items". The cashier girl was tediously punching in 10% off each items I had. She was chatting with another cashier girl saying "I wonder if it''s the same thing if I scan all of it and then take 10% off the total bill" This was at UC Berkeley, and I''m sure they were students.

 

[DiamanteBlu]

Date: 4/1/2009 4:01:04 PM
Author: choro72
Once at a campus store, I was buying stuff during a ''10% off entire store items''. The cashier girl was tediously punching in 10% off each items I had. She was chatting with another cashier girl saying ''I wonder if it''s the same thing if I scan all of it and then take 10% off the total bill'' This was at UC Berkeley, and I''m sure they were students.

OMG!

 

[Madam Bijoux]

A math professor in a class I took said "If you really want to insult someone, give him a calculator that has a percent key".

 

[DiamanteBlu]

Date: 4/1/2009 4:31:44 PM
Author: Madam Bijoux
A math professor in a class I took said ''If you really want to insult someone, give him a calculator that has a percent key''.

LOL! Good one!

I wonder what percentage of people would not recognize it as an insult . . .?

 

[VRBeauty]

I''m not a mathematician, but I am a bargain hunter.

Which is probably why I can eyeball percents better than most of the engineers I work with!

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 4/1/2009 4:01:04 PM
Author: choro72
Once at a campus store, I was buying stuff during a ''10% off entire store items''. The cashier girl was tediously punching in 10% off each items I had. She was chatting with another cashier girl saying ''I wonder if it''s the same thing if I scan all of it and then take 10% off the total bill'' This was at UC Berkeley, and I''m sure they were students.

and her major was mathematic.

 

[HollyS]

Date: 4/1/2009 4:01:04 PM
Author: choro72
Once at a campus store, I was buying stuff during a ''10% off entire store items''. The cashier girl was tediously punching in 10% off each items I had. She was chatting with another cashier girl saying ''I wonder if it''s the same thing if I scan all of it and then take 10% off the total bill'' This was at UC Berkeley, and I''m sure they were students.

Oh, dear. She must have been absent that week in fourth grade, when they learned percents.

 

[HollyS]

Date: 4/1/2009 4:31:44 PM
Author: Madam Bijoux
A math professor in a class I took said ''If you really want to insult someone, give him a calculator that has a percent key''.

And then there are my employees who''ve needed tutoring in actually using the percent key on the calculator. And don''t ask them to use it to figure out what percent of the total a particular sum is. Multiplying is dangerous enough territory for them. Division is surely for NASA scientists.

 

[chrono]

I balance my checkbook by doing the math in my head just to keep my mind sharp. For more complicated calculations, I still use pen and paper, then I use the calculator to check my math.