24 - THE HERALD. Mon.. Oct. 12, 1981 Calculators Long division hasn't been the some since they were introduced in 1971 teachers to decide whether they will use calculators in By Phil Kukielski their classes, Miss Suydam said. "The majority of Providence Journal-Bulletin schools have treated caiculators as a teaching tool, like the chalkboard or an overhead'projector,” she said. PRO VID ENCE. R.I, (U P I) - This month marks the Teachers of science and business courses, where 10th anniversary of an'event that changed the way we mathematics is a means to an end, have been much live. It will probably not even rate a footnote in the more open to caicuiator use than mathematics teaches, history books. she said. In September 1971, the first pocket calculator was Andrew Duperron, president of the 200-member offered for sale in the consumer market. Rhode Isiand, Math Teachers Association, said math Long division hasn’t been the same since. teachers are more likely to use calculators in advanced Calculators have changed the way we figure out our courses that involve a lot of tedious calculations, rather income tax. balance our checkbooks and estimate our than lower-level courses where basic concepts are gas mileage. They have turned out to be very near the stressed • ultimate antidote for math anxiety. D U PE R R O N S AID his school, Warren High School, In the process, they have earned themselves a place in uses school-supplied calculators in its trigonometry the pantheon of electronic marvels — such as the elec­ courses hut not in remedial math classes. tric typewriter, the stereo, the tape recorder and the transistor radio — that we have learned we can’t live “ Our first job is to teach the method. Then we can use U.S. insists: No role in combat without. verification of answers through the caculator. The T H E M O ST I'O P IT .A R versions are the simple four- batteries run down sometimes so you have to know how­ function models that add, subtract, multiply and divide. to use paper and pencil,” Duperron said. "Fourbangers” they’re called in the industry. He said calculators can be a fantastic tool when used But there are also scientific calculators that can work properly, but they can also give the wrong answers Aid promised to Sudan, Egypt trigonometry and logarithms, astrological calculators when they are not. that will help tell your fortune, biorhythm calculators For example, Duperron said, take the problem 3 plus 2 American correspondents in Cairo exercise will involve long distance that are reputed to tell you whether you are up or down, times 5. If you punch that out on most calculators, they WASHINGTON (UPI) - The that Haig had offered him a U.S. practice runs by B-52 bombers from and musical calculators that play melodies. will give the answer as 25. The correct answer is 13, United States plans to send military “ commitment” to help defend bases in North Dakota to targets in There are even calculators that will help you pick a because the rules of mathematics say you perform mul­ equipment, and possibly advisers, to Sudan against a Libyan attack. Egypt. winning trifecta at the race track. tiplication before addition. Sudan and Egypt to fend off a Li­ Haig said N u m eiry’s rem arks “ What it is is a military exer­ But while most Americans have been more than con­ Beyond pedagogical reservations about the use of byan threat, but top officials said were misinterpreted. “ He said we cise, ” Weinberger said today. “ It’s tent to let their fingers do the counting on a calculator calculators, there are also practical problems. Public today U.S. aid w ill not include any were going to provide assistance," very important that all arms be keyboard, one institution has been noticably slow to em­ school educators say budget pressures have put the. role in combat. UPI photo Haig said. “ And that’s precisely e x e rc ise d and p a rtic ip a te in brace the revolution — the public schools. calculator in the category of an educational frill. Secretary of State Alexander Haig what we’re going to do.” maneuvers that are as realistic as Partly for pedagogical reasons, partly for practical The 10th anniversary of an event that ‘ "n ie money is just not there,” said David A. Capaldi, and Defense Secretary Caspar sumer market. Here are some calculators Weinberger both reaffirmed Reagan said the accelerated arms possible” ones, calculators are probably less frequently used in changed the way we live passed with little currently on display In a store window on chairman of the math department at Winman Junior elementary and high school classrooms than they are in High School in Warwick, R .I. “ I have textbooks that are Am erica's determination to stand snipments to Egypt and Sudan are Ot the Sudanese shipments, Ms. notice this fall. In 1971 the first pocket 42nd Street in New York City. “ called for” to counter adventurism living rooms. falling apart. I have to think about that first. by allies in North Africa and the Stockman said, “ In any kind of by Libya. C A l.C l LATO H S ARE one of the true progeny of the calculator was offered for sale In the con- “ I don’t think anybody Lknow of uses calculators in Middle East. military sale there are some kinds A U.S. team led by State Depart­ space age. They are a direct outgrowth of technology class on a day-to-day basis, which is too bad,” Capaldi At the same time, they sought to of equipment that would require ment counselor Robert McFarland some training and maintenance. We first developed for use in the guidance system of mis­ Today, calculators are perhaps the third or fourth says there was general support for using calculators to said. “ I would be willing to bet we are 10 years behind clarify the limits of the ad­ and including two Pentagon officials would provide trainers to show them siles and spacecraft largest selling consumer products, with annual retail check homework answers, but not much else. the times in the schools.” ministration’s stepped-up effort to is meeting with Sudanese officials in The brains of a calculator are contained on a tiny sales of $500 million to $700 million, according to Tom “ There is a feeling that kids w ill use it as a crutch,” A T T H E C O LLE G E level, where students are bolster the governments of Egypt how to use them (the weapons) and Khartoum to discuss Sudan’s piece of silicone as small as one-sixteenth of an inch Kurlak, vice president of the investment research divi­ Gates said. “ Teachers are still very cautious. There is expected to buy their own supplies, calculators are as and Sudan in the wake of Egyptian maintain them.” military "shopping list,” State square called a semiconductor, or computer “ chip.” sion of M errill Lynch, not enough research to be sure it is not going to damage omnipresent as Frisbees. FTesident Anwar Sadat's assassina­ But Ms. Stockman said since she Department spokeswoman Anita The equivalent of up to 30,000 transistors can be But the Americans’ early domination of the industry mathematical skills.’’ “ They are so commonplace you don’t even think about tion. could not yet confirm exactly what Stockman said. crammed onto the surface of a single “ chip” by coating is over. “ The Japanese just took it away from us. They Not so, says Marilyn N. Suydam, executive director of them,” said Harold Petersen Jr., acting chairman of the Haig termed the loss of Sadat weapons would be sent to the Sudan In a related development, the it with layers of metal oxide. are much better at pricing and mass marketing than we the federally funded Calculator Information Center at chemistry department at the University of Rhode “ unsettling” and expressed concern she could not say for sure whether United States plans to land Marines The beginning of the pocket calculator revolution is Ohio State University. Island. about "a step-up in the character of U.S. noncombatant personnel would are,” Kurlak said. from amphibious assault ships at generally traced back to September 1971, when Bowmar ACCORDING TO Miss Suydam, nearly 100 studies Calculators have made slide rules go the way of rac­ Libyan troublemaking.” be involved. ADULTS, ESPECIALLY those who were never Oman and Somalia and drop Instrument Corp. of Fort Wayne, Ind., introduced a have shown either that the use of calculators doesn’t coon coats and freshman beanies. “ It’s like the choice With those developments, he said, According to Ms. Stockman, the strong in mathematics to begin with, have embraced the paratroopers over western Egypt model that measured 3-by-5 inches and sold for $249. hurt mathematics achievement or it actually improves between a car with an automatic transmission and one “ the tim e has come not only to con­ United States provided the Sudan calculator as a godsend. But among educators, the next month as part of a massive Larger and more expensive electronic calculators achievement. with a manual transmission. You pick the automatic tinue the policy w e’ve b ^ n pur­ with $30 million in military aid reception has been lukewarm. joint military exercise, the Post were being manufactured by other firms then, but they The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics “ Computation is not the problem,” she said. “ Most because it makes your life easier,” Petersen said.