The Casio FX 991es Calculator Shouldn't Be Allowed In Exams?

Can you give a tl;dr? Are you saying it's unfair cause it does silly integrals?

Firstly I thought I'd say at uni, doing maths, we are allowed a very limited amount of calculators, they are very basic. No natural display, and just has basic functions like pi and trig functions.

Looking back at A-level, this is the calculator I used and I still use it although very rarely nowadays.

Having thought about it, I have to say I feel this calculator shouldn't be allowed in exams.

For those who don't know. Although it is not a graphical or programmable calculator, it has a vast array of functions. I particularly found it useful in further pure 1,2 and parts of 3 and statistics and obviously calculus as well in core 2-4.

You can input 2x2 and 3x3 (and other size) matrices and use the functions to compute the inverse. You can put in data for stats. It can solve quadratics in both the real and complex plane, and in particular with complex numbers it gives answers in the form of z=a+ib perfectly. It also allows you to use all arithmetic functions in the complex plane, such as converting to and from exponential form (e^i.theta), also conjugates.

The biggest problem I have with the use of this calculator is within calculus.

The argument is that this calculator is allowed because it does not compute indefinite functions rather it computes definite integrals using a numerical format. I can't remember which, probably Riemann Integral or Simpson's. The same is also true for definite differentiation.

I can't help but feel using this calculator gives a big advantage to the point that it probably is not fair.

I remember in exams I would do questions involving differentiation/integration and I would always check my answer using the functions on the calculator. Although on many occasions it would not give me an exact answer, it was enough information to know if I was correct or not. E.g. If my answer was 4/3 on paper and the calculator computed 1.33333 - I knew my answer was correct. If it didn't I would go back and redo the question.

My feeling is that this must be wrong, as in Core 1 for example we are not allowed calculators and many people found it hard to get 100% not because the content was hard but because they would make silly mistakes.

Surely the point of a test is to determine what a person knows with their ability and then an external source, marks the student's first attempt.

Is it really fair to able to check your answer in an exam?

I don't think so.

If you don't like the FX-991ES then you'll most likely have a brain aneurysm after reading of all the additional functions that the TI-84 Plus possesses, i.e. sketching graphs in Cartesian, polar, or parametric form; numerical solution of all types of equations; calculation of regression lines, etc.

Being able to check your answer with a calculator doesn't really make it unfair, coz most of the marks in a maths exam is from working out anyway, so having a calculator that allows you to gain 1 or 2 more marks is not that significant.

Same goes for all the other functions. The calculator may give you the final answer, but you'll still lose the bulk of the marks if you don't know/show your working out.

I do like the 991 es.

I used it in my own A level exams.

But my point is, I don't think its fair because it allows you to check your answers.

What is your definition of "fair"

If I was allowed one and you were not then that would be unfair. Everyone is allowed to use one so the playing field is level.

By the same token is it unfair that there is a formula book that allows you to check you have used the right formula?


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