Wired Magazine Rates Graphing Calculators

[Tony]

The April 2007 Wired Magazine rates graphing calculators:

TI-89 Titanium - 8 of 10

HP 50g - 7 of 10

Casio ClassPad 300Plus - 7 of 10

Sharp EL-9900C - 5 of 10

Interesting note on the HP, "steepest learning curve of the lot".

[Eric Smith]

A steep learning curve is good. If the learning curve were shallow, it would take you a very long time to learn how to use it.

[Palmer O. Hanson, Jr.]

Quote:

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A steep learning curve is good. If the learning curve were shallow, it would take you a very long time to learn how to use it.

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From my Webster's New World Dictionary:

"SYN. --steep suggests such sharpness of rise or slope as to make ascent or descent very difficult (a steep hill);"

But, of course, you already knew that.

[Les Bell]

Quote:

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"SYN. --steep suggests such sharpness of rise or slope as to make ascent or descent very difficult (a steep hill);"

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Sure, but the work done in raising a mass through a height vertically is the same, whether you do it quickly or slowly (of course, you already knew that!).

Me, I'd rather get it over and done with and reap the benefits ASAP. Steep learning curve for me, every time!

Best,

--- Les

[http://wwww.lesbell.com.au]

[ECL]

Les,

Quote:

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Sure, but the work done in raising a mass through a height vertically is the same, whether you do it quickly or slowly...

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Aha! But Les, as you most certainly know, the POWER requirement varies with velocity, lol! So we could say that you'd want a quick processor (brain) to tackle steep learning curves w/o devoting great amounts of time. :)

When you provoke engineers...lol ;)

[Les Wright]

Thanks for pointing that out Eric.

"Steep learning curve" is one of those chalk-on-a-blackboard irritating cliches. Usually, overuse of cliches renders them meaningless. In this case, the cliche has taken on a meaning precisely the opposite to its original use, which I believe is the rather narrow field of experimental psychology--rats in mazes, that sort of thing.

In that case, if time is on the x axis and some measure of learning is on the y axis, smart rats will learn more in less time, and the slope of the resulting graph--the primordial learning curve--will be steeper.

I like to use the phrase "shallow learning curve" in casual conversation to really confuse folks easily baffled when the discussion moves into the Cartesian plane.

The smart rat gets the most pellets most quickly. I'd rather be the smart rat.

Les

Edited: 24 Mar 2007, 11:47 p.m.

[Don Shepherd]

Speaking of rats, here is another truism: while it is true that the early bird gets the worm, it's the SECOND rat that gets the cheese!

[Eric Smith]

And the early worm "gets" the bird!

[Bruce Bergman]

I am quite certain the "steepest learning curve" is due to the mediocre documentation that comes with it. If it had a book as solid as the 40gs or the TI-89, it would be easier.

Go HP! :-)

[Opotente]

Hi Tony, could you be so kind and send us the internet link? I would like to read the article just in case that it is online.

Best regards,