TZUTC: -0700
MSGID: 23385.memories@1:218/700 2d15fc4b
REPLY: 26675.memoryln@1:2320/105 2d14ab2c
PID: Synchronet 3.21a-Win32 master/955e50fea Aug 09 2025 MSC 1942
TID: SBBSecho 3.29-Win32 master/955e50fea Aug 09 2025 MSC 1942
BBSID: REALITY
CHRS: CP437 2
FORMAT: flowed
-=> Mike Powell wrote to ED VANCE <=-

 MP> When I was younger I remember some folks having those fancy TI
 MP> calculators, and I also remember the "manual" was a pretty large one...
 MP> in my memory, it was at least as thick as the calculator.  ;)

 One of those teachers who make an impression on you was a calculus
 teacher I had in college. He had an interesting approach to come at
 problems from a different perspective to help you understand them.

 In the movie "Ender's Game", when Ender says "The Enemy's Gate is
 Always Down" and the perspective changes, I thought of his class.

 We were encouraged to buy programmable calculators - the stepwise kind
 where you could automate steps into the calculator as a procedure, then
 enter a series of X and Y values and it would step through them - a
 precursor to graphing calculators, as you'd have to plot them
 yourselves.

 The rich kids in the class brought HP 41C calculators. Oh, how I wanted
 one of those! I had to settle for a cheap Casio programmable with 30 or
 so program steps, total.

 My professor's opinion was that computers would soon do all of the
 grunt work that mathmeticians did by hand now. With computers, you'd be
 freed to do the creative work and let the computers grind out the
 results.

 It struck a chord with me.

 A year before, I flunked a senior year high school math class and
 was required to take another course. The only one available mid-year
 was Computer Problem Solving, which inspired me to work with computers.

 If I hadn't flunked that class, I would have completely missed the
 experience of the teacher who reinforced the value of computers as
 tools of computation and might not have been as inspired.

 Despite years of experience, I still enjoy doing computations and
 turning the calculator upside down to spell 80081E5. I suppose your
 inner child never *really* grows up.


 
--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
 * Origin: http://realitycheckbbs.org | tomorrow's retro tech (1:218/700)
SEEN-BY: 10/0 1 102/401 103/1 705 105/81 106/201 124/5016 128/187
SEEN-BY: 129/14 305 153/7715 154/110 214/22 218/0 1 215 601 610 700
SEEN-BY: 218/810 840 860 880 226/30 227/114 229/110 206 300 317 400
SEEN-BY: 229/426 428 470 664 700 705 266/512 291/111 292/854 301/1
SEEN-BY: 320/219 322/757 342/200 396/45 460/58 633/280 712/848 902/26
SEEN-BY: 5075/35
PATH: 218/700 229/426