[Blindmath] Talking Calculators

[Michael Whapples]

Here are my experiences with the RNIB scientific talking calculators 
(these comments are based on my experience while I was at school 2003, 
don't know whether a newer version has been made which solves some of 
the problems).

I don't remember the learning of the calculator a problem, but I was at 
a specialist school where the teachers knew how to use the calculators 
so could help. There is a learn mode on the calculator which will speak 
the function of the keys, although it won't tell you how the feature is 
used. I don't know what the manual is like as the teachers at my school 
helped me learn to use it.

Physically it has no screen, when I was at school I had a bit of sight 
and felt it a bit awkward to have to rely only on the speech (eg. if the 
result was lengthy, I felt it would be easier to read it and copy it 
than use the speech). I know it has a connector which I think attempts 
were made to make an external display unit for it, I don't know whether 
that was actually put into production.

Now to my concerns regarding its accuracy. As I remember it only would 
go to 5 decimal places and scientific notation (eg. 6.6543210 e-15 would 
be rounded to 6.65432 e-15). This limitation can cause problems and did 
for me at A-level (there certainly was one question which didn't seem to 
work with the calculator because it was looking for a slight difference 
which was too small for the calculator to show). Also there was a case 
in my A-level physics I hit problems with reaching its limit on 
scientific notation (again I can't remember exactly what it was, but it 
certainly involved plancs constant squared and the calculator I think 
announced "too big"). There are also certain calculations where it 
obviously gets it wrong, I am not sure what causes it, but it may be 
related to the other limitations. As I remember one such calculation is 
3 cubed it claims is 27.00001.

My summary is that when I went to university to study physics I decided 
to rely on computer software rather than get an RNIB scientific 
calculator due to its limitations.

I couldn't comment on the other stand alone scientific talking 
calculators as I haven't tried them.

Michael Whapples
On 26/05/09 23:09, Hausler,Jesse wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am looking to purchase a handheld scientific calculator for my university's assistive technology center.  I was wondering if any of you had any suggestions on which ones or one are the most reliable and easiest to learn and use. I've searched through the forum and have found much information on software calculators, but not as much on physical models.
>
> I have read reviews on the Orion TI-36x, the Audiocalc, the Talking Scientific Calcualtor by RNIB, and a few others.
>
> Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thank you,
> Jesse Hausler
> Assistive Technology Resource Center
> Colorado State University
> 970-491-0625
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Blindmath mailing list
> Blindmath at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindmath_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Blindmath:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindmath_nfbnet.org/mwhapples%40aim.com
>