Graphics calculators are one of those strange technological cul-de-sacs. They rely on outdated technology and should not be nearly as expensive as they are, but market effects somehow keep prices well over $100 to this day. Given that fact, you might like to check out an open-source solution instead.
NumOS comes to us from [El-EnderJ]. It’s a scientific and graphic calculator system built to run on the ESP32-S3 with an ILI9341 screen. It’s intended to rival calculators like the Casio fx-991EX ClassWiz and the TI-84 Plus CE in terms of functionality. To that end, it has a full computer algebra system and a custom math engine to do all the heavy lifting a graphic calculator is expected to do, like symbolic differentiation and integration. It also has a Natural V.P.A.M-like display—if you’re unfamiliar with Casio’s terminology, it basically means things like fractions and integrals are rendered as you’d write them on paper rather than in uglier simplified symbology.
If you’ve ever wanted a graphics calculator that you could really tinker with down to the nuts and bolts, this is probably a great place to start. With that said, don’t expect your local school or university to let you take this thing into an exam hall. They’re pretty strict on that kind of thing these days.
We’ve seen some neat hacks on graphics calculators before, like this TI-83 running CircuitPython. If you’re doing your own magic with these mathematical machines, don’t hesitate to notify the tips line.
My 12 year old self just arrived in a time machine and is very very happy. He’d had to content himself with optoisolators bridging buttons on a calculator to make it “programmable.”
Wouldn’t that run on a CYD?
Honestly? $100 seems to be nearly the lower limit for a functional computer in the US. It’s not the CPU power: it’s the screen, keyboard, link connection, case, assembly, etc. It’s about where low-end tablets end up. I haven’t seen a device go much below without a lot of subsidization in the business model.
Now putting a z80 or 68k in a modern product? That you can blame on the monopoly.
I think the problem is they have a bit of monopoly because they’re the only devices allowed during tests.
From memory, TI went after US schoolteachers. Conferences, teacher’s aid books, etc.
“When teaching X, use calculator steps A, B, and C”.
Result: you can ONLY get help in class, if you have the “right” calculator. Which helps guarantee sales, every year.
100% this^^^^ When my daughter started high school they specified the calculator used and indicated that all others were not allowed. I asked about an HP product and they just about laughed me out of the classroom! Everyone can be different as long as they are all the same.
This is really cool! I hope they’re available for sale soon.
Interesting how maths is thought in the US (?).
I barely used a calculator in my highschool maths classes.
There wasn’t much to calculate in the first place and even if there was, the actual result only got you like 10% of the points assigned to a question.
What mattered was applying the correct solution method and verbally explaining your reasoning behind it.
For that reason Multiple-choice questions were never part of a test – in any subject.
It seems to me like if you want a calculator to take an exam, you will still want a TI or whatever. And if you want a calculator because you use it so much that having one with real buttons / a consistent hardware interface, then you still want the product. The more common case (my case) where you want a calculator but you’re willing to deal with soft buttons or relatively raw software is perfectly served by apps on your phone?
I’m saying that as someone who wrote his own calculator for Android out of frustration with the offerings that were handy at the time.
oh i looked at it and i can answer the question of which niche this fills…the clue is that it has a good number of very sophisticated features, as if it was an impressive feat for a generalized CAS engine…but it’s oddly focused on a single implementation and is apparently missing core functionality.
you guessed it! it’s ai slop. the need it’s filling is the urge to feel like a programmer even while using AI. i probably sound pretty derogatory but honestly i am marvelling at the way we meet our emotional needs. i mean, if you dig through my pile of half-completed projects, i can’t say you’ll find better.