ITA with Quantum and bluemagic. DD has used a calculator since-- well, since she was about five, actually.
Sometimes the point of the exercise is to use the calculator appropriately-- that is, to understand the math that is being explored.
The calculator is just a tool to make the background noise smaller so that the math can shine instead, IMO.
Sometimes it gets in the way if the underlying foundation is poorly understood (since students are then more prone to data entry error and to not writing steps down for themselves and therefore don't catch conceptual errors)-- and sometimes it removes barriers (graphing using any other means is painfully slow, frankly).
Seriously-- I know how to do a linear regression manually, but why on earth is that skill a useful one to practice now that I know??
