You only need a graphing calculator because you’re not allowed to use wolfram alpha, desmos, or Matlab. Since you’re mandated to use graphing calculators, (sometimes even specific models) there’s no incentive to make them cheaper or better since you need to buy them anyway.
Yep, graphing calculators are a forced necessity for school, therefore they can charge anything they want and people will still buy them. This kind of artificial demand causes extreme price inelasticity and is capitalism at its worst.
Same deal with university books, you are forced to buy them so they cost hundreds of dollars, when they could easily be sold at a profit for a quarter of the cost.
And why there’s a “new” version every year that just moves things around…
But there aren’t ‘new’ graphing calculators being required and they don’t get worn out that easily. There’s a relatively stable amount of people who need one at any given time, so honestly I’d have expected the second hand market to have crashed the market more than it has. There should honestly be multiple times over more graphing calculators in circulation than there is a need for them.
Yup, free market only incentives competition when it’s actually free. Demand monopolys are just as bad as supply ones.
When I was in school, it was always specific models. They had to limit it to one brand and like 2-3 known good models to prevent the ones that could solve equations.
So there’s no reason for TI to ever lower prices.
The incentive Is supposed to be competition among manufacturers, something is preventing that
Schools have lists of approved models for standardized test taking. If students (the largest market) can’t use your calculator, making one is probably not going to be profitable.
Case in point: I just looked for graphing calculators on aliexpress and they’re like 10 bucks
Lol the app on my phone that replicates the TI layout was only $5
If you can get a copy of the ROM, or have access to a real calculator, you can get an emulator rubning actual software for free.
Its okay, as I neoclassical economist, I know exactly how to fix this issue.
Tax breaks for the rich.
Ask me to solve any economic problem, I have the answers.
No no no, it’s not an issue at all!
It’s Working As Intended* as in there’s a demand (guaranteed by schools) so we charge whatever the fuck we want! Supply is also high? Following supply and demand as theory is for chumps! Supply and demand theory is for us to use as we see fit and to ignore the aspects we don’t like!
I think you know as well as I do that your honesty and integrity in describing how people are being fucked over by this process excludes you from neoclassical economics. Its always easy to catch out the fakers.
I mean, how am I supposed to justify tax breaks for the rich with that?
Damn, foiled again! :P
My life is rich but I have no monies. Tax break? 🥹
So close: “tax breaks, for the rich.” If poor people stop paying tax too, whos going to pay to enforce enforce all the exploitation and wealth extraction done by the rich?
God? Allah? Buddha?
Lol exactly, no one.
The first rule of colonisation is to make the colonised pay for their own colonisation.
Were you trying to prove a point?
I definitely made one but it seems to have come across wrong or rude. That wasn’t my intention.
I was playing with you the entire time and you really thought you knew something huh
The crazy thing is they are basically selling the same models this whole time too
My TI-89 from 1998 still works perfectly, so at least you only have to buy it once.
Because of their longevity, there are a ton on the aftermarket for like $40
I used my mom’s graphing calculator without issue.
We all did John.
The buttons were sticking for me…
My bad
I think there’s an important comma missing from this sentence
Hey don’t forget to credit the author!
Zach Weinersmith Smbc-comics.com
Found the source of the actual comic, for higher quality :)
Fierce kitten vs Sneezy cat? Something fish-y
Thx!
The audience is listening.
The TI-89 was ~$100 when I bought one 20 years ago. Looked it up on Amazon and they’re $100-$150 depending on the specific model. They haven’t kept up with inflation at all, which means they’ve been getting cheaper this whole time…
For 100$ you can buy new phone and install any math software you want
Please tell me what calculator app is as nice as a physical calculator, I haven’t found one yet
Grab the rom for whichever Texas Instruments calculator you like best and use one of the various TI8X emulators:
https://www.f-droid.org/en/packages/com.eanema.graph89/
Just google for the rom file you want. I just tried the TI92+ found here:
https://wowroms.com/en/roms/mame/download-ti-92-plus/108878.html
Weird calculator, but one of the more common TI models should look just as nice
Thanks. I’ve been working with my state legislator to create new laws that give schools the legal ability to expel engineering students caught using Calculator rom’s. These roms have no business in education. I think with this information we can make great strides.
Please be a joke. Please be a joke. Please be a joke.
I made my first fortune by stealing attention and selling it as a middle man without ever giving people a cut of the profits even though it was their time. I told them they would get new features like unskippable ads and progressive pricing for services they originally had but I now place behind a paywall.
Easy enough to do all this. Just put a fresh charming face on it like a Mr.Beast and give them a cut and they will rob every kid of their free time so I can sell it. But that industry is saturated I don’t think most people have a minute in their day without being sold something now and it’s hard to find a space to cram more ads into a persons day so I moved on.
I am now working to restrict peoples ability to find solutions to costly practices in order to keep the price of things like this inflated through legislation. Why should people be allowed to build their own solutions or fix products they’re unknowingly licensing. Its not theirs.
Poes law?
Finally, an internet warrior actually helping the world!
Could you also address this single ply nonsense I’ve seen in stores? Half ply should be the maximum, the modern anus is far too coddled today and is turning us soft when we should all be hard
Thanks Melvin.
Hero
Wolframalpha
It isn’t too bad, but it is online-only subscribtion-based.
The app can be bought with a one time purchase.
I mean, even just one that has the functions of a graphing calculator.
https://f-droid.org/ru/packages/net.alexbarry.calc_android/index.html
Quck search on fdroid
I use Calc84 on the Google Play store, free with minimal ads and a one-time fee to remove ads.
But it seems like others have found FOSS versions here.
For Android, CalcES. It’s modelled after the Casio scientific calculators, so if you’ve ever used those, the app will come naturally to you. Absolute must-have if you want to calculate anything complicated on your phone.
J (technically it’s a whole unique programming language with a learning curve that’s arguably more of a learning cliff, but it’s very heavily geared towards maths and also has some nice graphing modules)
Blame Texas Instruments for being smiley and greedy. Go figure.
🙂
Those smiley fucks have got it coming, I swaer.
The demand is basically artificial since there are a limited amount of calculator models that are allowed to be used on tests at universities. Since they can get away with it, they keep charging these prices.
Plus those models are using the same exact chip fabs with the same exact inputs that they always have.
I had one professor who could tell almost any calculator model from 30 feet away. Other than him I never had any professor care about the specific model of calculator during an examination.
Iirc, theyre the last products still using a z80, which was launched in the seventies. Keeping an entire chip fab open for one thing isnt cheap, even if its for something like a z80
At the same time, there’s no reason why they couldn’t upgrade to something else. You can do everything a graph calculator does on your cellphone using websites…
You say that, but its standardized. It needs to be exactly the same if only to keep everyone on a level playing field
What? Should we standardize computers so everyone has the same processing power?
For something like the SAT, yeah, youd want everyone on as level a playing field as possible
Why allow calculators at all then? People who are better at using it have an advantage, everyone should only use pen and paper for the SAT, that’s a level playing field.
But people better at writing have an advantage, we should only use language, that’s a level playing field. /s
The z80 actually just went EOL last week! After nearly 50 years.
Yeah but they’re still making the ez80 for the calculators. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zilog_eZ80
Ah, duh! Totally forgot about that part of the article, lol
If it’s good enough for Phantasy Star it’s good enough for me.
Essentially, it’s because it’s a monopolistic/anti-competitive relationship, so the producer is able to charge much more than if it were competitive. The producer seeks to maximize profits, and the schools enable them by effectively controlling the market.
For economists (and business) students it isn’t a graphing calculator but same thing with HP12c (financial calculator). But it is only like 40 dollars.
One of the scientific calculators has great business functions in a menu (ti83 maybe?). I prefered it to actual business calculators. And it could handle the science classes as well.
I don’t remember the exact model, though. Once out of school we use excel.
The product isn’t total compute, Its reliable compute for a measuring device.
Still no excuse but pretty industry standard. The production costs for an iphone 6 where about a 100 bucks but sold for 8 times as much.
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And that’s why I own a Casio graphing calculator. Way cheaper than TI. BTW TI calculator are more expressive because you essentially are passing TI to indoctrinate you. Thr price of the calculator factors in the teaching materials, conferences, and marketing.
I remember getting my Texas instruments financial calculator circa 2009 for probably fifty dollars or so.
The professor told us that at the time, production costs for my fifty dollar calculator were roughly a dollar.
On the bright side, I’ll bring that thing in whenever I buy a car and it truly fucks with the whole “what kind of payment are you looking for” routine they do. (Though these days, I’m more likely to bring a laptop with Excel. Same idea, but faster and better visuals)
