>Incidentally, many young people (yes, I know how that sounds) do not know how useful a good engineering calculator can be and do not want to learn how to use one. They are missing out. Yes, there is a steep learning curve, but the rewards are significant if you do any amount of calculation in your hobby or work. No, this is not replaced by typing "python" (or "bc", or anything else, really) at your command prompt.
I feel like this is highly role-dependent. I learned on an HP and I have my TI-89 from high school sitting on my desk, because I thought it might be useful. I never touch it. I never do math that's more difficult than arithmetic, and if I needed to do calculus or algebra for some reason I'd reach for Mathematica -- it's not like I remember calculus class anyway.
Hell I tried to help someone younger with algebra and forgot FOIL. I'm a successful distributed systems engineer. Why do I need an engineering calculator?
I feel like this is highly role-dependent. I learned on an HP and I have my TI-89 from high school sitting on my desk, because I thought it might be useful. I never touch it. I never do math that's more difficult than arithmetic, and if I needed to do calculus or algebra for some reason I'd reach for Mathematica -- it's not like I remember calculus class anyway.
Hell I tried to help someone younger with algebra and forgot FOIL. I'm a successful distributed systems engineer. Why do I need an engineering calculator?