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I bet most of us have used or are currently using Casio calculators. Back in secondary school, I have been using the super reliable Casio FX570MS. I bought it from Popular using the voucher I got from my primary school back then. Bought the calculator in Form 1 but kept it as it was not required till I was in Form 2. Since then, the calculator has been subjected to countless calculations, not to mention the physical abuse from the constant dropping and punching of the keypads.
File picture - My precious FX570MS calculator.
Despite all those, this humble calculator have been with me for the past 6 years, going through PMR, SPM, CAT, and my current ACCA examinations. Even the battery has lasted 5 years, and the battery died just after my CAT exam last year. Changed the battery and this time, it died again, but just a week before my ACCA finals. What a blessing in disguise.
Anyway, my point in this post is, FX570MS has always been in the grey area between 'programmable' and 'non-programmable' calculators. According to SPM examination guidelines, students are not allowed to bring in 'programmable' calculators. Some teachers say that using FX-570MS is fine as it really cannot be programmed!
The FX-570ES was even more controversial as it allows log function questions to be solved even easier than before!
However, another school of thought says that though this calculator is not programmable, it should be banned because of its abiliity to solve matrix equations and simple quadratic and integration functions!
Click Read More to read on how this grey area has caused a blunder in the recent SPM examination
Pelajar Smart tidak dibenar bawa Casio 570ES, 570MS jawab soalan kertas Matematik
TELUK INTAN: Seramai 89 ibu bapa calon Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) Sekolah Menengah Abdul Rahman Talib (Smart) di sini kesal dan kecewa dengan tindakan penyelia peperiksaan sekolah itu menghalang calon menggunakan kalkulator jenis Casio 570ES dan Casio 570MS untuk ujian Matematik 1 dan Matematik 2, semalam.
Selain ibu bapa, ada calon dikatakan menangis ketika keluar dari dewan sekolah kerana terlalu kecewa berikutan calon lain di semua 23 pusat peperiksaan di daerah Hilir Perak tidak dikenakan larangan berkenaan.
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It's really a shame that such a blunder could happen. The Examination Syndicate should make it clear once and for all whether this calculator is permissible anot. Instead of saying that only non-programmable calculators are allowed, they should put a list of recommended calculators as well as prohibited calculators.
Talking about calculators, there has been another controversial issue which involves Texas Instruments calculators. This time, it involves students writing custom firmwares which is then flashed to their calculators. This effectively unlocks all the features yet from the outlook, it is a standard permissible calculators.
Texas Instrument immediately issued a DMCA notice asking the calculator hobbyists to bring down their post on the reverse engineering performed on their calculator. However, EFF has defended the hobbyists, it was really interesting.
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