[prox]

The common thinking of often a mental pattern of that intersects somewhere between laziness and comfort.

Is this the sort of thinking of “everyone needs to be able to do calculus in their heads with calculators around” or “you still need to write in the age of computers/printers” or something different?

[array_key_first]

But both of those statements are true, and for the same reason. A calculator isn't a human brain capable of doing math, and writing isn't the same thing as a computer. They're different things.

I can give a 5th grader a calculator and he's not passing college calculus. I can even give him a whole ass PC and he still isn't.

As for writing, again, it's its own thing with its own benefits.

I still write all my notes, because it helps me remember. There's something specifically about using my hands on paper that makes things stick better in my brain. It's less convenient than computer notes, and much harder to organize. But they accomplish different goals. They're not for reference, no, I usually don't ever read my notes again.

[tekla]

I have never been in a calculus class where a calculator would be anything other than a paperweight

[cherryteastain]

There are calculators with CAS programs that can symbolically differentiate and integrate expressions or even solve certain classes of ODEs/PDEs

[Aurornis]

The TI-89 came out in 1998 and can do a lot of calculus work. It can go very far in entry level calculus courses and can be very useful for checking work even in the higher courses.

[SecretDreams]

> Is this the sort of thinking of “everyone needs to be able to do calculus in their heads with calculators around” or “you still need to write in the age of computers/printers” or something different?

I can't tell - are you suggesting these aren't good practices/traits to be learning when people are still in the "fundamentals of education/learning" stages of their lives?

I did all my basic differential and integral calculus studying by mind only. I don't do it that way in my career day to day now - nor could I without some serious practice. But the efforts I took in learning this way in undergrad made me a much stronger student and made me much more comfortable leveraging calculus in more application driven fields of study.

[prox]

Well yeah my suggestion is do you need to get the skills when the skills can be do for you? As a lot of popular thought goes as per the parent comment.