Published: October 1, 1991

Sold On A New Machine

The calculator's enthusiasts say its graphing capability is especially helpful to visual learners, who often struggle with the symbolic nature of math. Many teachers believe it opens the way to teach high school students not just the rudiments of computation and repetition but also the beauty and precision of such subdisciplines as probability and statistics.

"We can solve whole classes of equations that we've previously avoided in high school,'' explains Frank Eccles, who recently conducted a seminar on the new calculators at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass.

Says Ellen Hook, a 20-year teaching veteran from Norfolk, Va., who has used graphing calculators for three years: "We are truly examining and talking about mathematics;...