Kid finds flaw in calculator

[MaxDepth]

From CNN

So word gets out and now thousands will want to beat his ass?


Texas Instruments is replacing thousands of calculators issued to students in Virginia after a sixth-grader discovered that pressing a certain two keys converts decimals into fractions.

That would have given students an unfair advantage on Virginia's standardized tests, which require youngsters to know how to make such conversions with pencil and paper.

At the request of the state education department two years ago, Texas Instruments had disabled the decimal-to-fraction key and left it blank on calculators intended for middle school students.

But in January, Dakota Brown, a 12-year-old at Carver Middle School in suburban Richmond's Chesterfield County, figured out that by pressing two other keys on his state-approved TI-30 Xa SE VA, he could change decimals into fractions anyway.

 

[So]

You'd think a diamond member could link properly..

 

[fs5]

your link is awesome.

 

[Mayfriday0529]

yeah man your link is no good

 

[YetioDoom]

link

 

[BlueWeasel]

He just went from the most popular guy in class to the most hated.

 

[ggavinmoss]

Good for him.

-geoff

 

[MaxDepth]

wow. 60 seconds and a mislink and I got critics.

 

[So]

"His fellow students were so proud of him and congratulatory. They thought it was really, really cool. They didn't call him a nerd or anything,"

Now that it's out though, they'll probably change their tune...

 

[Mo0o]

He's a moron for getting caught

 

[scorpmatt]

Originally posted by: So

"His fellow students were so proud of him and congratulatory. They thought it was really, really cool. They didn't call him a nerd or anything,"

Now that it's out though, they'll probably change their tune...

Revenge of the nerd?

 

[So]

Originally posted by: scorpmatt

Originally posted by: So

"His fellow students were so proud of him and congratulatory. They thought it was really, really cool. They didn't call him a nerd or anything,"

Now that it's out though, they'll probably change their tune...

Revenge on the nerd?

more likely.

 

[Shawn]

Haha. I knew this crap years ago. Made math class so much easier when I was in middle school.

 

[Snapster]

Should have never have said anything.

 

[crumpet19]

that link takes me to microsoft.com :/

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: crumpet19
that link takes me to microsoft.com :/

 

[MaxDepth]

Calls to the boy's school and his parents to arrange an interview with the youngster were not immediately returned. But Chesterfield County school officials held a low-key ceremony to honor him, and Texas Instruments sent him a graphing calculator, "which he loved," said Lois Williams, the state administrator in charge of middle-school math.

Which really means - help! the local kids have cut our phone line and now they want our son's blood! And the school officials threw a "gee, thanks for narking! You little bastard is going to cost us federal money when we show failing test scores in math" party.

 

[So]

Originally posted by: Phil

Originally posted by: crumpet19
that link takes me to microsoft.com :/

(it did, he had https:// in there, but has since been fixed, crumped probably opened the page earlier and then clicked the link w/o refreshing the thread)

 

[Ronstang]

Sadly noone is addressing the bigger problem.....why do Middle School kids have calculators in the first place? They should be learning the fundamentals of arithmetic and not the fundamentals of calculator use. No wonder kids these days are so fricken stupid. Maybe if the ignorant adults these days actually EXPECTED anything from their children they might perform but sadly I feel those days are over. The world, at least the US, is in a tailspin of stupidity.

 

[cherrytwist]

Originally posted by: Ronstang
Sadly noone is addressing the bigger problem.....why do Middle School kids have calculators in the first place? They should be learning the fundamentals of arithmetic and not the fundamentals of calculator use. No wonder kids these days are so fricken stupid. Maybe if the ignorant adults these days actually EXPECTED anything from their children they might perform but sadly I feel those days are over. The world, at least the US, is in a tailspin of stupidity.

P&N?

 

[BrokenVisage]

Originally posted by: cherrytwist

Originally posted by: Ronstang
Sadly noone is addressing the bigger problem.....why do Middle School kids have calculators in the first place? They should be learning the fundamentals of arithmetic and not the fundamentals of calculator use. No wonder kids these days are so fricken stupid. Maybe if the ignorant adults these days actually EXPECTED anything from their children they might perform but sadly I feel those days are over. The world, at least the US, is in a tailspin of stupidity.

P&N?

haha

 

[BW86]

So which 2 buttons do you actually press?

 

[Ausm]

Kid should be shot

Ausm

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Originally posted by: BW86
So which 2 buttons do you actually press?

"1 ÷ Ans" = fraction

Of course I'm sure they just have a "decToFrac()" button on the calculator

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: cherrytwist

Originally posted by: Ronstang
Sadly noone is addressing the bigger problem.....why do Middle School kids have calculators in the first place? They should be learning the fundamentals of arithmetic and not the fundamentals of calculator use. No wonder kids these days are so fricken stupid. Maybe if the ignorant adults these days actually EXPECTED anything from their children they might perform but sadly I feel those days are over. The world, at least the US, is in a tailspin of stupidity.

P&N?

Someone got lost...