With exams approaching this is a short article with reminders and advice for anyone about to take a mathematics exam and who will need to use a scientific calculator.The most common calculator problems are:
- setting up the calculator in the right mode
- not being able to find the calculator manual!
- remembering to change calculator modes
- rounding and inaccurate answers
Why Use a Scientific Calculator?
Scientific calculators all use the same order for carrying out mathematical operations. This order is not necessarily the same as just reading a calculation from left to right. The rules for carrying out mathematical calculations specify the priority and so the order in which a calculation should be done - scientific calculators follow the same order. This order is sometimes abbreviated by terms such as BODMAS and BIDMAS to help students remember the order of doing calculations.
1st. Brackets (all calculations within a bracket are done first)
2nd. Operations (eg squaring, cubing, square rooting, sin, cos, tan )
3rd. Division and Multiplication
4th. Addition and Subtraction
Being aware of this order is necessary in order to use a scientific calculator properly. This order should always be used in all mathematical calculations whether using a calculator or not.
Scientific Calculator Check
There are two types of scientific calculator, the most recent type being algebraic scientific calculators. Algebraic scientific calculators allow users to type in calculations in the order in which they have been written down. Older scientific calculators need users to press the mathematical operation key after they have entered the number.
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