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Calculatroll!

By Troll_Calculator - 21/03/2017 16:00 - Canada - Halifax

Today, I had a chemistry midterm. There were 15 math problems, but no matter how many times I pressed the "On" button of my calculator, it wouldn't turn on. There were no spare calculators. Later, I tried to show my friend that my calculator wouldn't turn on. I pressed the button. It turned on. FML
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Top comments

sousaphonist 14

Pro Tip: if you haven't changed them within the past week or so, ALWAYS change the batteries in your calculator before a major exam.

30 0
Courtney Hungenberg 5

It was probably a solar calculator and you just needed to hold it up to the light for a minute.

17 0

Comments

Mars370 2

Nothing but sorrow for you, my friend. Thats the kind of worst-case scenario stuff that keeps me up at night.

8 0
Courtney Hungenberg 5

It was probably a solar calculator and you just needed to hold it up to the light for a minute.

17 0
RpiesSPIES 27

These were my thoughts exactly. If the calculator has a series of brownish/black squares at the top of it, expose that to light then turn on. A lot of people seem to miss that solar calculators are a thing.

4 0
Shadowvoid 33

Do people really not know about solar calculators? I knew how they worked in grade school. I'm hoping OP was using a calculator with solar and battery. It doesn't seem to matter at this point

2 0
sousaphonist 14

Pro Tip: if you haven't changed them within the past week or so, ALWAYS change the batteries in your calculator before a major exam.

30 0
Xynie 20

Could you not do the math problems by hand?? If not FYL OP

3 2
tantanpanda 26

This sounds really mean, but you have a point. A calculator isn't really necessary in general chemistry or organic since the math can be done by approximations and only require precalculus. If this were analytical chemistry, that would be a different story though.

4 0
Xynie 20

Oh no, i wasnt trying to be mean. I was asking because it was not specified what math problems they were, so i was wondering did OP really need the calculator or could they have solve them with simple mathematics.

0 0
protoskore 27

What's 7209 divided by 487 ? and remember, don't use a calculator

1 1
Xynie 20

14 with a remainder of 391, unless you wanted me to keep going?? I even have my work if you care to see it ;)

0 0
Xynie 20

Checking with a calculator, youre right. Step by step me please, because even with double checking my multiplications and subtraction im still getting 391. My step by step: 487 goes into 720 one time and get 233 without adding the 9. Then 487 goes into 2339 four times and get 391. I cant find my mistake.

0 0
Xynie 20

Nvm. I didnt continue afterwards the 391.

0 0
kk21days 14

You try doing the Henderson-Hasselbach equation by hand, or a solubility problem or an equilibrium problem. As a chem student, I feel for OP.

1 0
Xynie 20

I didnt say he should do it by hand, i ask was it possible. Theres a difference.

0 0
Demon_of_Light 27

Some tests are designed to be taken with a calculator. At that point, it's assumed you know how to do the math, so expecting students to calculate everything by hand would be redundant and take time from the material that is actually covered in the course. Sure, you could work most of those equations by hand, but then you'll very likely not have enough time to finish the test.

0 1
zeeba_neighba 10

You should have made an effort to do the calculations by hand, and shown your teacher your work. I can't honestly say YDI if you have lazy teachers.

0 1
PaulieXP 16

And people wonder why education is in the toilet. In my day if you were caught with a calculator at school you would have been thrown out of class and recieved an F on your test.

1 1
kk21days 14

And back in your day, did you have to solve an equation like -log(6.3x10^-4)+log(0.60/1.45) by hand? That's the Henderson-Hasselbach equation and it's used to find the pH and pOH (if you take the answer and subtract from 14) of a solution that has acids and conjugate bases. These kinds of equations are very common on general chem 2 tests.

2 0
Demon_of_Light 27

Once you pass the stages of basic chemistry and physics, it becomes pretty unreasonable to expect hand calculations for every test. The math involved for a single problem, while not necessarily more difficult, may fill up multiple pages and take upwards of 10 minutes to calculate by hand. Assuming you have 1-2 hours for your average exam, do you really want to make students spend ten minutes on a single problem so you can test them on concepts they learned in basic math? I, and most of my professors, would rather give an exam that tests mainly on the material actually covered in the course, and allow students to make use of the resources available to them.

1 0