In Perspective — Evolution of teaching math

[saras]

14. Calculator? What's that? A funny name for a slide rule?

I think we were experimental - the school did a bunch of interesting things. The new math was the first half of a math text, the second half was the basics, using the new math as theory, so that you could do big numbers, approximations, and scientific notation, easily. I think the educational goal was that you get fluent with that stuff early, and get precise later. The first "calculator" I saw was an IBM 360, nearly the size of a semi truck.

On the other hand, my junior year of high school had three computer programming classes, in PL/1 - with PUNCHED CARDS, sent up to the university nightly and ran on that very same IBM, and the resulting printout returned a couple days later. In 1973. I don't think that was normal across the country, was it? I think it had to do with being raised near a big teacher's college.