[jmcgough]

A lot of the reason why the curriculum is the way it is (with only allowing graphing calculators) is because TI lobbies aggressively to maintain their monopoly. They sell $15 devices for $150 with many high schoolers required to own one.

From https://thehustle.co/graphing-calculators-expensive/:

> The company campaigned against devices with touchscreens, internet connection, and QWERTY keyboards. In one instance, it even lobbied the Texas legislature to make it mandatory for all students to take Algebra II — a course that often requires the use of a TI graphing calculator.

> “A lot of [TI’s] graphing calculator success was due to really aggressive lobbying for certain policies,” a source in the education space told The Hustle. “They made it so that that the types of things you were allowed to bring into a test were essentially limited to their devices.”

There's free alternatives that others are increasingly turning to, like an app-based graphing calculator through https://www.desmos.com/

[zzo38computer]

> ... campaigned against devices with touchscreens, internet connection, and QWERTY keyboards ...

I dislike touch screen, and I would prefer to use wired rather than wireless connections when possible, although I do want a QWERTY keyboard.

(I also would prefer a different programming language than Python, such as Forth, and would prefer access to the machine codes too.)

[siraben]

On the TI-84+, assembly programs still work and it's still a test-approved device. I wrote a Forth interpreter[0] that can interop with the syscalls as well

[0] https://github.com/siraben/ti84-forth

[pjmlp]

TI doesn't have monopoly outside US.

Yet HP and Casio alternatives aren't much different, because of the same education reasons.

[throwawayboise]

It must just be my imagination, but it sure seems like I remember getting through high school math (up to and including first-year calculus) without a graphing calculator, as they didn't exist.

[exikyut]

That just means you didn't get bitten by the lobby monster.

[pjmlp]

Like not living on US.

[TchoBeer]

I don't understand the QWERTY thing. Don't they make TI calculators with QWERTY keyboards?

[snvzz]

TI-89 exists because TI-92 was classified as "computer" rather than "calculator" due to its QWERTY keyboard.

[TchoBeer]

I know that's the reason, and it makes no sense. You'd think educators would know enough to know that they're both computers and having a QWERTY keyboard doesn't make it any easier to cheat.