[HN Gopher] Zero ZGC4: A Better Graphing Calculator for School a...
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Zero ZGC4: A Better Graphing Calculator for School and Beyond
Author : uticus
Score : 25 points
Date : 2026-03-17 18:07 UTC (5 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.zerocalculators.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.zerocalculators.com)
| soumyaskartha wrote:
| Graphing calculators are one of those markets that barely moved
| for 30 years because TI had schools locked in. Anything that
| breaks that is worth paying attention to.
| t-3 wrote:
| It's the same price as a "standard" TI graphing calculator, has
| ugly buttons, and doesn't appear to have any special features in
| the software to distinguish it from competitors. What exactly is
| supposed to be better about this?
| jgon wrote:
| The standard TI graphing calculator offered to schools is the
| TI-84 Plus CE, which is generally 140USD and up. This
| calculator is currently offered for 89USD so you're already
| immediately incorrect on the pricing. The battery in this one
| is roughly 50% larger but that doesn't translate to better
| battery life necessarily. They both allow for programming with
| Python but this calculator would have to try incredibly hard to
| be worse at Python that the TI calculator, so I'd probably say
| it has an edge there too.
| t-3 wrote:
| I've always seen TI-84s being advertised for $90-$100 new and
| often being given away for free as hand-me-downs. Amazon also
| shows me many models from 90-110.
| glimshe wrote:
| I got my kid's on eBay for $50 during summer break... Looked
| almost brand new
| speedgoose wrote:
| How does it compares to the NumWorks?
|
| Does it have a CAS?
| exmadscientist wrote:
| It doesn't look like it has a CAS (so it's not for
| mathematicians), and the scientific notation key isn't prominent
| (so it's not for scientists or engineers), so... who is it for?
| Part of the thing with the older TI calculators is that they were
| good for professionals, too, not just students. (My TI-89 is
| still in intermittently-very-heavy use 30 years later!)
| mayoff wrote:
| When my daughter finally needed one of those godawful monopoly-
| priced calculators for school, we went to the nearest pawn shop
| and found a TI 84 Plus, opened, for $40, and a TI 84 Plus CE in
| its unopened (but roughed up) original packaging for $65.
| jared0x90 wrote:
| try page's pre-order link at the top goes to a 404
| andyfilms1 wrote:
| Another calculator with no backlit keypad. Am I the only one that
| wants to use a calculator after the sun goes down?
| skywal_l wrote:
| > USB-C charging--no more scrambling for AAA batteries
|
| Bear with me if you've already seen this comment, but I dug out
| my old TI-89 a while ago for some reason, and all I had to do was
| plug in four AAA batteries and it worked.
|
| If it had been fitted with a rechargeable battery, 30 years ago,
| even assuming it was still functional, I would have needed to
| recharge it... but with what?
|
| Now we have USB-C rechargeable AA/AAA batteries, so there's
| really no excuse.
| EvanAnderson wrote:
| I haven't seen that comment, but please keep making it every
| time it's relevant.
|
| Non-user-replaceable batteries are terrible. It turns devices
| into e-waste. I wish device manufacturers would understand
| that. I wish consumers would understand that.
| fn-mote wrote:
| > I wish device manufacturers would understand that.
|
| Device manufacturers want you to buy another one. They
| understand. Consumers, not so much.
| EvanAnderson wrote:
| Fair enough. I wish consumers understood it and
| demonstrated that understanding to device manufacturers.
| projektfu wrote:
| Alkaline batteries also create e-waste when they leak and
| destroy the contacts. Only a few people will be able to
| repair it.
|
| I agree with you, also for things like radios alkalines are
| great as a battery that stays outside of the radio and is
| used when you need it, and doesn't leak much charge at all.
|
| But e-waste is still a problem.
| amluto wrote:
| NiMH batteries generally don't leak.
| jrmg wrote:
| One of the things I like most about my Xbox controllers is that
| they still take two AA batteries rather than having an internal
| one.
|
| No need to think about charging the controller - just have a
| pair of charged AAs nearby and switch them out when it becomes
| necessary.
| natas wrote:
| Take a look at Swissmicros' DM42n + DB48x.
| fasterik wrote:
| Is there actually a use case for graphing calculators anymore?
| Desmos provides a great graphing program for free in a web
| browser. In any professional capacity you would be using MATLAB,
| Mathematica, or the scientific Python ecosystem.
|
| I mostly remember playing games on my TI-84 in high school. We
| used it in class maybe once or twice. None of my college classes
| allowed graphing calculators on tests, so ironically I had to buy
| a "dumb" calculator even though I owned the fancy one.
| chromacity wrote:
| I don't think there was ever a solid use case for graphing
| calculators in school, at least not in my experience? The
| curriculum didn't make good use of them and I'm not convinced
| it could have. There's little value in having every kid in the
| classroom replicate the same plot of y = sin(x) or whatever on
| a tiny screen. And other than such demonstrations... what are
| you gonna do with it? It was never flexible or powerful enough
| for serious math. You weren't going to run circuit or physics
| simulations on a TI-89.
|
| There are other features that can be useful - scientific
| notation, symbolic solver, unit conversions, etc - but graphing
| as such always seemed like a gimmick.
|
| I think it's more of a not-entirely-rational appeal to parents:
| "if my kid has a top-notch calculator for high school /
| college, maybe they're gonna be better at math". And kids did
| not object, but in the end, mostly just sideloaded games and
| horsed around.
| harshreality wrote:
| No approval for AP/IB/SAT/ACT, as far as I can see.
|
| No RPN. Every modern graphing calculator needs a mode (doesn't
| have to be the default) with RPN and a visible (4+ entry) stack.
| Once people actually learn how to use that for rapid, efficient
| calculations, they won't go back, but they never learn because
| all the major calculators don't even offer it as an alternate
| mode. That's the killer app for "graphing" calculators, because
| they can show multiple stack entries.
|
| RPN may not be useful for _math_ classes, which tend not to have
| as many problems involving many sequential calculations, but it
| 's extremely valuable for science and engineering.
| jasomill wrote:
| Funny you mention that. I had to get special permission to use
| my HP-15C on a "calculators allowed" exam in a first-year
| "calculus for non majors" course, and had to show the
| instructor how to reset its memory.
|
| Which I found amusing, because the list of approved calulators
| included several graphing calculator models with computer
| algebra systems in ROM sufficient to produce correct answers to
| every problem on the exam, and they're worried about what I
| might have stored in the memory of a (then) 15-year old
| keystroke programmable calculator with a single line, ten
| digit, seven segment numeric display.
| agiacalone wrote:
| Seriously, this. More calculators need RPN. It's the reason I
| keep my HP 50G in as pristine condition as possible.
|
| If this had RPN, I'd likely purchase one. Without, it's a pass.
| craftkiller wrote:
| > without the high price tag.
|
| Seems only superficially cheaper than the TI-84 ($89 vs $112)
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