When should calculators be introduced to the curriculum?

[mathwonk]

lurflurf:

"Who here can compute 357*79135=28251195 in less than 1.0 milliseconds?"

the teacher's problem is the kid who reads off 357*79135=2825119, and does not realize it is wrong even after much more than a millisecond.

 

[moouers]

If the teaching is done correctly, I don't think it matters too much when calculators are introduced. Basic four function calculators were introduced to me around the age of 9 or 10, scientific calculators in junior high, and graphing calculators in high school. If anything, having access to calculators at such a young age actually piqued my interest in mathematics ("How does it do that?!"). Calculators never really presented a hindrance to my learning anyway, due to the fact that none of my teachers, from algebra 1 to calculus 2, allowed the use of calculators of any sort during tests. The arithmetic was kept simple enough and the focus was put on the mathematical manipulations.

 

[brimacki]

Calculators should be allowed in courses after trig to speed things up. By the time students get to calculus they know when to rely on a calculator (arithmetic, trig functions that aren't based off 30 or 45 degrees, similar ideas...). A student shouldn't be held up on a multi-variable integration problem because they can't do longhand multiplication quickly. They still know how to do the multiplication, but it would just take a long time.