Describes the development of computers and calculators, noting intitial resistance to and later acceptance of calculators in the classroom. Advocates teaching children to perform simple calculations and stresses estimation skills over speed and accuracy for doing long, complicated computations. Includes recommendations for classroom calculator use…

The ability of some individuals with mental retardation to identify prime numbers despite their lack of necessary arithmetical skills is discussed. The article suggests that a distinction between prime and nonprime numbers can be made by utilizing the tendency of visual perception to be symmetrically organized. (Author/DB)

Students should be encouraged to focus on a big mathematical idea and to look for connections between problems and solution strategies. This unified view suggests that the students are developing computational fluency with fractions.

This paper compliments two recent articles by the author in this journal concerning solving the forced harmonic oscillator equation when the forcing is periodic. The idea is to replace the forcing function by its Fourier series and solve the differential equation term-by-term. Herein the convergence of such series solutions is investigated when…

The need for communication between mathematics and physics teachers is discussed. Suggests that there is a problem among students of these subjects, in transferring their knowledge of mathematical terminology from mathematics to physics. (SA)

An overview of the disadvantages and advantages of the mini-calculator in the public school classroom. While some educators fear students won't learn basic arithmetic and will become dependent on the calculator, others note its value in skill reinforcement, motivation, job preparation, and saving time in the classroom. (SB)