Should students be allowed to use calculators during math exams?

Mihai Nica
3 min readFeb 23, 2021

Here is a paraphrased version of an argument I have often heard from students and some instructors on this topic

You should be allowed to use a calculator during exams because you would always be allowed to use a calculator in the real world or at a real job.

The same argument is sometimes applied to access to things like WolframAlpha or for access to the internet in general during exams. I agree with the premise that you will (essentially) always have access to a calculator in the real world…

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Mihai Nica

A mathematician studying theory of neural networks