(52f) Beginning of the End for the Handheld Calculator?

The modern scientific electronic calculator has been at the side of engineering students for the past 40 years. It has the advantage of being portable, reliable, efficient and precise. However, today's multifunctional electronic devices may replace this old standby in the coming years. In particular, the iphone or ipod are common among today's students. Since 2008, when Apple allowed outside developers to create and sell applications (apps) for the iphone / ipod touch there has been an explosion in the availability of applications related to engineering. Now there are several good choices for scientific calculators available for the iphone. These app based calculators take advantage of the iphone's touch sensitive screen and user friendly interface. Some of these ?calculators? provide capabilities such as solving multiple nonlinear equations, reverse polish notation, symbolic processing, and three dimensional high resolution color graphing. In addition, there are also apps that provide access to steam, psychometric and chemical safety data, quickly, without the need for web access. Specific engineering analysis applications are also being rapidly developed. For instance, in the area of fluid flow, there are applications that help size pipe for both liquids and gasses. There is even a simple process simulator that includes a rigorous distillation module. These apps are generally available at very reasonable prices. For these reasons, the McKetta Department of Chemical & Bioprocess Engineering at Trine University will start a pilot program of requiring the incoming freshman in 2010 to purchase an iphone, ipod touch or ipad. Engineering and Mathematics applications for the ipad will be demonstrated. These will include: ALPH, Spacetime, HiCalc, m48+, PCalc, Chemhazards, Steam HX, and the HVAC Toolkit.