Cheating...or just being "efficient"

[OUSOONER]

Okay..I feel kind of guilty. I have one class left to get my degree and it is a finance class. About two years ago I went to the math department to get a "calc package" that I needed for my TI-83...well I guess the guy also put an accounting and finance package as well. Today we started future value, net present value, interest rates etc... etc.. WELLL...I opened my "finance package" and lo and behold every variable is there and all you have to do is input the given values and leave blank the variable that the question asks for...and BAM! I get the number exactly.

The test is multiple choice SCANTRON you do not have to show your work...I feel bad because everyone else is calculating and I can just simply put the numbers in. Granted you have to know the concept, but I finish even before the instructor is done inputing. Is this cheating or am I just using the resources given to me....?!?

 

[jt71582]

When I took Finance, the whole class was based upon learning how to operate the calculator. My advice is to make sure that you KNOW the formulas and how to work out the problems without the calculator. That way, if the instructor questions your work, you can offer to demonstrate that you know it.

 

[LazersGoPEWPEW]

Did the instructor inform you that you could not do that? If not then I wouldn't consider it cheating, but if you want to be sure ask your instructor about it. It seems like if they offer the package to students at your school they intended for them to use it even if they did give it to you by mistake.

This is also something I live by.

Don't work harder, work smarter.

 

[OUSOONER]

see yeah i understand the concepts because to the joe blow off the street he/she wouldnt know what the question was asking for or what the variables meant...i get it conceptually..im just not writing it down..i mean if you put a gun to my head i could do it by the formulas is what i am saying...

 

[LazersGoPEWPEW]

Oh then that's just like you did it in your head except you used a calculator. Don't worry about it then. If you understand everything and how to do it I wouldn't sweat it at all. Even if the instructor did question you they can't nail you for anything because they didn't specify.

 

[CofCrugby]

I took Finance this past spring and my TI-83 came with a finance application on it. Our book showed us how to do most problems by hand and then with the calculator. My teacher even advocated using the TI business calculator.

I say you did not cheat, your professor is just a bit behind on the times.

 

[Harrier Dude]

If calculators are allowed, then use it. ALL of it. My finance class required us to have and use a calculator. If you understand the concepts, you are learning the material. If you don't understand the concepts, then the calculator will just help you find the wrong answer faster. GIGO.

 

[Picaroon]

FWIW, my business major friends would routinely be looking for someone with a non-graphing calculator they could borrow for finance tests since their profs didn't allow graphing calculators on exams.

If he lets you use a TI-83 on tests, sounds like you beat the system. But if you want to be safe (and honest ), you might be better off just doing it by hand, and perhaps using your calculator to check your answers. That wouldn't be cheating. A TI-83 can check derivatives and integrals (definite) in calc classes, and I haven't taken a math class where the prof didn't let us use an 83 on the test.

Just my .02

 

[OUSOONER]

FWIW, my business major friends would routinely be looking for someone with a non-graphing calculator they could borrow for finance tests since their profs didn't allow graphing calculators on exams.

If he lets you use a TI-83 on tests, sounds like you beat the system. But if you want to be safe (and honest ), you might be better off just doing it by hand, and perhaps using your calculator to check your answers. That wouldn't be cheating. A TI-83 can check derivatives and integrals (definite) in calc classes, and I haven't taken a math class where the prof didn't let us use an 83 on the test.

Just my .02

...dick :icon_tong

 

[samantis16]

I agree with what most people are saying here. In statistics class, do they typically make you write out all the numbers when you are getting the variance/mean/etc with 20 numbers? No, you grasp the overall concept BUT use excel because that is what you would use once you got out in the corporate world. A calculator is the same thing.

Learning the concept is very important but learning the technology is critical.

 

[Bevo16]

The guy who gave you the program mistake you for an athlete?

Seriously, how hard can an OU finance class be?

Sample Question 1:
Our quarterback is getting 75$ per hour for a job that he does not show up to, but still clocks in for 8 hours a day. Our starting WR is making $350 a day selling blow from his dorm room. Which player is making more money, and what is the dollar to felony ratio?

Sample Question 2: (Bob Stoops wrote this one)
Our star WR recruit has been arrested on felony gun charges. Add total cost for lawyers (X) to total cost for internet high school completion course (y) to cost to hire tutor to take the course for the recruit (z) for sum (a). Compare this sum for cost for legal defense for next round of NCAA investigations (b). If A<B, pull the trigger and bring in the felon. He will fit in great with the overall team concept.

 

[OUSOONER]

i went on to see "who was online"..and i saw YOU checking out my post...ive been bracing for the inevitable OU/TX backlash.....sheesh

 

[JIMC5499]

Ok. Everybody know about the memory dump switch on the TI-85? Is it cheating if I disable that switch so that when my Thermodynamics professor sticks a paperclip in it before an exam it doesn't dump my programs? I lost Tetris and Space Invaders the last time he did it.

 

[OUSOONER]

Ok. Everybody know about the memory dump switch on the TI-85? Is it cheating if I disable that switch so that when my Thermodynamics professor sticks a paperclip in it before an exam it doesn't dump my programs? I lost Tetris and Space Invaders the last time he did it.

Do you read comic books behind your textbook too? :batman_12

 

[SDNalgene]

I'd ask the prof

I would not ask the prof. Hypothetically, let's assume you say "Hey professor, check out this nifty trick my calculator can do, it's almost like I don't even have to know what I am doing." His response is likely going to be "Oh shit, no calculators for anyone". How popular are you going to be after that one? If he says calculators are fair game on the test, they are fair game. If you are worried about it for some personal reasons, don't use your fancy program (but really, why worry), just don't torpedo the rest of your class while you're at it.