Apple calculator block easy equations

I’m bad at math. In high school, we had a notoriously tough math teacher. She didn’t think I was good at math either. Ultimately, I took college algebra, which was far easier, and taught me the same amount of math I use daily (hint: I don’t use any).

If I aspired to be a mechanical engineer or mathematician, math might have been more important, but it’s not. Now, I have a calculator to help me with any difficult equations that might come up. Other than some basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, math doesn’t matter to me. My software engineering readers might use more math than I do, but hey, to each their own.

I find myself doing basic math with the calculator sometimes. There are moments when I do basic math, probably too basic to merit using a calculator, but I check my work even on the basics.

This got me thinking… what if your calculator just… refused to solve basic equations for you? On one hand, this would be extremely frustrating if you need to crunch the numbers, but on the other hand, it would force you to build some basic mental muscles and remember the fundamentals of addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Anyone at any age can technically use an iPhone, so gating this experience to a certain competency level feels both unfair and hard to pinpoint. Regardless, the frustration this would cause would likely drive a lot of installs to an otherwise neglected app.

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