this phrase was really only plausibly used for about 33 years - the time between the first fully electronic calculator and the first smartphone.
Not even that long.
I went to middle school during the 80s, when calculator watches were a major hype (had one myself at some point).
Even back then, 40 years ago, none of my teachers would have used that phrase.
It was just too clear already, that technology was already overtaking the assumptions made by that phrase.
Maybe I lived in a poorer area, but growing up the only people that had calculator watches were the people who probably would have gotten beaten up and had them stolen. There was a long period of time that kids would say why do I have to memorize that, there is a calculator for it. By the time I was in college, it was already rapidly progressing to, why do I have to write down my steps, Wolfram Alpha can do that for me. For me, it quickly got to the point in math that a calculator wasn’t really useful for tests to begin with.
Not even that long.
I went to middle school during the 80s, when calculator watches were a major hype (had one myself at some point).
Even back then, 40 years ago, none of my teachers would have used that phrase.
It was just too clear already, that technology was already overtaking the assumptions made by that phrase.
Maybe I lived in a poorer area, but growing up the only people that had calculator watches were the people who probably would have gotten beaten up and had them stolen. There was a long period of time that kids would say why do I have to memorize that, there is a calculator for it. By the time I was in college, it was already rapidly progressing to, why do I have to write down my steps, Wolfram Alpha can do that for me. For me, it quickly got to the point in math that a calculator wasn’t really useful for tests to begin with.