Secret calculator hack brings ChatGPT to the TI-84, enabling easy cheating

If a kid is smart enough to figure this out and make it work for them, they're gonna be fine...
- Yes, but the kids buying the modded devices may not be
- Back when we were doing quadratic equations; I wrote a program on my TI-84 that would ask which parts of the equation you already had, and would fill in the rest for you.
  My teacher liked it so much he bought a transfer cable for those calculators so he could get a copy for himself. Then used to to grade tests.
  
  I did the same thing. It was allowed in general, with the correct thought, "if you can code it yourself, you know the content"
  I had another "program" that would fail to run but that's because I wrote notes into it. Doubt that was allowed.
  
  I could never remember the formula to calculate compound interest.
  But I had no trouble writing a for loop.
  
  I made one to decompose polynomials it was very good because it showed all the steps it was literally just copy what's on the calc to the page
  
  So you didn't get the transfer cable with your calculator? Smells fishy
- As someone who was a kid who would do things like this to avoid putting in the work, no this kid will probably not be fine.

Oof getting ChatGPT to help on a test is likely to lead to some wrong answers.
- You know what they say: C’s get degrees.
- Idk, if there is one thing it does consistently well its standardized tests.
  Not that it can be used in any non mathematical class and if teachers do actually pay attention.
  
  Cept you can’t use any wifi models on any standardized test for this reason.

Ok but calculators are only allowed in math class and if there’s one thing language models suck at, it’s doing basic math. Forget anything at least as complicated as algebra
- Time to build a wolfarm applet
  
  Dude, I was wondering why someone hadn't done this the moment they discovered Ai was terrible at math. I would have imagine the crowds who deal with both would have some overlap at least.
  
  Wolfarm, the militant brother of WolframAlpha SCNR
- For me they weren't allowed in Calc I, II, III, Alg I, II and Differential equations. Every other class pretty much required it.
  if there’s one thing language models suck at, it’s doing basic math.
  If you're using a GPT 3.5 turbo level models, sure. Synthetic data is perfect for teaching LLMs, o1 will be good enough up to Calc III IMO, maybe even better.
  The only thing I don't like about this is that it uses a TI, yikes.
  
  LLMs do suck at math, if you look into it, the o1 models actually escape the LLM output and write a python function to calculate the output, I've been able to break their math functions by asking for functions that use math not in the standard Python library.
  I know someone also wrote a wolfram integration to help solve LLMs math problems.
  
  They let us use them for all my college math classes.
  They really don't help much at all if you don't understand the math, and if you do understand, you don't need the calculator most of the time.
  
  TI, yikes.
  Yeah, well, TI has spent bucketloads of money bribing textbook publishers to only include instruction for their specific models so they are now the de facto standard in American schools. This is apparently legal.
  Anyway, team Casio represent.
- This kid never took science
  
  You have an option not to take science?
  Damn. Where I live the three main sciences were mandatory and they were all separate subjects
  
  You knew what I meant but chose to leave a Reddit-ass comment anyway
- They're great at multiple choice when they've seen the test versions

I used to store formulas in basic programs in my ti84 but they were never useful because I didn't need help memorizig formulas
- I did the same, but it was helpful because I'm terrible at memorization.
- I just wrote programs that would solve the complicated multi step problems and show me the work.
- I wrote one that printed a fake "memory cleared" screen so I could keep my stored stuff saved even if the protectors wanted to see us wipe the storage.

But can you still play Drug Wars?
- Has anyone ever beaten that game? Is it even possible?
  
  It's possible to get to the last day and have a lot of money, which is your "score." The world leaderboards have some ridiculous highscores on the remake called Dope Wars.
  https://stevekola.tripod.com/dopewarsguide/id2.html
  That is a strategy guide.
  I have never managed to do it.
  
  No one has beaten The Game, but it is possible. We just need to wait for the Pope to declare that it has come to an end
  
  The earliest exponention clicker game I ever discovered. Lost dozens of hours to ti83 drug wars

Wat? Does it have wifi?
- They added wifi with a extra circuit board hidden inside the calculator case. It's connected to the calculators communication port, and pretends to be another calculator. So they can use the calculator's built in "send" function to send variables/text/etc to the hidden card, which then uses it's internet connection to look up answers and send the results back.
- Yep

"ChatGPT what is the formula for Work Done in an enclosed system expressed as a triple integral?"
"42"
"Ok cool ty."
- Stop giving me Thermo nightmares; I lived through that shit already I don’t need to sleep through it too.
  
  Yeah but at least work on an enclosed system is always zero. Idk why but I always chuckle about that.
  Sure, you can prove it in like 4 to 8 lines of multivariate calculus, but its always gonna be 0.

Not anymore since it's spreading news instead of remaining on YouTube
- I wonder what can counter this except banning it, or provide calculators to students instead of using their own.

Sounds fake but okay.
- Not sure if it's the same thing but a few days ago I saw a youtube video where person modded it with a wifi card so it could communicate with your pc which is at home. It required internet access from your phone which needs to be near though.
- Saw the video. Quite cool mod.
  https://youtu.be/Bicjxl4EcJg
- It sounds fake because it sounds like they only used software hacks. But they also added a microcontroller board in it with wireless networking

Its been quite a while since I've taken a proctored exam, but then all the proctors would clear all the memory on your calc before they'd let you use it for test. Is that not the case anymore?
- Depends on the exam. Some don’t even allow programmable calcs because they don’t want to deal with possible shit like this. I have already seen a certification exam where they provide the calculators as well.
- The article said it can be download "on demand" so that might make the clearing pointless.
  
  Make people switch devices, problem solved. Does not work without tampering with the hardware
- The launcher program can be downloaded on-demand, avoiding detection if a teacher inspects or clears the calculator's memory
  If I understood it correctly, the Wi-Fi module appears as a standard calculator-to-calculator interface, so built-in commands can install the cheat apps at any time.

Yeah, nobody in class is going to suspect the kid with the arduino-type science project mess of wires duct taped to their calculator.
For those too lazy to read, that's how this works. An external micro controller talks to the calc through the IO port, and does the Wifi stuff, acting as a middleman.
Edit: I did not see the video.
- I saw the video. It closes up nicely and is invisible. It can even re-download the programs if wiped before by the teacher.
  
  Well, that teaches me to read AND click all links in an article.
- For those too lazy to watch the video, the whole thing is eventually concealed within the calculator.

Bring your calculator to the Spanish exam. Trust me, this plan is flawless.

What would happen if now plug in another calculator? AFAIK that only a P2P connection and never meant for >2 parties.

This is cool stuff

Hot stuff. I got to say, YouTube has some pretty interesting things.

Utilizing the tools available to you to solve problems is not cheating, its resourcefulness, and using your brain. Which is of course frowned upon in schools that exist to churn out mindless drones for corporate enslavement.
- ChatGPT is famously bad at the things you'd use a calculator for though
  
  Obligatory plug for calcgpt
  
  But you also have a calculator...
  
  Id see it potentially being useful for starting a problem. Could probably point you towards the right direction for physics problem even if the numbers are off

Better than plastic explosives and shrapnel.