Truth and clarity in arithmetic

The computing profession - indeed the engineering profession in general-has a particular responsibility to promote numeracy, both within the profession and within the community at large. The commodity calculator is an insult to that responsibility. The IEEE should establish and promote a rigorous and detailed standard for a universal basic calculator. Professional engineers everywhere should press to have that calculator manufactured and adopted as widely as possible. Computing professionals should work with the teaching profession to have the arithmetic of the universal basic calculator taught throughout elementary schooling, perhaps using calculators with drill and practice built in.