Regarding the phrase "imagine how radically math class must have changed when calculators became widely affordable" in the text, I'm old enough to know what has changed.
Today, many university students struggle with basic calculations. I'm not talking about long division of 8-digit numbers. I'm talking about things like expressing 2/10 as a percentage or knowing how many zeros to use when writing 1/1000 in decimal form. Many very bright students, at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, struggle with such things. It's heartbreaking.
I'm from the post-calculator era, and those examples are definitely not problematic for me or even a single one of my peers. So apparently calculators don't automatically lead to that skill atrophying.
Today, many university students struggle with basic calculations. I'm not talking about long division of 8-digit numbers. I'm talking about things like expressing 2/10 as a percentage or knowing how many zeros to use when writing 1/1000 in decimal form. Many very bright students, at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, struggle with such things. It's heartbreaking.