<p>I am sure you do, Consolation, and I usually do the math in my head, too. I didn’t mean to suggest that using a calculator for straightforward computation is better–merely that it’s very rarely impossible, or even impractical. </p>
<p>I would even venture to say that if we were of our grandparents’ generation, we’d do even more computation in our heads than we do. I have taught in a lot of schools that had a grandparents’ day. Year after year, I used to think I figured in my head a lot better than my students did. Until grandparents’ day. Year in and year out, those grandparents can clean my clock! But on the other 364 days of the year, that was of absolutely no consequence, because even if I need a few more seconds, or paper and pencil, or a calculator to do some of the computation that the grandparents can do faster than I, I have access to those things just about anywhere I am.</p>