Calculators Banned?
The HP 48gx calculator was the first purchase I made when starting as a Geomatics student.  This was on the recommendation of a UAA Geomatics graduate and mentor of mine.  He had told me that a Geomatics student will use the HP 48 in almost every Geomatics class and it will be needed for the Fundamentals of Land Surveying Exam (FLS).   While attending an Alaska Society of Professional Land Surveyors (ASPLS) meeting in last September, some of the members mentioned that new applicants would no longer be allowed to use the HP 48 on the FLS exam.  As they smiled at me and the other students knowing that they had nothing to worry about and waiting for our reactions, my stomach sank.
 
I went on the Internet to research what I hoped to be a rumor. What I found was the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) will not allow any calculator with communicating or text editing capabilities to be used during the test.  Prohibiting these types of calculators apparently is not a new policy, but beginning in April 2004 the exam administration will strictly enforce this policy. 

The policy currently prohibits calculators that may compromise the integrity of the examination. The HP 48 is not the only calculator that is prohibited. Any calculator with communicating or text editing capabilities such as TI-83 Plus, TI 89, and the Voyage 200 is not allowed to be used during the fundamentals or licensing examination for both engineers and surveyors.  In a nutshell, if a calculator can be programmed or has a communication port, it will not be allowed.  
What calculators are allowed in the Fundamentals testing area? The Texas Instruments single line display scientific calculators with basic functions are allowed. The Hewlett Packard calculators that are allowed are the HP 9 and the HP 32 series. Also NCEES will allow the HP33, which is available now.

I was feeling discouraged after reading this information since I have become so comfortable with my HP 48.  I also felt angry that NCEES was not allowing the calculator that has become a Survey industry standard.  I began to ask fellow colleagues of mine who had already taken the fundamentals test about the decision.  The over whelming response was that there was no need for your HP 48 and that a calculator with trigonometric functions is all you really need.  

After this feedback, I went the NCEES website www.ncees.org and downloaded the formulas and information that will be provided to the examinees sitting for the Fundamentals of Land Surveying examination.  As stated in the foreword, the FLS is a closed-book examination, but the formulas and information that can be downloaded will be included in both the morning and afternoon examination booklet.  Much of the information and formulas are conveniently stored in my HP 48.  The enforced calculator policy may represent a new era in surveying that is returning to the old era.
  
In order to pass the Fundamentals exam, you must be more familiar with the formulas that are simply stored in your calculator. In preparation, I will begin practicing horizontal and vertical problems on a single line calculator.  Like many Surveyors before me and before the HP 48 calculators, this test has been pasted.  As I start out surveying in this new age of technology, I forget that surveying is an art that has been practiced for centuries.  I see the people that pass the FLS as people that know how to solve field survey problems and not just with a good calculator.  I will miss my calculator when the test day comes, but think it will strengthen the survey industry as a whole.