Pentagon Set to Allow Calculator Use on Military Entrance Exam as Recruiting Slumps::The change would put the ASVAB on par with how test-taking has evolved in the past decade, with calculators being widely used in math classes and on college entrance exams such as the ACT and SAT.
But is it really math that’s keeping people from joining?
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I don’t know about this. I would think there would be a lot of military applications, such as judging ranges, where being able to do arithmetic in your head would be pretty vital at times. Maybe I’m wrong?
It’s really a test of aptitude rather than knowledge per se. It’s highly correlated with IQ. It’s used to help decide the kinds of roles a person may be qualified for on the basis of ability, rather than knowledge. They will train a person in whatever specific skills are needed.
I agree, although I think their main concern at this time is to recruit bodies for following orders than math their way into their careers.
No military strength if no military numbers.
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If you’re doing the kind of ranging that requires arithmetic you’ve probably specialised and received training in it.
Regular man with gun ranges by sight.
Sure, but it was just one example. Is basic arithmetic really not ever needed for regular soldiers?
why would you do math in your head if you had pen and paper?
Because you’re in the middle of a war?
Do logistics experts get shot at regularly?
And when they are shot at, are they expected to continue organizing supplies under fire?
Everyone has a role in an army. Not necessarily in the high stress world of Frontline infantry. But engineers design bridges for tanks to cross, while logistics counts food and bullets.
The weapons that do this stuff on the front lines are all computers today. M777 artillery automatically calculates based off of GPS and a computer. Distances on shorter weapons are calculated using laser rangefinders.
There remains a key group of soldiers who need to perform without computers due to low supply lines and extended missions behind enemy lines. But those are Commandos are called Army Rangers or Green Berets and are a very very small group in practice.
And mortar men and snipers?
I’m no “gun guy”, but I do know how to zero-out a rifle.
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Laser Rangefinder figures out the distance to target. It will say… I dunno, 400 yards or something.
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Plug the number (400) into your elevation turret. Bam, you’re now hitting dead center.
Hey look, no maths involved. When you’re using standard rounds from a standard rifle, you can calculate everything by yards (or meters) so no math needs to be involved. The turret itself is your calculator, twisting it to 400 yards automatically sets the MoA appropriately.
Mortar Men IIRC just reach the target location, point the muzzle in the elevation + bearings commanded, loads the mortar with the appropriate additional charges and then fires. Those calculations are done on a computer, possibly GPS-assisted these days.
Your standard operating procedures for infantrymen is to get all that math out of their head. Everything has been pre-calculated. All the infantryman has to do when they reach the target is point the gun and decide to fire. Whether its mortar, sniper, or whatever. The procedure is to make this as simple as possible so that the infantry can think about all the other things going on (ie: covering fire, working together as a team, communication, etc. etc.)
The last thing they want to be doing in the field of battle is running a few arithmetic calculations.
I’ve sat in more than a couple mortar pits in my time, and have pulled rear security for sniper teams.
There’s always technical solutions, ballistic calculators, holds for known targets on mortars, etc, but absolutely no way you’ll catch charlie or a sniper not capable of the mental math to run their weapon system.
Mortars; often they just drive around with truck mounted systems and get sent coords, pull out a map and start calculating, snipers range find and then adjust with the markings in their scopes via mental math. They don’t dial their scope to 648 meters or whatever you’re thinking. I’ll admit I’m less clear on sniper math, but they usually all have notepads with them on performance data, DOPE, of their weapons systems to make needed adjustments to their calculations.
I do want to be clear that the math isn’t crazy, and there’s often tech solutions available, but it’s definitely trained and often practiced.
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Pen and paper readily available in a warzone isn’t common I believe… Just guessing, never been in an active warzone. Have tried to keep track of stuff doing multi days backpacking hiking trips. Finding a pen and paper in a hurry would suck.
Tried to join the coast guard, they said you have to have been off antidepressants for 3 years. After all the COVID crap, good luck finding kids that qualify.
Let them use AI.
Imagine bringing your calculator when you go out to the battlefield…
In truth, you would bring a mobile phone or maybe a smartwatch. They can act as a calculator. And then at night, when things become serious, these toys run out of power :-)
Uh, why wouldn’t they? Calculators check a lot of boxes that militaries care about: cheap, light, compact, durable, easy to manufacture, easy to use. I’d think that they’d be standard issue for any personnel regularly tasked with doing important calculations under logistically difficult scenarios.
Setting that aside… you are aware that modern battle tactics are completely, hopelessly reliant on battery operated devices, right? If a unit gets unintentionally separated from the grid long enough to start running out of power, there will be far greater fish to fry than a few botched arithmatic problems.
