Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

I was on pretty good terms with my chemistry teacher, so...maybe? It's been a while, but I don't remember either showing it off or taking pains to keep it secret. To adults, that is; my nerdy friends and I delighted in showing off the cool stuff we did with our calculators.

I vaguely remember thinking that one likely reason shortcuts like mine were not prohibited was because no one in charge suspected that such things were even possible with current technology, or if they were, that a child would be able to exploit it. But as long as I kept to the letter of the rules, I considered myself ethically in the clear.



> But as long as I kept to the letter of the rules, I considered myself ethically in the clear.

Yeah, totally, just to be clear I'm not judging.

In fact, if you programmed it to handle those operations, one could argue you had already learned a big chunk of what was going to be measured in the exams.

Kind of similar to the paradox of creating and using cheat sheets, is highly likely you're accidentally learning about the subject matter in the process of writing the sheet, sometimes up to a point where the cheat sheet is not necessary anymore.


> Kind of similar to the paradox of creating and using cheat sheets, is highly likely you're accidentally learning about the subject matter in the process of writing the sheet, sometimes up to a point where the cheat sheet is not necessary anymore.

The problem is (example from mathematics): even if you are capable of deriving some formula (you thus understood the topic well), it takes a lot of time in the exam. Looking at the cheat sheet is much faster - in particular when the time is somewhat precious in the exam.




Consider applying for YC's Fall 2026 batch! Applications are open till July 27.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: