Importance of a Pencil?

[Harrisonized]

Last year, my social studies teachers (two teachers taught one class, each teaching half a week) had a policy that forbid pencil. They claimed it was because students work harder using pen and such; however, that is not the case for some people, as many of us have our preferences.

That's because the average person so acquaints themselves with pencil in fear of a mistake that when forced to use a pen, they're afraid of making mistakes, which in turn will cause them to make more mistakes than when they were using a pencil, hence the working harder.

Pens. I absolutely despise ball point pens. I love the ones that have ink that just flows out smoothly instead of a rolling ball.

Same. I hate the rolling ball ones that my father uses. They smell really bad (cuz he takes the free ones from the hotels), half of them dry up, and they smear.

I'll say that the biggest problem I have with any writing utility is the smearing, and this happens 75% of the time I use a pencil, and within two weeks. Within two months, 95% of the notes I write are smeared.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I love the sound that the pencil produces when you write across clean, fresh paper. Now I sound like some pencil lover. :<

You remind me of my sister, who loves the smell of new books at Borders or Barnes and Nobles.

Are erasable pens bad or something? o-o

They suck bad. They're even worse than the hotel pens and that's pretty bad. Might as well use a pencil.

The only reason why most math teachers prefer pencil is because erasing makes it looks neat.

My work is neater than the average person-in-my-class's. Even with some cross-outs, as long as you organize your calculations are organized, it looks neat.

Haha, this is my kind of topic. I'm a total stationary lover. I've spent hundreds of dollars on my collection of pens, pencils, etc. I don't really like the variety provided in North America so I always mass buy stationary whenever I go to Asia.

Haha, I collect fountain pens too, but I haven't spent nearly as much. =/

Anyway, pen is just ugly when you're dealing with calculations in my opinion. Scribbling out mistakes and whiteout are so horrid, same with those so called erasable ink pens that your eyes just want to explode. Pencil will help things look more pleasing to mark and as Claw said you can erase pencil rather well.

You don't scribble it out. You cross it out, in an orderly fashion, like, maybe one or two lines through it. That way, you know it's crossed-out, but you can still see it. I organized my steps from top to bottom, so crossing out one line wouldn't make much of a difference in the "neatness".

White out is horrible indeed. I hate the smell of that stuff, and the tape can be easily peeled off. Just crossing it out is more efficient. In fact, if I time myself, I am actually faster on homework with a pen than a pencil because should I make my mistake (which above, I mentioned that I did so more often with a pencil because of the mindset that any mistake is correctable), I don't have to pick up an eraser, erase the mistake, put down the eraser, then pick up my pencil and continue to write. I can just cross it out and continue.

Usually I have very neat and girly writing using either Pens and Pencils. I hate cursive though; I find it difficult to make my cursive writing look presentable.

LoL. I haven't used cursive since sixth grade. The only cursive I use is for my signature.

Mathematics should not be done in pen unless you have a rough draft to copy from. The sheer innumerable amounts of mistakes would rend the final product nigh unreadable. By using a pen, it leaves for a bad habit. You end up using pens for your math, and when you reach for the calculations that take pages to complete, you waste a lot more time correcting mistakes. Not to mention the pain that is paper bleeding.

Not in Pre-Calc, where pretty much all the calculations are simple. Actually, even in a complex problem (which I've had a few), it's not as bad as you think, because of the way I organize my work. Yes, I know in higher-than-highschool-math, I will be doing those kinds of calculations, but then again, as I said, by using a separate row for every calculation and then continuing with another column, I can just cross out one row should I screw up and continue below it. If I happen to screw up in between, easy, start over with a different sheet of paper. Usually, I have a scratch paper anyways.

Why... why would you use a pen for MATH -_-;;;;

I'm sorry to say this, but my opinion on using pens for math is utter failure. Even on tests.

One can't go about writing huge equation works in the later math courses without making a mistake. They are inevitable. Learn from mistakes, sure, but one'll be a lot less mistake-prone if there's less junk to confuse them.

A teacher out there or a peer will mistake some slashes as a fraction number or a different notation. That will be pretty costly.

Again, I organize my steps in such a way that crossing it out would not make the paper look ugly. O_o

Also, I don't make arbitrary marks at all.

Kkz, to address some of the problems you find with pencils, get the kind of pencils that don't smear. Typically, these are the ones that don't use excess graphite breakage when you write on paper, even if you press hard. Some of my math work is still in pristine condition after years of mushing around in files. Also, being a klepto that I am (my MS friends know I jump for dropped stuff, and I even "stole" a Dragon Kreda before Leafre came out xD), I would be just as equally likely to steal a good pen than I would steal a pencil. Also, have multiple pencils handy. At least you can tell when the pencils are about to go bad. I've had fits where pens just all ran dry on me or just got gummed up by crud.

Pencil always smears in the end, no matter whether or not they smear initially. If I use a pencil, (and I'm very anal about this), I will SELECT a pencil that doesn't smear to anything but a high degree of sweat (and I don't sweat much). However, even with these pencils, when in my binder for one or two months, usually, a strange phenomenon occurs. I notice the graphite becomes migratory or reproductive or what not and spreads itself across the paper and I pretty much can't recognize it anymore. =/

Also, while you say good pens can be stolen too, they're stolen less often than good pencils. No idea why.

Fun Fact: NASA spent billions of dollars to invent a pressurized, clean-delivering pen that could write in space when the astronauts were trying to take notes.

The Russians used pencils.

Aren't those the Pilot pens that say "Doesn't leak in flight" on the side of them? Because if so, I have a few of them and they don't leak at all.

I like pencils for a different reason. I hate cursive. I learned it in third grade and promptly forgot it. Cursive makes no sense to me. It takes three times as long to write something in cursive, it's usually illegible, and it doesn't look better or anything. Also, the rapid up and down movements when writing w's, u's, m's, n's, i's and a few other letters pisses me off.

Who said you had to write cursive when you write in pen? O_o

I like everything to be clear, and pens get in the way of that. When I write something in pen, I usually screw up and try to fudge what I had written before to look like what I want it to be. Not being able to erase sucks. And pens smear too.

You obviously haven't used a good pen. Like pencils, there's crappy pens that smear and good ones that don't.

With a pencil, your hand movements are very sensitive to sexual stimuli?

What the hell?

[nannerz]

That's really weird that she is forcing you guys to use pencil. o.o Usually the teachers have to force students to use pen to do math lol. I agree with you in that I don't see any benefits of using pencil. I have rarely picked up a pencil in the past few years for doing coursework, and I took several calculus and math electives. The smearing and lead breaking in itself is annoying, not to mention it's just faster/safer to cross out mistakes with one clean line (and you can still see what you had written later should you require it).

[GummyBear]

There's a code on the pencil telling you how dark/light it is. Its not too bad using pencil. In certain exams, eg our Maths competition, we need a 2B pencil to write our answer with.

Doing work with pencil isnt as bad as it sounds to be.

[JoeTang]

What the hell?

He's the dumb ass that said his hand movements become erogenous with the use of a pencil.

[KajitiSouls]

Pencil always smears in the end, no matter whether or not they smear initially. If I use a pencil, (and I'm very anal about this), I will SELECT a pencil that doesn't smear to anything but a high degree of sweat (and I don't sweat much). However, even with these pencils, when in my binder for one or two months, usually, a strange phenomenon occurs. I notice the graphite becomes migratory or reproductive or what not and spreads itself across the paper and I pretty much can't recognize it anymore. =/

Oh, I forgot, the paper matters too xD I find if I "age" certain paper by having them sit outside of their plastic shrink wrap in a wooden drawer, the paper becomes crappy and all the graphite leaks everywhere. If I take the same paper straight from the packaging, it works fine.

I can pull more than a dozen pieces of paper out of my Middle School homework archive (some being from the beginning of the year, having sat in my backpack the whole time) and they'll be pretty dam fresh, with little to no smears.

Aren't those the Pilot pens that say "Doesn't leak in flight" on the side of them? Because if so, I have a few of them and they don't leak at all.

Um, NASA didn't have such pens back then, so they invented one.

At any rate though, I have no idea if they are the space pens or not, because I would only care if I were to actually go out into space.

[ZachAttack]

LOL Okay I didn't mean it in that way. I always thought errogenous meant sensitive in general, not in context of sexual stimuli.
Looks like I was wrong. Man is my english teacher using it wrong.

PS thanks for calling me a dumbass.

[Blankout]

LOL Okay I didn't mean it in that way. I always thought errogenous meant sensitive in general, not in context of sexual stimuli.
Looks like I was wrong. Man is my english teacher using it wrong.

PS thanks for calling me a dumbass.

I hope you don't use that word in public very often.

[ZachAttack]

I hope you don't use that word in public very often.

I don't :P. We just had it in a vocab list last week... IN ENGLISH. So I figured I should start using it right now. Turns out I had the wrong definition. I oughta bring that up to my English teacher. I wonder what other sexual definitions I have wrong.

[Russt]

Well, 'innuendo' is on our vocab list meaning "an indirect reference". If something has a sexual connotation, it is always more prevalent than the non-sexual one. >_>

Edit: But I do believe erogenous's definition is that, not just a connotation, so yeah.

Edit 2: On topic, if pencil smears too much, try a 2H or 3H pencil. It may seem like an epic waste, but it really is cleaner. Unfortunately, it's also harder for your teacher to read.

[ZachAttack]

Well, 'innuendo' is on our vocab list meaning "an indirect reference". If something has a sexual connotation, it is always more prevalent than the non-sexual one. >_>

Edit: But I do believe erogenous's definition is that, not just a connotation, so yeah.

Edit 2: On topic, if pencil smears too much, try a drawing pencil - one of the 2H or 3H ones. It may seem like an epic waste of a drawing pencil, but it really is clean. Unfortunately, it's also harder for your teacher to read.

I was about to say - I googled the definition and it's definitely not just innuendo.

[Huey]

Drawing pencils are nice. They're hard to see though. Less smearing and stuff. I stole a couple from my aunts. :P If you apply too much pressure when using a drawing pencil, you'll surely make a dent.

Never understood teachers/professors that wanted us to do math tests in pencil. I screw it all usually and just box my answer in pen and write out the answer in pen. I haven't gotten penalized for that YET.

The smell of new pencils is cool too.

...-sadface-

[Russt]

I didn't know new pencils even had a smell.

[Huey]

I didn't know new pencils even had a smell.

My aunt(s) were into the fashion industry and stuff and as a little girl, I'd always steal their pens/pencils/markers. They do have a unique smell. Or maybe I just play around with pencils too much.

[Kevo]

I didn't know new pencils even had a smell.

Me neither. Although one time I was browsing in the market and I found these Milk Scented leads... the paper smelled so good after writing on it XD.

[ZachAttack]

Me neither. Although one time I was browsing in the market and I found these Milk Scented leads... the paper smelled so good after writing on it XD.

...because the first thing I do when I see a freshly written on piece of paper is to take a big sniff of it.
That's not awkward.

[Blankout]

...because the first thing I do when I see a freshly written on piece of paper is to take a big sniff of it.
That's not awkward.

I spilled soymilk on a piece of paper once and it smelled gooooood.

[FelixTM]

My mechanical pencils smell like love and wood polish. Using them is always a very erogenous experience, so to speak.

[Holikoy]

I got a B in AP Calc last quarter thanks to all the "-2's" at the top of all my papers, because I used pen. (After the quarter ended I sat down with the teacher and added 2 to all my grades). I only use Pencil in Music Theory, never in math. I work faster, cleaner, and more accurate in Pen.

Btw: Only pen I use is http://p.pens1000.com/vp1/31002PIL.jpg

the one on the far left there

[Katie]

My mechanical pencils smell like love and wood polish. Using them is always a very erogenous experience, so to speak.

When you use your beautiful pencil, do you sniff it, stroke it and make sweet love to it?

[Nikkey]

This gets ugly.

Why... why would you use a pen for MATH -_-;;;;

I'm sorry to say this, but my opinion on using pens for math is utter failure. Even on tests.

One can't go about writing huge equation works in the later math courses without making a mistake. They are inevitable. Learn from mistakes, sure, but one'll be a lot less mistake-prone if there's less junk to confuse them.

A teacher out there or a peer will mistake some slashes as a fraction number or a different notation. That will be pretty costly.

You don't write gigantic equations without drafts ;X

I hate pencils, they smear, they make the paper look bad/horrible. They make any test look unprofessional. If you write wrong, use this.

Fun Fact: NASA spent billions of dollars to invent a pressurized, clean-delivering pen that could write in space when the astronauts were trying to take notes.

The Russians used pencils.

wat b dis:

There exists a common urban legend claiming that because a standard ballpoint pen would not work in zero gravity, NASA spent $11 million developing the zero-g capable Space Pen, with the humorous note that the Russians used a pencil. In fact, NASA programs have used pencils (for example a 1965 order of mechanical pencils) but because of the danger that a broken-off pencil tip poses in zero gravity and the flammable nature of the wood present in pencils a better solution was needed.

NASA never approached Paul Fisher to develop a pen, nor did Fisher receive any government funding for the pen's development. Fisher invented it independently, and then asked NASA to try it. After the introduction of the AG7 Space Pen, both the American and Soviet (later Russian) space agencies adopted it. Previously both the Russian and American astronauts used grease pencils and plastic slates.