You ' ll need to give examples for a full answer , and I don ' t have experience of US grade school , but over hereYou are allowed to use a calculator , mostly to checkverify your answer . But you are in maths class to learn how to do maths , not how to use a calculator . Even if I ' m allowed to use it , I still need to show each step of the calculation . I can ' t solve 4 x 2 21 x 18 using a calculator , but I can use it to make sure that 3 1 4 6 21 which is part of the solution , but only becomes visible as you try to solve fully <| sep |> Still , be careful , sometimes a good fisherman only catch a certain species of fish that is not the one you want to catch . <| sep |> LOL . Assuming there are no potholes , there ' ll be many who may even dig roads to spot a pothole .