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TI Launches Three New Graphing Calculators
confusedneutrino writes "Texas
Instruments has announced 3 new graphing calculators to be available later this year. The TI-84
Plus and TI-84
Plus Silver Edition will be available this spring and are essentially the TI-83 Plus/SE, respectively, in a new case and with USB support. (The TI-84 Plus does sport a 15 MHz processor, compared to the TI-83 Plus' 6 MHz, though.) The TI-89
Titanium will be available in the summer and features 3x the available ROM of the 'old' TI-89 and will also have USB capability. Looks to me like a Voyage 200 minus QWERTY. I personally don't feel an inclination to upgrade at all..."
Who's their marketing department? AOL?
I still love my TI-92...While in college waiting for teachers to show up, I played lots of Tetris games on Fargo, which was the assembly-language system made possible only because of a buffer underrun...
And there are many occasions where the graphing functions of my TI have proved useful in the workplace. To name a few:
- being able to view every key I've entered before evaluating the expression
- being able to revise and edit incorrect expressions
- to determine linear regression fits for data sets
- to perform functions like logarithms and square roots on said data sets, in order to linearize them (linearity being checked, of course, by the R^2 correlation of my fit)
- anything at all to do with linear algebra, especially solving systems of equations or matrix manipulations. RREF is a bitch by hand.
For more "pure" math (like Diff. Eq.), I agree that pencil and paper are generally easier. But any applied math (a.k.a. engineering) requires an insane amount of busy work that could not be handled with a puny scientific calculator. I know you said Engineering and Physics are different stories, but everything I just wrote could certainly apply to all sciences (even the "soft" ones like Psych. and Sociology), or anything at all requiring data collection.
For the record, I use a TI-86 daily at a bio-tech job. It has the stats capabilities of the 83, plus all the good parts of the 85.
Bloody hell, why must the urge to change the numbers of those calculators like that?
WHY CANNOT THE NEW ONE BE LIKE 94?
I don't want to remember that 83 is older than 86, but 83 plus silver-balls is never, and also faster.
I hate this. Same thing with everything. Hell, we couldn't stick to mhz, but we had to begin with 2200+ and so on.
At least those keep on incrementing.
That they can have my HP 48GX when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers. And even then, I'm not so sure...
The RPNs worth buying are:
16C - awesome calculator for programmers, especially embedded work. There is no better number system converter available at any price. No I can't do bin/dec/hex in my head faster than the 16C and neither can you. Expensive due to relatively low numbers produced.
42S - pricey, even used, but excellent. Two line display, a replacement for the 15C.
32SII - somewhat like a 42S but with single line display, not so nice to use.
15C - same form factor as 16C. At the time HP's top scientific.
11C - a simpler 15C
10C - a simpler 11C
All the above have solid old-HP build quality, excellent key feel and outstanding battery life.
Older HPs are also usable (and may be preferred) - but they have even greater collector status and sometimes fetch higher prices. They will go through batteries faster and the red LEDs can be harder to see.
Forget the 48 models, the 49 and all the new stuff. The 48GX is OK if you have to have graphing but the single and dual-line models have better UI for daily use. The 49? HP died when Carly took over. Now they make pretty colored plastic boxes that only work with windows and they have forgotten how to spell "engineering". In fact they fired all the engineers and HP is now run by MBAs in shiny suits.
(I own 16C, 42s, 15C and 11C models.)
My little bother did a steady business in TI-8x calculators during high school. Our high school required "accelerated" math students to purchase a TI-81 (or 83 or 85, whatever the "state of the art" was at the time) to use in class and on homework.
My brother would buy calculators cheap from kids at the end of school in June and sell them to the next year's students the next year for about $10 less than the school asked for the new ones. He probably made $250-$500 a year off those calculators. Not exactly chump change to a 15 year old.
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Back in *my* day, we were only allowed to bring in some beans on strings. And only the yuppies could affor that. The rest of us had to carry a bucket of dirt, and make little piles on our desks. And we were THANKFUL!
Have you any idea how hard it is to compute logarithms by counting grains of dirt?
Kids these days! Sheesh!
The REAL jabber has the user id: 13196
What you do today will cost you a day of your life
Back eight years ago when I was starting my Algebra II class in high school, I went shopping with my parents to get what "I needed" to get...a TI-82. Mom looked at the calculator, looked at the price ($78 at the time) and said, "Pff...these things will probably be worth $20 in five years."
Course, the TI-83 (same one that they sold back when I was in high school, just a slight change in design) is priced now for $89, the same as it was back eight years ago. Or I could get the TI-83 SILVER (which is what the TI sales reps are REALLY trying to push on schools now...I know because I'm a math teacher now), which retails for $114 (just because it has 128k ROM and a bunch of crappy "ecucational" software...though anyone who knows anything about basic programming can muster up the same thing with TI's programming interface).
The point is, you're still getting pretty much the same calculator with almost all of the same abilities. Sure, you can crunch recursive functions, large matricies, and integrals faster, (plus you get more software, which is really not necessary for 95% of customers), but there's really little to justify the need for a SILVER edition when 1) you pay $25 more for 128K ROM and software, and 2) electronic components have gotten a lot cheaper over the last eight years but the prices of TI calculators have not ever gone down.
Reminded me of a NCTM conference I went to last year...there was a calculator dealer trying to sell some old calculators. There was a TI-92 there, brand-spanking new, for $60. Asked them why it was so darned cheap, and the saleswoman said that "TI now has the TI-92 plusses and discontinued the 92s, so there's no support from TI, just a 30-day warranty from us." Difference between the 92 and the 92-PLUS: 128K of ROM for additional software. Well, the 92-PLUSs retail for $189, but I really got almost all the functionality of a $189 calculator for $60!
Anyways, all these "new" calculators that TI puts out, I really just wave my hand at them and say, "Baa." I already have one, and there's absolutely no need to "upgrade"!
I posted on this the last time the issue of graphing calculators came up - namely when HP announced their new line. The biggest reason being that the graphing calculator interface on a PDA will suck compared to the Real Deal (TM). Having to dig through 8 layers of menus to find the function you want simply doesn't cut it when you just want to get work done. This is the reason why despite owning a top of line line desktop and a fairly decent laptop, I'll still be purchasing an HP-49G+ in the near future - either of the computers has much more power, in the case of the laptop is portable, and could run graphing calculator software, but they still wouldn't be the best tool for getting work done. I'll stick to a nice, standalone calculator and skip the all-in-one super thingamajig, thank you.
I don't think I'll be upgrading from my trusty TI-85. It has been dropped, kicked, and occasionally drop-kicked regularly for the past 10 years and still works perfectly. (I guess this is a plug for the 85...do they even still make it?) I have a 93 which mostly sits in a drawer. Whenever I've considered using it, I've realized that I'd be better served by a computer with a math package--bigger display, easier input, more flexible software, faster processing. So, what is the point of a 15 mHz calculator, or a USB-capable one? You don't need something like that in high school (would a student even be allowed to use one?), and you have better resources in college and in the working world.
Bet you could write some great games for these uber-calculators, though (there were already good games available for the 83/85/86/89 when I was in high school.) Which would have been all the reason I would have needed to get one, had they existed back when I needed something to keep me awake through AP Calc.
-Carolyn
Like Daddy always said: if you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit.
I HATE this: they say 5x more RAM, but actually, it has the SAME amount of ram. It has more Flash ROM, but that is not nearly as usefull as pure ram.
Like on the 83+ compared to the 83, the 83+ actually has LESS memory than the 83, not more.
Sheesh.
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