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The Best Graphing Calculator on the Market?

Posted by Cliff on from the better-than-a-TI? dept.

aaronbeekay asks: "I'm a sophomore in high school taking an honors chem course. I'm being forced to buy something handheld for a calculator (I've been using Qalculate! and GraphMonkey on my Thinkpad until now). I see people all around me with TIs and think 'there could be something so much better'. The low-res, monochrome display just isn't appealing to me for $100-150, and I'd like for it to last through college. Is there something I can use close to the same price range with better screen, more usable, and more powerful? Which high-tech calculators do you guys use?"

4 of 724 comments (clear)

  1. RPN Baby! by billdar · · Score: 5, Funny
    HP-48GX, hands down for engineers.

    There is just something fundamentally appealing to owning a powerful calculator 90% of the population can't even add two numbers on...

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    I am billdar, and I approve this message.
    1. Re:RPN Baby! by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Funny

      My wife teaches Fluid Dynamics and she's doing something with that HP-48 every night. Whatever it is, I'm not allowed to touch it. She carries that thing around like it was the crown jewels. When she was pregnant she left her graphing calculator in her office and I had to walk 2 miles in a Chicago blizzard to get it for her.

      A few years ago I was doing the taxes and I reached for it to do some arithmetic and she nearly broke my hand. But that might just be her Eastern European sternness coming through. I got a little too enthusiastic on one of our first dates and almost lost the hand that time, too.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
  2. Re:TI 89 by Rosyna · · Score: 4, Funny

    I disagree. I paid about $300CAD for my Ti-89 and not only is not allowed on tests neither at the grade 12 level nor first year college

    Maybe it's because you're in Canadia. In the US, the TI-89 is explicitly allowed on tests administered by the college board (but not ACT). It's also the reason I bought it, the TI-92 isn't allowed on any tests.

    mine's already broken after only about 2 years of seldom use.

    How odd, I bought mine when it was first release (1998) and it's still going strong. Maybe it's the Canadian weather that caused yours to fail. Also, you're not supposed to use it while taking a shower.

  3. Re:PDA? by Your+Pal+Dave · · Score: 4, Funny

    The best part about RPN is when that smart-ass pre-med in chem lab borrows it, punches in a bunch of numbers, and then asks, "Where's the equals key?"... Priceless