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The Best Graphing Calculator on the Market?
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?"
Do they make advanced graphing-calculator-like apps for them?
I use a TI89. It's about as good as you're going to get without it not being allowed on tests, etc.
HP is the only option. Sure, no one will no what you are doing (especially if you use RPN), but that means no one can borrow it, either. Oh, and if you use RPN you'll probably be a lot quicker than most of your classmates, too.
I have an HP-48GX and it served me well through high school and four years of engineering school.
"Nature doesn't care how smart you are. You can still be wrong." - Richard Feynman
There is just something fundamentally appealing to owning a powerful calculator 90% of the population can't even add two numbers on...
I am billdar, and I approve this message.
I just made it through single variable calculus and chemistry using an old TI-82 and a TI-86, which I had from high school ten years ago. Both were more then adequate for calc & chemistry, and you can get them for $10 / $30 respectively on ebay. They had most of the same functions as newer TI's, and served me well.
My only difficulty was an occasion scramble to find where some higher level functions were, as the rest of the class had newer calcs and they couldn't help me out.
Just do yourself a favor, get an older calc (with an instruction book), and spend the rest of the cash on ice cream.
Especially when the HP48GX is the clear winner... /me ducks
I am billdar, and I approve this message.
The TI-89 is *mediocre* with drawing graphs, as you indicated. However, if you are going to study more science, it can do symbolic manipulation that you might only expect in a program like Maple or mathematica. If you are feeling dimwitted and can't work out an integral or maybe if you can't figure out if a particular algebraic equation has a solution then you can ask this device. It has more advanced features that I haven't used but if you tinker with it you'll get alot of use out of it. Also, as far as the graph drawing goes, I think they have a TI-92 that does better with those.
It's 12 years old, it's a little slow and they don't make them anymore, but the HP 48 series is a magnificent calculator.
RPN is very nice for long equations. Once you get used to it, you'll be more accurate and efficient. You'll never want to go back to algebraic entry. It has a lot of features, and still stands up pretty well to modern offerings. Unless they've made calculus problems a lot harder, you won't need anything more functionality wise.
The built in equation library is very nice. There is a plethora of available programs to download. The IR sensor is just cool and the keys have the best tactile feel of any calculators ever, and the batteries last about 20 months. Oh, and you could probably dip it in motor oil, and it would still work. The screen while having good contrast, is very fragile however. That's one bad thing.
Expect to pay $250 on ebay for a 48GX unless you get lucky. (The 128K expandable model. Original MSRP was $159 I think) You can probably get a 48G (32KB non expandable model) in your price range though.
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.
You'll need it or a desktop for many things, but not for taking notes. A paper notebook and a pen or pencil are all you'll need for taking notes. Why? Note-taking isn't outlining, which is what most people think. Note-taking is a mnemonic system. It is not transcription. Someone good at note-taking will make small sketches, use arrows, circle items, use abbreviations, and skip items of little relevance. Properly used, note-taking can act like a filter, preserving the things you think you'll need to remember from the lecture, while skipping those irrelevancies every lecture has. There is one final, absolute advantage to note-taking over laptop transcription (or taping the lecture, another rookie mistake): your focus will be on what's said in class, not on fiddling with your laptop.
Although, I'm a little partial being a developer for TI and working on the next generation of calculators, I would have to say the TI nspire is the next big thing. It should be out next quarter. More to come.... http://education.ti.com/educationportal/sites/US/n onProductMulti/nspire_cas.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-Nspire_CAS
No.
For programs on the HP calcs, look no further than www.hpcalc.org.
--- Pork is not a verb.
I'm also a Ph.D. student in math (defending my dissertation next month), and I've found the exact opposite to be true. There's no better way to develop a deeper understanding of something than to play with it. As regards calculus and functions, this means plotting functions, composing them, zooming in on them, adding them, differentiating them, multiplying them, etc. This is especially relevant with polar and parametric equations, which can take some time to get the hang of.
The newer calculators even let you play with systems of differential equations and trace out solutions, flow lines, etc. What a great way to learn to visualize otherwise abstract concepts! If students would just sit and play with equations and see what the solutions would look like, they would have a much better grasp of what to expect when they encounter something new. Otherwise, it can tend to be a matter of memorizing a cook book of solution techniques.
Of course, there are times when the calculator can be a hinderance. In particular, the built-in symbolic differentiation and integration can become a crutch. (On the other hand, it's a great way to check your answers.) However, most of the associated problems can easily be dealt with by properly writing your curriculum. (e.g., giving calculator-free exams to test differentiation knowledge, splitting them into two-part exams (without calculator, then with calculator), giving weekly 5-minute self-quizzes, etc.)
At the end of the day, a graphing calculator is just another tool that can be used to help or hinder education. How it goes depends on a combination of student motivation and the leadership and guidance they receive from their professors and teaching assistants. (i.e., you) -- Paul
OpenSource.MathCancer.org: open source comp bio
Ahh, so we're from the same vintage.
I bought my TI-85 shortly after they came out in '92, and I still use it (in my Ph.D. work, nonetheless). It's kind of a tank, and has held up well over the years (all 14 of them - crap I'm old).
I was going to suggest a TI-86, as it's the memory-upgraded 85. The TI-86 is also lacking symbolic math, so it is generally more allowed on tests and in classes than the TI-89, but it does have a lot of tools that the 83 & 86 don't (like simultaneous equations solving and polynomial root finding) that make it very useful.
I absolutely agree. The HP48GX is an amazing calculator. Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) rocks...you don't need to enter in brackets with complex expressions which probably makes it 20-30% faster than other methods. The calculator uses a stack system for its calculations. To add 2 and 3, type 2 and hit enter to put it into the stack. Then press 3 and hit enter...3 also appears on the stack. Then press +. This adds the bottom two entries in the stack. With complex expressions, you start on the innermost brackets and work outwards. Because your answers are always visible in the stack, it is remarkably easy to evaluate expressions without ever rounding more than the calculator's precision.
The stack doesn't just work for numbers. It is possible to enter in many types of objects. Enter two matrices or vectors into the stack, then press +, -, x, or / and the calculator will add, subtract, multiply, or divide the two matrices, just as if they were two numbers. To find the inverse matrix, enter it into the stack and press (1/x). Complex numbers are easily handled by entering them as vectors.
The main weakness of my version is that it is a bit slow when doing things like graphing. The origin of this problem lies in HP's neglect of this product. HP used to be a highly innovative and inventive technology company. They made products that no one else imagined making, things that were designed to meet the requirements of technical professionals like engineers. Then the bean counters/MBA's took over. They sold off most of HP's innovative divisions (Agilent Technologies for example) and became primarily a maker of bog standard PC's. They stopped making the 48GX for a while, but brought it back after a loud outcry. The new version was however not quite the same as the old version. It feels cheaper than the older calculators...it doesn't quite have the same solid feel. Bloody corporate bean counters! HP has been losing money for much of the time since they took over.
It is a shame that HP hasn't updated this calculator. With a newer processor, and a few interface updates, this could truly be the ultimate calculation tool. It is still great, but if it were a bit faster with a more polished interface, then it would be perfect.
This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when first he appears as a protector - Plato (423 to 327 BC)
Nonsense; I upgraded from the TI-83 to the TI-89 and never looked back. The 83/84 series are underpowered calculators that lack a computer algebra system which severely limits their effectiveness. Further, for any type of complex function the display on the 83 is going to be extremely difficult to read while the 89 will render it in a format closer to how you would write it down on paper. For me, the 89 meant freedom from the mindless tedium of simply algebra and is a wonderful replacement for integral tables. I believe quite strongly that there is no glory in solving a problem a device could solve for you. If you already have mastered an integral or solving an algebraic equation, it's time to turn those functions over to a calculator so you can focus on bigger problems. The calculator isn't much harder than any of the others and the learning curve is going to be about the same if you're not already familiar with a TI calculator. The advice that you buy the less worthy 83/84 because "everyone is doing it" or the 89 is "too hard" is bad advice. Make an investment (both of money and of learning time) in the powerful 89 which will end up serving you far better in the long run.