Graphing Calculators

[Dreamweaver]

The TI83 is a good all purpose graphing calculator. Unless you're a math major, it should be more than enough for what you'll need.

[MichaelF]

[quote name='missionarybelle' post='1324050' date='Jul 11 2007, 12:39 AM']I have the same calculator question. I'm in the arts so I just have to take college algebra and a math elective. I'm assuming that a TI-83 should work well. right?[/quote]

A Ti-83 was standard for those course, 3-4 years ago.

A Ti-89 Titanium will take your exams for you (any kind of factoring or solving of polynomials).

[gamesfanatic04]

Exactly, I'm a history major, and polynomials aren't history. Ti 89, do your thing.

[missionarybelle]

[quote name='MichaelF' post='1324091' date='Jul 11 2007, 01:26 AM']A Ti-89 Titanium will take your exams for you (any kind of factoring or solving of polynomials).[/quote]

but you have to know HOW to use the calculator for it to do you any good

[scardella]

If you actually want to LEARN, don't get a TI-89. It's too much of a crutch.

[MichaelF]

[quote name='missionarybelle' post='1324146' date='Jul 11 2007, 09:21 AM']but you have to know HOW to use the calculator for it to do you any good[/quote]


Hit F2 for algebraic operations.


Done.

[Iacobus]

Any non-math, physics or engineering students should be able to do just fine with a TI-83. Most <201 math courses list the TI-83 as the basic calculator... most allow more advanced non-QWERTY calculators, but you can never go wrong with the TI-83.

I am a chemistry major and I use four calculators... it all depends on what I am doing. I have a basic 4 function calculator that does most of my "on the move" lab math. I have a TI-30 or whatever they are that I use for some more advanced "on the move" lab math that the 3 dollar four function on can't handle, such as sci notation stuff. I have a Ti-83+ from high school that I use for my "seated" work, exams, quizes, etc where I forget my TI-89 or whatever. My 83 is old enough that I can basically leave it in my "office" in the chem department (we all have our own desks where we can leave stuff that is off limits to the general population). Then I almost always carry my TI-89 but I only use it for the boring math things. A lot of chemistry math boils down to simple algebra that you have done for years and takes a few minutes to do by hand or 15 seconds to punch in, so I punch it in.

I also use my TI-89 in my physical chemistry courses (quantum physics... fun) and my general physics courses as it can do the der. and ints. much faster and more accurately then I can do them by hand. I took a year and a half of calc... but it was too long ago and my memory has faded a bit since then so it comes in handy.

As for using the TI-89 as a cruch, it is true, people do. I use it as a sort of cruch in my analytical chemistry courses... but I can still do it all by hand using simple TI-30's (and do so often enough in lab) that I don't have a problem with it. In terms of using it in my math classes, I used only a TI-83 in my first year of calculus in high school and then I went to college. Grinnell doesn't have Calc I, II and III. They have Calc I and II, covering the same subject matter as another schools I, II and III does. Calc I here and Calc I anywhere else is about the same. Calc II here is the same as anybody elses Calc II and III... but in one semester. My course section was also advised that we were expected to use Maple or Mathmatica to do our homework... and TI-89's CAS is basically a simplified form of Mathmatica or Maple and so that was also allowed. I paid the 153 dollars for the 89 after about a month of working on the stuff with the 83... the subject matter was coming too fast and was very... intense, so the 83 I was using because a bit too weak.

HOWEVER, I should note, that I didn't really need any of the features that the TI-89 really provided until the mid point of the course, when we shifted into more of the Calc III stuff, so you should be able to take at least a year of calc before even thinking about needing a CAS.

[missionarybelle]

[quote name='scardella' post='1324157' date='Jul 11 2007, 09:35 AM']If you actually want to LEARN, don't get a TI-89. It's too much of a crutch.[/quote]

honestly, I just want to be done ith math classes forever.


I was homeschooled and not allowed to use a calculator until Algebra 2 when my problems began to take up half of a page. So I haven't used a calculator much and am very slow with one. with most stuff it's faster for me to write it down on paper.

[Old_Joe]

How about an online graphing calculator?

[url="http://GraphCalc"]http://www.graphcalc.com/[/url]

Would you be interested in a computer link cable that I used to use on my TI-86? the calculator broke, but I might still have the cable.

[Iacobus]

The online things work great, I used them for a lot of my homework (computer is way faster) but it might be hard to take a test that way.