wannabesean

I have the TI-89 titanium and I love it. I have saved so much time in school with it.

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Life is not measured by how many breaths you take, but by how many times your breath is taken away.

rdiver

TI-83/4 if you'll be doing basic graphing. TI-86 or 89 or the current equivalent for more advance graphing and calculus.

I bought a TI-83 my first semester of college. Hated the interface. Bought the TI-86 and haven't looked back. The 'custom' feature on the TI-86 is almost worth the price difference IMO.

mutton-javelin

Love the TI-89 with updated software etc. I don't think it is allowed on most standardized test. For that matter most profs might not let you use it.

mitkw

Thanks for all of the responses I appreciate it.

As to the TI-89 what is the main difference from the 84/83?

Also I have TI-92 which I bought and then found out could not use on standardized tests. How does it relate?

One more question. Several have mentioned RPN. While I know that it works in stacks rather than brackets, how would y'all say that it compares to AOS input? And are there RPN graphing calculators?

Thanks again. I'm still kind of new to all this.

Pocketbrain

Emu48.exe and the 48GX ROM. With EngrPaul's .kml.

Menneisyys

I’ve just published my FULL roundup & tutorial on emulating HP’s calculators at http://www.aximsite.com/boards/emula...ws-mobile.html - don’t forget to check it out.

Also note that I’ve previously published a FULL roundup & tutorial on using TI’s calculators at http://www.aximsite.com/boards/appli...ws-mobile.html - it’s also worth checking out.

(Sorry for the flood – I want all interested parties to take note of these articles. They’re well worth reading, I think.)

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MS MVP- Mobile Devices.

mitkw

OK. I thought I'd once again say thanks to everyonne who gave their advice.
I got the TI-84 Silver Edition because it was requried for Calculus.
Thanks to everyone who gave input.

Tacos!

What kind of algebra are you solving? What grade are you in?

I use a Ti-84 Silver edition, my brother had a Ti-89.

TI-89 solves algebra 1 and 2 problems. That is one of the many differences.

mitkw

Originally Posted by Tacos!

What kind of algebra are you solving? What grade are you in? I use a Ti-84 Silver edition, my brother had a Ti-89. TI-89 solves algebra 1 and 2 problems. That is one of the many differences.

I'm taking Calculus, so I guess that is advanced algebra
Like I said I got a TI-84 Silver, it's a lot more powerful than my trusty old TI-30.

allpurposeguru

Originally Posted by mitkw

Thanks for all of the responses I appreciate it. As to the TI-89 what is the main difference from the 84/83? Also I have TI-92 which I bought and then found out could not use on standardized tests. How does it relate? One more question. Several have mentioned RPN. While I know that it works in stacks rather than brackets, how would y'all say that it compares to AOS input? And are there RPN graphing calculators? Thanks again. I'm still kind of new to all this.

I'm an engineer. I work with scientific calculators all the time.

Since I was very young, I always had AOS calculators (TI-58C, TI-59) until I went to college. There, I worked in the campus bookstore and sold the things. I learned a lot there about the different kinds of calculators and input methods.

HP calculators and RPN, while you have to learn how to use them, are HEAD AND SHOULDERS above ANY AOS calculator.

It takes about 10 minutes to learn how to use one-- and when I worked in the bookstore I told people that 1) I would teach them, right there, how to use their new calculator, in 10 minutes or less and that 2) they could always come back again if they needed help and 3) if they were unhappy after learning how, they could bring back the calculator for a FULL REFUND. (we didn't give refunds on *anything* but I would somehow work it out for them if I needed to.)

In 4 years, I *never*, and I mean *never* had a single person bring back an RPN calculator. I also had many people *thank* me for teaching them how to use it.

Here is an example I would use: (20-3)/(2+5(pi)) = ?
(I would use trig or logs if they knew about them, but we'll keep this family-friendly for now)

On the AOS calculator, you type it in exactly as you see it, including parentheses. Sometimes, due to pending operations, it will do an intermediate calculation and sometimes not. For example, when you type the + after the 2, nothing happens, but when you type the close-parentheses after the 3 it calculates. This means you have to keep track of what you're doing, and you will type in 14-15 keystrokes. Don't forget the * between 5 and pi, also.

on the RPN calculator you type in both numbers and then hit the operation. You use the ENTER key to separate the numbers if necessary-- and if the number is already in the calculator, that's a bonus.
So you would type in: 20 ENTER 3 - 2 ENTER 5 pi * + /
and you have the answer in 12 keystrokes, and you always get an intermediate answer every time you hit an operation key.

If you don't get it, here's the explanation:

20 ENTER 3 are the first two numbers, we hit - to subtract them. 17 is now in the display.

2 ENTER 5 pushes the 17 down the stack, puts 2 on top of it, and puts 5 on top of that.

PI puts 3.1415927 on the stack, and * does 5*PI. 15.7080 is now in the display.
+ adds the 2 and the 15.7080 together to get 17.7080.
/ now divides 17 by 17.7080 and gives you the answer of 0.9600. QED.

CodeBubba

Originally Posted by allpurposeguru

HP calculators and RPN, while you have to learn how to use them, are HEAD AND SHOULDERS above ANY AOS calculator.

Concur.

Originally Posted by allpurposeguru

On the AOS calculator, you type it in exactly as you see it, including parentheses. Sometimes, due to pending operations, it will do an intermediate calculation and sometimes not. For example, when you type the + after the 2, nothing happens, but when you type the close-parentheses after the 3 it calculates. This means you have to keep track of what you're doing, and you will type in 14-15 keystrokes. Don't forget the * between 5 and pi, also.

Also concur ... however the statement "This means you have to keep track of what you're doing" implies that you don't have to keep track of what you're doing with RPN which is clearly not the case.

I, too, have used RPN calculators (for over 30 years). Once this simple input method is learned it is far more consistent a method to use than AOS can be because you are handling the calculation the way a computer would by dealing with the expression in it's proper order-of-precedence. It's not any harder to use than AOS is, either - you just have to "see" how the expression is laid-out which is the way I encourage my Algebra students to see it anyway. The RPN approach also gives you the ability to "catch" an error earlier than AOS does as you watch the progress on a term-by-term basis (dimensional analysis on-the-fly if you will). If the term you're working on doesn't come out reasonably you can back-off and try again sooner than you might with AOS. With AOS you don't know intermediate results nearly as often and have to take by "faith" that the resulting answer is correct.

-CB :D

mitkw

Cool. I guess I should look into RPN calculators.