Reccomend a good Graphing Calculator

um0123

Well, i felt ambitious and signed up for Honors Precalculus. I think i will be fine considering i love math and physics, but i need a good graphing calculator. Around $100-150 if possible. And it would be nice if it had normal physics and math constants in it (since i am also taking physics next year).

Thanks in advance.

Pinu7

You don't need a graphing calculator for anything you may be doing.

A scientific calculator is good enough(unless you want to play Mario kart on it. That is mainly what I use my graphing Calculator for).

Physics contents? You mean like scientific constants? Most scientific/graphing calculators have them.

If you mean programs, you need computer software(MATLAB, Mathematica,etc.) but they are much more expensive than what you could afford.

um0123

I wont? It seems like everyone in my school at the precalculus level has one...
Can you still reccomend some? I want to be prepared and im sure it would be good to have in my senior year.
I dont mean programs, because i would need to take this to school. Plus we have a lot of those programs on my school computers.

Wellesley

You don't really need one until you reach Calculus. At that point needing to know how to graph e^-t*sin3t by hand isn't that vital....knowing what to do with the function's graph is.

If you really are looking for a comprehensive calculator try the TI-89 (Titanium) or HP 50G. I have the TI, and I can vouch for it from personal experience, but I'm sure the HP is fine as well.

Pinu7

Wellesley, (e^-t)*sin 3t is fairly easy to graph by hand by letting e^-t be the "amplitude".


TI Nspire, TI-84+(it's a bit cheaper), HP 50g, Voyage 200( which is like $200, but the best one on the list).

Also if you are REALLY interested in math/physics, then you could get Mathematica (It's like $300. But It's fun to play with.)

Wellesley

I was just using it as an example. You can pick another function that is more difficult, ti doesn't really matter. That one came to mind from a Differential Equations test that I took recently.

symbolipoint

TI-83+ or TI-84. Good deals always are offered during "Going Back To School" time.

You don't really need graphing calculators in Pre-Calculus or College Algebra, but they can be very nice for checking some of your work.

Pinu7

I forgot, the Casio ClassPad 300, is probably the coolest graphing calculator! It uses a touchscreen!


Edit: If you get it, make sure you get the "plus" version.