What's your favorite calculator?

ArcanaNoir

I'm really happy with my Casio ClassPad. The 2D math feature is so user friendly. I so wish the screen was brighter though.

Jaynte

I have TI-84 Plus now, I think it's awesome, before i had TI-82 and
I don't see much of a different exept faster CPU in TI-84.

No symbolic integrals and equation solver but thats always more easy to do by hand i think.

jtbell

I considered the 15C, but I finally decided that for the kinds of calculations I did (and still do), complex numbers, matrices, and numerical integration weren't worth the higher price, so I went with the 11C.

Last summer I found a good deal on a HP 50g at Best Buy and bought one, but I haven't really had the time to teach myself how to use it effectively yet. The 11C is still my workhorse at home.

Jack23454

I have open office and use the calc built into the software when using the spreadsheet function

Jack21222

You're only saying that because you haven't tried it. :-p

qspeechc

Real men don't use calculators.

Jaynte

Hehe, I have tried it, just like using a pen :)

Jack21222

You're right. Real men don't do maths at all, in fact. Real men play rugby, lift weights, and dig ditches for a living. Or work construction, where they eyeball their measurements.

That's what I think of when I hear the term "real men" anyway. I don't think of some nerd in his basement with a table of integrals looking things up manually. :-p

BobG

I have my dad's HP35. It still works, but the switch is a little dodgy, so it can turn off unexpectedly.

My favorite calculator is the Post 1460 Versalog (embedding the pictures is a little obnoxious since the picture has to big enough to see the scales).

http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/ted/p-1...gvariant1a.jpg

http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/ted/p-1...iant1aback.jpg

Has more capabilities than the standard scientific calculator. It can handle complex numbers, solve quadratic equations, convert from polar/spherical coordinates to Cartesian coordinates, among other things.

But, if you want a sub-$20 scientific calculator with symbolic notation, the Casio fx-300ES is the way to go:

Jimmy Snyder

I had been using a Casio fx-560 for the last 30 years without needing anything else. In fact, I haven't used most of its functions. However, recently I had need of a graphing calculator and my daughter got a TI-84+ from a friend. I like that one too.

zomgwtf

Many of you guys talk about using the graphing calculators for school.... were you guys able to use them during tests/exams? It's always been a condition since highschool that no graphing calculators were to be used during tests/exams. Even through college/university physics and math (chemistry they didn't care same with a few other courses but that's because you're just really doing simple math so the graphing calculator gives no advantage really)

Mind you I haven't taken upper level maths or physics yet so maybe that'll change.

Dembadon

My Calc I & II professor didn't allow any calculators on exams. I don't really see how they would've helped on his tests anyways; he was heavy into theory and concepts, not computation. If there was some number-crunching to be done, the arithmetic was made simple enough to do by hand. He stated, "I don't care about your number-crunching skills. I want to know whether or not you understand the Calculus."

BobG

Funny thing is that most of the students don't know how to use their graphing calculators well enough for it to give them much advantage over a standard scientific calculator.

Most of the students in physics classes haven't even realized that most of the constants they need are already built into their calculators, let alone that they can program in any of the less frequently used constants that they could store in their calculators themselves.

QuarkCharmer

The only thing my university seems to worry about is the ability to differentiate, hence Calculus I tests cannot be taken with the TI-89. From Calc II and up, they don't seem to care what you use though (the TI-84 can find definite integrals, but not indefinite or differentials).

The major reason I like the 89 over the 84, is not for it's derivatives or integrals or anything like that though. It's simply because you can just arrow over and start typing (as you can on a computer) to edit equations. It also keeps all your past intermediate values that you can simply copy. I don't understand why the TI-84 does not have this feature. It's a pain to re-type intermediate values, and to press insert every time you want to add something. I also really like the custom menu system on the 89 and the Matrix Editor app that it ships with. It's much easier to just input rref([x x x],[x x x],[x x x]) than it is to bother typing all that stuff into the 84.

ArcanaNoir

I made learning to use my calculator effectively a part of my homework. When I would do a problem set, I would consult my calculator manual to see what my calculator could do that was relevant to expediting the problem and confirming my answer. I always had to show all my work anyway, so it really was mostly to confirm answers.

stringy

zomgwtf

Yeah, same basically. They really are invaluable tools for checking answers. As I said above my calculator has saved my butt on numerous occasions.

@Quark, I'm sure there's a program that you can install to have your 84/89 do differentials. I mean on mine I downloaded games even! There was also this nifty program that solved some physics problems you just had to know which equation to use and it would show ALL the steps.