Which calculator? Hp 50G vs Ti89 Titanium

fmttu

TI users just don't get it. It's like when you learned cursive in 3rd grade. Yes, there was a learning curve, but once you learned it there was no effort in "translating" from printed letters. Afterwards you wondered why anybody would ever print. RPN is like that. Once you learn it, it's natural, much faster and easier. I can't even work a TI anymore - and wouldn't want to.

Last year I worked with our school's calculator math team that took dead last the year before with TI's. We pitched those in the trash and bought HP 35S calculators. The kids loved them - they hated the TI's. At the end of the semester they won 1st place and every one of them attributed it to the ease of the HP.

I, myself competed twice at the TX UIL state level with an HP 32e. I started out with a TI and man am I glad my math teacher showed me the HP way. I'm now an engineer and I use several HP's daily. I use a 35S on my desk. I use an HP emulator for windows and one on my Blackberry from Lygea. All I can say is give RPN a try - you'll love it or I'll gladly buy your HP from you.

*Count Iblis*

Hmmmm:

In math classes where the books and the teacher require specific answers in a specific manner native to the TI it has little to do with more study to use it properly.

I would remove my child from a school that teaches math this way. Thing is that you don't even need calculators to learn math. A simple calculator that can evaluate logarithms, exponentials, and trigonometric functions is more than enough.

lodc

I found the same bias towards TI calculators when I was in HS some years ago, to the point where one teacher insisted I would not be able to do the classwork with my 48SX.

Being the type of guy (nerd?) who enjoys math and playing with calculators, I took this as a challenge and in fact did very well in the class using my HP. The process of converting from the lame TI "press this, now press that" instructions into the equivalent process on my HP forced me to understand what we were doing and why we were doing it. I wrote some simple functions to speed the translation, and in doing so probably came to understand the TI process better than those using the TIs.

That said, for an average student I would probably recommend getting whatever the instructor recommends, which will probably be TI due to their sadly effective marketing. You will pass the class with less effort, although also with possibly less understanding.

sixfor

s = h[64*(theta/beta)^3-192*(theta/beta)^4-192*(theta/beta)^5-64*(theta/beta)^6]

can someone teach me how to plot the regarding graph
thanks in advance

jtbell

Which calculator are you using?

sixfor

hp 50g

surveyor

Is TI-89 calculator legible for college exams?

jtbell

Quote by surveyor

legible

I assume you mean "legal" (permitted, allowed). The answer to this question varies for different colleges, and even for different courses in the same college. It should be specified in the course's syllabus.

Shajnush Amir

Quote by AllPurposeGur

This is exactly what I've seen. TI provides tons of input, including free hardware to the writers and to the book publishers, and gets their calculators' keysequences published DIRECTLY in the book. Some publishers even offer purchase of the calculators at a discount courtesy of TI.

I personally think it sucks. One, I have to buy my son what I would consider to be a HORRIBLE calculator, the prices of which are elevated because of the in-built demand, and the education suffers because not only is the text written such that the TI calculators are required to follow the flow, but far too much dependency is placed onto the calculator.

If the publishers were to write books that did NOT assume a particular calculator paradigm, or, for that matter, NO calculator paradigm, the students would, IMHO, fare much better than they do now.

(and I'm not being an old curmudgeon. I've had a HP-41CV since 11th grade.)

The fact that I had to learn how to use it, rather than being told "press Solve, then 0, then 100, then .1, then ")" then "ANS", actually helped me to understand what was going on BETTER.

Exactly, i am in year 12 now. I got hold of a HP 50g after reading this forum. At first I had some problems but I held on to it, I used to keep a Casio 991 ES with me for emergency. My friends teased me for getting a HP. I printed the advanced manual for quick reference. Now after about a year of use I a can do anyhing with it and to my delight my HP 50g outruns all TIs in my class. And RPN is just beautiful...

Shajnush Amir

Quote by AC2000

I'm about to buy a new calculator for my son...mainly for his high school math...

I used to own a HP-41CV when I was a EE student about 20 years ago. It never disappointed me and helped me to survive those years.

As many others pointed out, those who use RPN never want to switch back to non-RPN calculators. I'm one of those, thus I personally prefer HP-50G....

The only other consideration....I found out that TI-89 is very popular for high school students and got a bigger user support groups than HP.

It is a hard decision to make...any suggestions?

I am in year 12 now. I got a HP 50g last year even though my class preferred TI. At first it was a bit difficult to cope with it and kept a Casio 991ES for emergency use. Than I printed the Advanced manual. and after a year of use I am quite proficient with my HP and I love RPN and it outruns TI.. If your son is willing to do a bit of work on the calculator other than studies it won't be a problem. Moreover, in the long run it helped me a lot... While going through the Advanced manual I came across some interesting topics and the exercises in the manual also helped a lot.

Shajnush Amir

Quote by fmttu

TI users just don't get it. It's like when you learned cursive in 3rd grade. Yes, there was a learning curve, but once you learned it there was no effort in "translating" from printed letters. Afterwards you wondered why anybody would ever print. RPN is like that. Once you learn it, it's natural, much faster and easier. I can't even work a TI anymore - and wouldn't want to.

Last year I worked with our school's calculator math team that took dead last the year before with TI's. We pitched those in the trash and bought HP 35S calculators. The kids loved them - they hated the TI's. At the end of the semester they won 1st place and every one of them attributed it to the ease of the HP.

I, myself competed twice at the TX UIL state level with an HP 32e. I started out with a TI and man am I glad my math teacher showed me the HP way. I'm now an engineer and I use several HP's daily. I use a 35S on my desk. I use an HP emulator for windows and one on my Blackberry from Lygea. All I can say is give RPN a try - you'll love it or I'll gladly buy your HP from you.

I hope I had a HP loving teacher....

lunabirhd

I love my 89

lunabirhd

I have a problem. I hope one of you can help me with this. my TI-86 answers every problem with an E answer. example: 3*3=9E0 How do I make it stop doing this? This has always been a great calc till it started doing this. you can reply to my email lunabirhd@yahoo.com

sixfor

and i love my 50g

lunabirhd

Quote by surveyor

Is TI-89 calculator legible for college exams?

i was never allowed

lunabirhd

Thanks if you were going to give me an answer but as soon as I posted...I figured it out.:-) Thanks anyways!

AudreeArringt

Hello FrogPad,

Thank you very much, your link RPN TI89 software. Now, I am inclined to give IT a try. But when I read elsewhere, there are several changes between the TI89 and TI89-Titanium and some software to run again planning titanium. Does anyone know if the RPN-(latest software update 2000) is compatible with the TI89-Titanium? Thank you very much.... :) :)

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sixfor	s = h[64(theta/beta)^3-192(theta/beta)^4-192(theta/beta)^5-64(theta/beta)^6] can someone teach me how to plot the regarding graph thanks in advance

lunabirhd	I have a problem. I hope one of you can help me with this. my TI-86 answers every problem with an E answer. example: 3*3=9E0 How do I make it stop doing this? This has always been a great calc till it started doing this. you can reply to my email lunabirhd@yahoo.com

AudreeArringt	Hello FrogPad, Thank you very much, your link RPN TI89 software. Now, I am inclined to give IT a try. But when I read elsewhere, there are several changes between the TI89 and TI89-Titanium and some software to run again planning titanium. Does anyone know if the RPN-(latest software update 2000) is compatible with the TI89-Titanium? Thank you very much.... :) :)