Choosing the Best Calculator for Your College Physics Major | Expert Tips

[Sophie]

Hi,

I'm going to be a college freshman in the fall and I don't own a graphing calculator (I used the school's in high school). I'm planning to major in physics and I am assuming that I should buy one, I'm just not sure which one. Right now the TI-89 titanium seems to be the most comprehensive, however I'm wondering if there is one out there that would better suit my needs and budget. Any suggestions would be great :)

 

[vanesch]

I studied long ago, and back then, the only thing we were allowed was a non-programmable simple scientific calculator - which we almost never used, btw. So I stepped back from my old Ti-59 which was starting to have problems back then.

Now, just out of curiosity, I looked up that Ti-89 titanium, and holy S**T ! That costs about 200 Euro ! Never I would give such an amount of money for a calculator today! For 300 Euro, you have an EEPC, which would, in my opinion, be a very good tool for a student (light, you can take notes with it, it is a real computer...). If you install something like scilab on it, you have a far better calculator.

As to good performance lower cost calculators, I don't know. But I find that titanium too expensive for what it is - although I can recon it to be the star of the calculators.

 

[AhmedEzz]

In my university - and most of the others in Egypt as well-, we are yet to be allowed to use a graphic calculator.

 

[nkk2008]

May I redirect you to this discussion:

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=133304

Many of the good and bad points are brought up for a TI-89 and the HP 50G. Personaly, I have and love the HP, but everyone has their own preference.

Hope that was of help,
Nkk2008