Calculators TI-83 from 1997 worth an upgrade?

[dimensionless]

I have a TI-83 that I got way back in high school. My best guess is that it is from 1997. Given the huge advance in computing technology, is there any good reason to upgrade itr? Do the new ones have significantly better performance? significantly better features?

 

[0rthodontist]

I love my TI-89. If there's any routine math thing that I don't want to spend time doing manually, it will probably do it. I don't know what a TI-83 does differently, never having owned one. I don't think it makes a difference that you got it in 1997--probably the only thing that matters is the model.

 

[J77]

Are you allowed to use calculators beyond high school maths?

Something worth considering if upgrading for college...

 

[dimensionless]

Yes, just not in math class.

 

[franznietzsche]

It depends. The 89 has a lot of symbolic math it can do (almost anything from first year calculus, and then some), which is very useful sometimes. But as far as number crunching goes, not a lot of improvement. Mostly I like having the 89 to check my work on more difficult integrals or differential equations (it can do both symbolically).

 

[0rthodontist]

The 89 can also do matrix algebra, statistics and a lot of other stuff and is easier to program. I used to have an 86 and I think I remember that graphing is a lot faster on the 89.

 

[triden]

Not sure if the TI-83 can differentiate or integrate, but I know my TI 89 can and it helps a lot to check my answers and save me from tough times.

 

[selfAdjoint]

I have a solar t-83 from I think around 1988, it has never failed on me and I still use it a lot. It does statistics but not symbolic, calculus, or matrices. Is there a solar version of the t-89? I might pop for one of those.

 

[FocusedWolf]

I got a ti89 in high school cause my friend got one, and i needed a graphing calculator to fit in...cause everyone had those ti83 and i wanted one to so i could play games...cause a calculator that can play games is cool somehow... Anyways my friend got a ti89, and when i saw the kinda games that thing i could play... i knew i had to have one to... when i bought it, i could of had a ti92...the price was same cause store was going out of buisness, but i wouldn't of been allowed to use a ti92 on any real test like sat...

anyway to sum it up... i didn't know about the ti89's abilities to factor and expand and do derivatives and integrals and solve stuff like this solve(x + 2 = 3,x) and it tells me x = 1... or more complicated situations like solve(x+y = 1 and x = 1,x) and it says x = 1 and y = 1...

So anways as i got into higher and higher math, i learned more and more about what it could do... even in college I'm still finding out about things it can do.

o yea, did i mention i was using a ti89 when i was like a sophmore in high school... was great in algebra 2 and trignometry and geometry... was made even better cause i had the black link cable (so i could send games to it) which allowed me to send math programs to it... some of which i had on the thing since i downloaded them years ago...and still getting use out of them!

I really suggest you get a ti89 titanium... it has a faster processor and more memory then my hardware version 1 original ti89. Also it can use a regular usb cable to send files to it.

I can't stress this enough...you are going to need a ti89 in college... it will help you learn... and a ti89 needs years to stumble through all it's features so sooner you get it the better.

I should also add that in college, I'm not allowed any calculator on any math exam! and I've had lots of them, however physics let's me use a ti89, or any calculator... they say its cause physics is not a test of your math solving capabilities... it's about your capability to do physics.

Did i mention...get a ti89 titanium!

o yea you totally need to get this program on ti89 asap, if you get one: http://www.technicalc.org/packages/eqw/eqw.htm

its a program for symbolic entering of math formulas... bets pants off of doing it manually for let's say, a 3x3 matrix... god linear algebra sucks with all the matrixes :P

 

[franznietzsche]

I got a ti89 in high school cause my friend got one, and i needed a graphing calculator to fit in...cause everyone had those ti83 and i wanted one to so i could play games...cause a calculator that can play games is cool somehow... Anyways my friend got a ti89, and when i saw the kinda games that thing i could play... i knew i had to have one to... when i bought it, i could of had a ti92...the price was same cause store was going out of buisness, but i wouldn't of been allowed to use a ti92 on any real test like sat...

anyway to sum it up... i didn't know about the ti89's abilities to factor and expand and do derivatives and integrals and solve stuff like this solve(x + 2 = 3,x) and it tells me x = 1... or more complicated situations like solve(x+y = 1 and x = 1,x) and it says x = 1 and y = 1...

So anways as i got into higher and higher math, i learned more and more about what it could do... even in college I'm still finding out about things it can do.

o yea, did i mention i was using a ti89 when i was like a sophmore in high school... was great in algebra 2 and trignometry and geometry... was made even better cause i had the black link cable (so i could send games to it) which allowed me to send math programs to it... some of which i had on the thing since i downloaded them years ago...and still getting use out of them!

I really suggest you get a ti89 titanium... it has a faster processor and more memory then my hardware version 1 original ti89. Also it can use a regular usb cable to send files to it.

I can't stress this enough...you are going to need a ti89 in college... it will help you learn... and a ti89 needs years to stumble through all it's features so sooner you get it the better.

This is exactly the kind of attitude I would advise against. It is a very powerful and useful tool, but the attitude that you 'need' one is not only incorrect, but dangerous.

 

[FocusedWolf]

It's just odd to blow 100 something dollars on a ti83 which is nothing more then a regular calcuator + some math functions and way to graph in 2d.

The thing is the ti89 doesn't show you the work to solve stuff... its just answers which is always not enough on a math or physics test, unless it's something multiple choice. Also the answers would only be for a solve(), or factor(), or expand()... or whatever the ti83 can tell you todo...and it graphs in 3d which is nice in calc3.

The point is you still need to know how to do the problems and having a ti89 is not enough.

My college doesn't even let anyone take any form of calculator into a math exam...and yet i still find my ti89 indispensable.

In college the ti89 feels inadaquate most of the time, unless your doing something simple like adding a vector, or doing a quick crossproduct.. It's good for doing simple stuff you know how to do...fast...when showing the work doesn't matter...and checking your work on things your learning... like my first calc homework i can remember was about taking the derivative of stuff and i'd do the work and pop the problem into my calc to see if my answer matched.

 

[moose]

I remember buying my 83 off of some senior when I was a freshmen in high school. I bought it for 20 bucks... Best purchase I have ever made. Anyway, last year I bought a Ti-89 because it was something like 50 dollars off (it was an amazing deal, when compared to what it usually cost... even with that 50 dollars off it's a rip off considering what you can REALLY buy for that amount of money...) and I love it. I use it strictly for checking my work and everything has been awesome. I love having my Ti-83 next to me at my computer desk as well, as it is very useful when calculating something that pops into my head... Also, I loved having my 89 during my differential equations course when doing the homework. Sometimes when I did not have enough time to do a lot of the homework, I skipped through the easy parts of the problems by solving them on the calculator and simply making sure that I knew how to do the actual new parts...

 

[franznietzsche]

In college the ti89 feels inadaquate most of the time, unless your doing something simple like adding a vector, or doing a quick crossproduct..

Then you've become overly dependent on it. You should never use a calculator to do anything you can't do by hand. The calculator should only to be a tool to verify answers, and at times expedite number crunching. Nothing more.

 

[FrogPad]

89 is horrible for graphing in 3d IMHO. You need shading and color to properly view something in 3d.

If you are choosing between an 89 and an 83 go with the 89. The 83's a joke compared to the 89.

 

[Mr. A]

If you are an engineer, forget about Ti-83. Unless you don't mind wasting exam time solving matrices, cross and dot products, solving bunch of equations by hand for your mechanics classes.