Graphing Calculator

AdamZ

AdamZ

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Feb 24, 2005
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Display name:
Adam Zucker
We just got my daughters minimum equipment list for High School ( she's going into 9th grade) and apparently she needs a graphing calculator. I thought I had a fancy calculator because it did cosigns and tangents in HS. Wow has the world changed.

My wife told me they cost $100.00 I was like no way! $100 for a calculator. So I got on line and sure enough just about $100.00 Seems like the TI83 and TI84 are the biggies. But the costs range from in the $40 to a few hundred.. It appears the ones that cost more have more RAM and other memory. So I know there are a lot of engineers and related geeks here. Is it worth the extra $60 to get the TI 83/84 or what ever over the cheaper Casios etc?
 
I think I've got one she could borrow. (TI-83/4)
 
The TI was the recommended calculator for our daughter's school. It seemed all the math/physics classwork & homework was based on using the TI . Other calculators would provide the same functions, but that added some transferrance issues to enter the data and present the output to match the class presentations.
 
Be glad it is just a graphing calculator. Some of the HS around here are starting to require laptops for the upper classmen.

My personal opinion is that no one needs a graphing calculator, it is better to learn how to use calculus to determine basic graphs and for people who are just learning math, better to actually focus on the math itself. But since math in HS is not taught by people who actually know math you get teacher who would rather teach the technology than the actual subject. This is not new. It was this way when I was in HS and I really did not learn math and what a cool language it is until college.
 
TI has pretty well been the standard at most high schools (and a lot of colleges) for a while now. The TI-83 is an awesome calculator, especially when you're trying to learn how different functions graph and how different variables affect the functions.

I had some friends in high school who had the Casio and HP models that were equivalent, and while they had all the same functions, the TI models were easier to operate for someone learning. (disclaimer is I went to a residential math and science school for junior and senior year)
 
This comic applies:
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I'm looking at a TI-83 Plus Silver Edition. I haven't used it much since high school since I bought a TI-89 for college. It has a copy of Galaga and Block Dude and a few other kick ass games on it which explains my poor grades in Advanced Algebra with Mrs. Olsen.

Can be in the mail tonight...
 
tonycondon said:
I'm looking at a TI-83 Plus Silver Edition. I haven't used it much since high school since I bought a TI-89 for college. It has a copy of Galaga and Block Dude and a few other kick ass games on it which explains my poor grades in Advanced Algebra with Mrs. Olsen.

Can be in the mail tonight...
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LOL PM Sent.
 
I made it through high school, a college double major in physics and math, and I'm almost done a PhD in astronomy, and I've never owned (or used, really) a graphing calculator. If I can't do it on my scientific calculator (or my slide rule), I need full-blown computer for it. I've always been skeptical of the utility of a graphing calculator, but maybe others in more practical fields like engineering have a different perspective.
 
Tommy's required to have a TI N-Spire graphing calc, *and* he has to have an Apple Laptop, but they provide the laptop, and charge around $700 for it.

Which I thought sounded like a pretty good deal, until I found out tat money just covers one year of USING the thing, and it has to be returned at the end of the school year.
 
chucky said:
I've always been skeptical of the utility of a graphing calculator, but maybe others in more practical fields like engineering have a different perspective.
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As an engineer I have never needed a graphing calculator. I sort of had one once, a HP28, that could do a few graphs, but never used it for that. If I needed a graph, I used the computer to plot the data.
 
The school says to get a particular brand and model of calculator because the textbooks they will use for math and science are written with that particular calculator in mind. Some schools will rent or loan the calculators to you.
 
I think she needs a laptop instead.

Plus a Droid. :D
 
I spent more time playing games on my Ti-83+ (which I bricked from modding) and then Ti-84+ than I did using them for class in high school. One downside of the calculator is the propensity to store things in the calculator for use during tests. Incredibly easy, and easy to protect from being erased during a normal clear, by using archiving and things of that nature. Not that I'd know or anything, just from what I heard.
 
The TI86 and TI89 are awesome, I used both in school. I think I own an 89 somewhere, but I stole the batteries out of it a long time ago.
 
chucky said:
I made it through high school, a college double major in physics and math, and I'm almost done a PhD in astronomy, and I've never owned (or used, really) a graphing calculator. If I can't do it on my scientific calculator (or my slide rule), I need full-blown computer for it. I've always been skeptical of the utility of a graphing calculator, but maybe others in more practical fields like engineering have a different perspective.
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Well, if ya really wanna go that route:
I made it through high school then a BS, MSc, and PhD all in Petroleum Engineering and I've never owned or used a graphing calculator. Only the theoretical types like mathematicians and physists need that ideal stuff like an actual function displayed graphically. We engineering types are empirical at heart...though we do use functions when it suits us.
 
Matthew said:
The school says to get a particular brand and model of calculator because the textbooks they will use for math and science are written with that particular calculator in mind. Some schools will rent or loan the calculators to you.
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Yep. How companies ensure future sales :rolleyes:

Personally, I think she needs a slipstick and a CRC book. :cryin:
 
I have ben out of highschool for over a decade now. even in the 90's the TI-83/4 was the standard that all of the science and math students had to get. This isnt anything new for a lot of schools.
 
Areeda said:
OH yeah, well we used an abacus and clay tablets:wink2:

Sorry, I couldn't resist you old fart.
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Calculators existed when I was in high school. We just weren't allowed to use them in class. I think the rule was changed when I was a senior.

Frankly, I don't think kids should be allowed very much use of technology in school, other than in classes devoted to technology itself. I don't think they should be able to use computers or calculators to solve math problems, for example, but should have to use manual arithmetic, trig tables, etc.

I'm not a Luddite. I just think there's some level of learning and development that transcends mathematics itself, and which doesn't happen unless children actually have to work through mathematics problems themselves.

-Rich
 
RJM62 said:
Calculators existed when I was in high school. We just weren't allowed to use them in class. I think the rule was changed when I was a senior.

Frankly, I don't think kids should be allowed very much use of technology in school, other than in classes devoted to technology itself. I don't think they should be able to use computers or calculators to solve math problems, for example, but should have to use manual arithmetic, trig tables, etc.

I'm not a Luddite. I just think there's some level of learning and development that transcends mathematics itself, and which doesn't happen unless children actually have to work through mathematics problems themselves.

-Rich
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I know Rich, I was joking because I'm from the same school. One of my prized possessions is still a KE slip stick my dad got me when I won some math award.

I agree with you on mathematics but calculators do calculations not math. If they still teach kids first how to do the arithmetic I don't see a problem using a calculator to learn to deal with real world problems.

Joe
 
Clark1961 said:
Well, if ya really wanna go that route:
I made it through high school then a BS, MSc, and PhD all in Petroleum Engineering and I've never owned or used a graphing calculator. Only the theoretical types like mathematicians and physists need that ideal stuff like an actual function displayed graphically. We engineering types are empirical at heart...though we do use functions when it suits us.
Click to expand...

Hey, I'm not trying to start a fight with the engineers, I'm just saying I don't know if it's any different different :D. Judging from my sample of two or three replies in this thread, I'd say it isn't.

Areeda said:
I know Rich, I was joking because I'm from the same school. One of my prized possessions is still a KE slip stick my dad got me when I won some math award.
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I'm partial to the Post/Hemmi rules, myself, though I do have a couple of K&E rules that I like.
 
The 83/84s are nice, but they are basic. They do more than enough for high school. But, using an 89 with "pretty print" is worlds better as you don't have to worry about having perfect syntax. Well, you do, but if you make a mistake, it displays what you did put in which is easily correctable to what you meant. So many parentheses in AP calculus.

That said, my calc. II professor didn't allow calculators on his exams and somehow we managed to get these simple numbers after a page of work. Funny how that works and probably one of the smartest professors I ever had.
 
RJM62 said:
We used slide rules and graph paper...

-Rich
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Funny... I just took the PPL written using that. (e6b + graph paper + simple 8-function calculator)
 
what ever happend to paper, pencils.. and the tables at the back of the book..
 
Careful, Adam. Buying her a TI could lead to MARRIAGE!


Leslie and I met in the Calculus for Geeks class in college. We were the only two in the course who had TI calculators; everyone else had HPs. I knew how to program mine (it was an old TI-66), and offered to help Leslie, being the chivalrous soul that I am. The rest, as they say, is history! :)
 
Droid + the Droid48 app...sorry, I went to engineering school and learned the HP48 way back when...RPN rules!
 
Adam, I've had my TI-83 for 16 years. It's been the most reliable piece of equipment that I've ever purchased. If it's what her school recommends, that means it's what her classes will be based around, and the teachers will have no idea how to use any of the other calculators. Most of these graphing things aren't very intuitive, and a lot of times they simply won't let you use anything else. If Tony, Ed, or whoever else, will sell you a used TI-83/84, then I'd just go for that.

Interesting note, even the TI-85/86 and -89 (or especially the -92) have significantly different user interfaces. I have no idea how to do things on any of the other calculators even made by TI, I only know how to use my -83 (and I've forgotten most of it).
 
I still have an old HP-55 at home. And a 41CX that I use regularly. I got the 55 when I went to college.....
 
wsuffa said:
I still have an old HP-55 at home. And a 41CX that I use regularly. I got the 55 when I went to college.....
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I am jealous of your 41cx. I still use a 15C at work. I have at home a 28S and several other HP calculators. I always wanted a 41C or CX. I looked at eBay to buy an old one and they are going for $400 in good condition.

Oh, and RPN RULZ!!!
 
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ScottM said:
I am jealous of your 41cx. I still use a 15C at work. I have at home a 28S and several other HP calculators. I always wanted a 41C or CX. I looked at eBay to buy an old one and they are going for $400 in good condition.
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wow - that much?!?

I've still got a couple of impedance-match and phase-shift programs in there that I haven't used for several years.....
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Adam, I've had my TI-83 for 16 years. It's been the most reliable piece of equipment that I've ever purchased. If it's what her school recommends, that means it's what her classes will be based around, and the teachers will have no idea how to use any of the other calculators. Most of these graphing things aren't very intuitive, and a lot of times they simply won't let you use anything else. If Tony, Ed, or whoever else, will sell you a used TI-83/84, then I'd just go for that.

Interesting note, even the TI-85/86 and -89 (or especially the -92) have significantly different user interfaces. I have no idea how to do things on any of the other calculators even made by TI, I only know how to use my -83 (and I've forgotten most of it).
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Probably what I'm going to do. We just have to confirm with the school what it is they require. Jeez when I went to school it was no calculators on tests I had pencils and one of those BIG trapazoid looking erasers.
 
Was teaching a class one time and we were learning numbers systems and conversions. Some of the students had calculators that would do the conversions but I had made it very clear I expected them to understand the process and to be able to do it without the calculator.

Made up a quiz one morning, walked into the room and told everyone to pass their calculators to the front of the room. Got some really sad looks from a few folks. :D
 
My kids had to have the graphing calculators in high school, and we dutifully bought the TI model that you are talking about (or maybe an earlier version, but they did the graphs). However, I think using the graphing calculators takes away some of the kid's ability to think. If they do not learn to understand the graphs, what good will it ever do them to be able to punch a few calculator keys and make the calculator create a graph of a function?
 
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