RPN DOES rule. definately go HP. you'll never go back to a normal calculator again

 

I borrowed a TI-89 from an engineering dropout for college, it saved my life. It's possible that professors have gotten wise in the last 2 years but I'm sure it depends on the school. I also used the 89 to take the FE Exam, and there was no problem there.

The other benefit of an 89 is that it can store the last 99 calculations, not just what fits on the screen. That is a great feature as well.

 

yep, very true.

 

i like how it can copy and paste the LONG *** forumlas =D

 

im going to borrow one from a friend. try it out to see how it goes.

 

hmmm, my ti-89 only does the last 30 operations. maybe they changed them after i bought mine which was like 5 or so years ago

 

mine stores 30 after calculation as well.

 

If you're going into engineering...screw the calculator. LEARN how to integrate...I'm dead serious...you're gonna have to know the basic calculus operations by heart if you want to do well in engineering. A powerful calculator like a TI-89 will hurt you more than help you cause the prof's can easily come out with test problems to nullify the advantage of these calculators (i.e. they can ask theoretical question without a definitive answer).

 

integration and derivatives are fairly easy anyhow..

 

Ever play Drug Wars on the calculator?

 

i never said to not learn how to do the stuff, you have to do that. you can't get by relying on the calculator, but it does make a great tool to use and can save you a lot of time

 

yeh. calcs are only there to HELP us out. Make things go faster. There are always equations that we can use. Calcs are helpful in that they can give us a graphical view of what's going on. It allows us to solve, using a graph.

I'm basically buying it to give me a slight edge when taking tests. If i can just type in the equations and have it draw... i can move onto other questions and come back to it when it's done. Analyze the graph and i get an answer. lol. man i'm terrible.

 

well....that's kinda what I'm saying. it's not like the prof is gonna make you draw a saddle curve or anything. it's a test so anything graphical he asks will have to be easily drawn within the timeframe. I honestly think you'll perform better and more quickly if you concentrate on memorizing the techniques to solving these problems rather than studying how to do it on the calc.

i hope i dont' sound harsh or anything, but I really say it all based on personal experience. I was very dependent on my graphing calculator during Calc I and II, and I greatly regretted it later down the line when I was taking CFD and FEM courses that were extremely math intensive.

 

In case anyone is interested (or not ) this will give you an idea of how far these calculators have come in 15 years....

HP48SX specs

And it cost only $300.....in 1990 . Would be about the same as $400-450 today.

 

ah.. but i took a year of engineering math and physics. still didn't use it then.