[feh1325]

Quote:

Originally Posted by logwed /img/forum/go_quote.gif Isn't it an illegal calculator on all standardized tests?

allowed on the SAT I, SAT II

not allowed on the ACT

i forgot about the california high school exit exam

 

[nkk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wanderman /img/forum/go_quote.gif HP50g is a requirement for all engineers. I have never used a calculaor in a math class but I have used one in every single engineering class.

Agreed, but also corrected slightly.

-Nkk

 

[nkk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trains are bad /img/forum/go_quote.gif <snip all stuff not relevant to my post for brevity> Don't even get me started on HP calculators. Good for nothing but a boat anchor. Clearly they were designed as slide-rule replacements, and I can see where their following comes from. Their reverse-polish notation is indeed more efficient for simple calculation. But that's not what we use calculators for; it's a different world now. It's not about how fast you can calculate the numerical value of a complex term. Now we store entire thermodynamic equations into a single variable, store the constants of the equation in other variables, and differentiate, integrate, and solve for the answer in seconds, in the right units, while printing it up in human-readable form for error checking and comparing and aiding our analysis on the paper. We write macros and programs to do things like compute a crystal lattice constant by simply plugging in the parameters, doing all the vector maths in the background. The Ti-89 is a very efficient and beautiful tool. To me, fancy calculators are still dumb because everything you can do with a calculator can be done with Matlab or a spreadsheet or Mathematica or whatever. But you can't take those things with you to a test, or to the field. I am definitely a Ti-89 fan.

Are you serious? Where exactly do HP calculators fail here? I can program my 50g to have the equation n one variable, and it I input the terms in an order I choose, it will solve.

It also will use 5 or 6 different equations to solve for a variable.

It also integrates, differentiates, finds symbolic integrals and derivatives, can do cross products and dot products, and although I have not used this, I remember reading it finds gradient vectors given a graph. Plus a couple of hundred other things.

Anyway, I am genuinely interested in knowing why you think it fails, as I have had the exact opposite experience.

Also, it has already been said, but no calcs in calculus. However, being a physics/ChemE dual major, I use them enough other places to make up for it.

-Nkk

 

[Llama16]

Just a regular Ti-84 Plus here. Just school work is done by it.
I don't really play games on it.

 

[MCC]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trains are bad /img/forum/go_quote.gif HP calculators... boat anchor.

I honestly don't see where you're coming from. My friend has an HP 48GX and, despite its age, it's a very powerful tool. I might actually be using one instead of my modern Ti-Nspire CAS if they weren't so expensive to buy used.

I've played around with it quite a bit and I've gotten to like RPN input. It can be entertaining to give it to someone clueless about RPN and ask them to try to add 2 numbers, after which they invariably get an error thrown at them.

 

[JSTpt1022]

You know you're part of a dorky forum when there is a 6 page discussion on the use and relative merit of scientific and graphing calculators. Nice.

 

[wanderman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nkk /img/forum/go_quote.gif Also, it has already been said, but no calcs in calculus. However, being a physics/ChemE dual major, I use them enough other places to make up for it. -Nkk

unit operations, thermo, transport and kinetics require proficient calculator-fu

 

[cyberspyder]

Through high school (this was my last weekend) and its safe to say I still have a Casio fx-991ES, no graphing calculator at all.

We learnt alot of stuff by hand, not by a calculator.

 

[dlisuk]

In high school I loved my ti-86 until it got stolen, i grudgingly used a ti-84 titanium and the $10 ti scientific for hte first three years of my bioengineering curriculum. However, I just bought at HP-35s and am so happy with it. I always thought I needed the multiple lines of a graphing for anything complicated, but the rpn input method is so nifty and fun lol.

 

[DanielCox]

Just a cheapo scientific calculator. I'm a physics student but all graphing calculators are banned.
Never really seen the point - for anything basic a standard calculator will do and for anything complex then a computer will be better.

 

[john_jcb]

HP-35

 

[agile_one]

HP-15C
HP-42S
HP-48G
HP-48GX

 

[Meliboeus]

I've quickly read through the thread and i've seen in the USA the use of graphing calculators is encouraged since high school, here they are usually not allowed nor necessary...

However i have a casio fx-5800 which is quite a nice calc...maybe next year if i need something more for the university i'll buy either a ti-89 or a 50g...

 

[DanielCox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meliboeus /img/forum/go_quote.gif However i have a casio fx-5800 which is quite a nice calc...maybe next year if i need something more for the university i'll buy either a ti-89 or a 50g...

Unless you're studying maths next year then don't bother.

 

[mrarroyo]

I still have the first calculator I personally bought, a TI SR56 circa 1976.