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Which Graphic Calculator

S

snverhallen

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 17, 2007
566
0
I need a Graphic Calculator for school. Everyone has a TI-84 Plus but I don't like them that much so I'm looking at the Casio FX-9860GII.

Can they both do the same things, and what would you recommend? And are the keystrokes that different, or are they similar?

Thanks in advance,

snverhallen
 
personally I would say got with a TI-89. They will last you the longest and can do the most stuff.

TI-86 will run into pretty major limitation in upper level math forcing you to need to upgrade any how.
 
ive got an old school ti-83 plus and it does everything i need and more. Plus, there is a load of info about them online.

The nice thing about it is that it has finance functions as well as the graphing stuff.

tmvcalcs.com will be your friend if you get into finance.
 
Get what everyone else has. Because if everyone has a TI-84, and the teacher has a TI-84, then you're going to be lost when they're explaining how to do something on a TI-84 and you've got a Casio.

I had a TI-83 as did my teachers and classmates back in high school. A few people decided to be different and bought in other calculators, some HPs and a couple had TI-89s, and they regretted it. I later had to upgrade to a TI-89 in college, but I'm still glad I had the TI-83 in high school.
 
You don't need to stinking graphing calculator!

Get a regular Casio FX and do the math old school. :p

(that is actually what I did, the TI was out of my budget at the time :eek: )
 
Get a Ti (83, 84, 89, whatever). The Ti's are the industry standard and what practically every student uses, buying a different one could actually make courses more difficult as teachers and other students likely won't be able to explain to you how to use any of the advanced features.
 
yg17 said:
Get what everyone else has. Because if everyone has a TI-84, and the teacher has a TI-84, then you're going to be lost when they're explaining how to do something on a TI-84 and you've got a Casio.

I had a TI-83 as did my teachers and classmates back in high school. A few people decided to be different and bought in other calculators, some HPs and a couple had TI-89s, and they regretted it. I later had to upgrade to a TI-89 in college, but I'm still glad I had the TI-83 in high school.
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QFT.

If the class/curriculum is standardized on the the TI-84 Plus, then get a TI-84 Plus. Don't get another calculator for the sake of being different. Not worth it.
 
How about a slightly used TI-85 in great condition. I've got one I'd be more than happy to sell as it's simply collecting dust in my closet. PM me and let's make a deal. I can ship it out ASAP. :)
 
iShater said:
You don't need to stinking graphing calculator!

Get a regular Casio FX and do the math old school. :p

(that is actually what I did, the TI was out of my budget at the time :eek: )
Click to expand...

If you're an engineering student, look at the approved list of calculators for the FE and P&P exams, and buy one of those. And start getting used to using it. They're only about $15-20, and they absolutely will NOT let you use one that's not on that list.
 
When I was in college the HP48 was quite popular. With the right cartridge I think it would go to class for you and wake you when it was time to collect your degree.
 
Gelfin said:
When I was in college the HP48 was quite popular. With the right cartridge I think it would go to class for you and wake you when it was time to collect your degree.
Click to expand...

Engineers seem to love HP's, but I could never get used to using RPN. I know a bunch of people who swear by it. I always used Casios in college, and still do on the job.
 
Get the t-inspire, it has keypads you can switch out to either use the new software, or make it run like a ti-84+, its what I'm using and it's working great.
 
I agree with what others are saying in that don't get another type of calculator just to be different. Get a TI-83/84. Nearly all high school math classes seem to use it exclusively and it'd be better for you to not get lost when using the calculator so you can learn the material.
 
Just thought I'd update. I actually got the Casio and couldn't be happier. It does all the same stuff as the TI's and is really easy to use. Furthermore it is faster and has more memory. It even has a bigger screen.

So if there are any other people scared to buy anything other than a TI because everyone else has one, don't be.

BTW: it's the Casio FX-9860GII.
 
snverhallen said:
Just thought I'd update. I actually got the Casio and couldn't be happier. It does all the same stuff as the TI's and is really easy to use. Furthermore it is faster and has more memory. It even has a bigger screen.

So if there are any other people scared to buy anything other than a TI because everyone else has one, don't be.

BTW: it's the Casio FX-9860GII.
Click to expand...

I'm glad you're happy with your Casio. I still use and love my fx-7000GA.
 
snverhallen said:
Just thought I'd update. I actually got the Casio and couldn't be happier. It does all the same stuff as the TI's and is really easy to use. Furthermore it is faster and has more memory. It even has a bigger screen.

So if there are any other people scared to buy anything other than a TI because everyone else has one, don't be.

BTW: it's the Casio FX-9860GII.
Click to expand...


only think I ask is can that Casio do integration and differentiation. Reason I ask is that is why I was suggesting TI-89. In higher level math the TI-89 is a life safer. Hell I had professor in college that told us to use our calculator on it. He was telling us to do that because it was 3000 level math and job the calculator was doing was what you would call the basic calculus part.
 
At our school all students (Grade 10 and up) use the TI-83. Just how old are these things? Great calculators though. They do everything we need for up to Higher Level IB Mathematics. :)
 
Tomorrow said:
If you're an engineering student, look at the approved list of calculators for the FE and P&P exams, and buy one of those. And start getting used to using it. They're only about $15-20, and they absolutely will NOT let you use one that's not on that list.
Click to expand...

I had to buy a new calculator since my engineering program doesn't allow the TI-83 series calculators. I bought a Casio FX-115ES. If you're an engineer I would highly recommend it. It's approved for the PE/FE exams and it's really easy to use compared to a comparable TI-30 series. It can also differentiate/integrate functions which is a nice feature.

My favorite feature of it is that it uses "textbook display", which lets you write a string like "80*(3/11cos45)" instead of having to do in several steps. Saves a ton of time when doing some calculations.
 
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Is it the 84 or 89 that has the plus version (silver)? That's what you want. Do that...
 
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