<p>i have a ti 84 lol</p>
<p>I have just about all of the calculators mentioned. The best calculator is the one you take the time and learn to use all of the features, so you know what button to push when you need to. My favorite HP-15c (circa1981) non-graphing and ti-89/hp-50g. But for stats you can not beat a ti-84 with a couple of stats programs loaded like cip.</p>
<p>Only non-programmable/non-graphing calculators were allowed for a chemistry class I took last year, so I randomly picked up a TI-36X Pro in the school book store and I have to say I’ve fallen in love with it. It has a decent bank of scientific constants, does conversions quickly, it crushed every single homework and test problem in my engineering mechanics class (statics), and I even used it for my calc three homework and tests because it formats fractions, roots, and pi based answers exactly (or push one button to display an approximation). Can do vectors operations, systems of equations (up to 3 unknowns), and I have to say using the polynomial solver (up to 3rd degree) is a godsend for me (because I suck at factoring). It can do statistics stuff, but I haven’t taken my stats courses yet (that’ll be next year). This calculator was my introduction to mathprint formatting, which makes solving/checking integrals a breeze (albeit non-iterated definite integrals). That said, I did always bring a graphing calculator for math exams to quickly label traces or see a region of integration.</p>
<p>Does it have as many tools as a TI-89, no, but I’m lightning quick with it and that helps a lot on timed tests. My goal at some point is to learn how to use a TI-89 as efficiently as my scientific. That said, I have heard it is one of the most advanced calculators allowed on the fundamentals of engineering exam.</p>
<p>The Casio fx-115ES is also a great calculator for situations where graphing/programmable calculators are not permitted. It has numerous built in constants, functions and problem solving routines like the TI 36X, is very well made and only costs $17.</p>
<p>I use a TI-89 for most math, and a TI-84 for statistics.
Both are pretty good at what they do. TI-89 just has a few annoying drawbacks that makes an 84 helpful(one being the fact that not everyone wants a CAS on tests).</p>