<p>hey im in dire need of a graphing calculator...which are the best ones? also, do u guys use them on SATs? are they helpful? ..thanx</p>
<p>I would say the most popular is the TI-83/84 (Texas Instruments). It can be pretty helpful on the SATs.</p>
<p>ti-89 i would say. It's very good but probably takes a little while to really master. the symbolic manipulation capabilities are what separate this from the others.</p>
<p>which is better for physics??</p>
<p>The TI-83 has a numeric solver, which is good enough for trig based physics. The TI-89 would be usefull in calc based physics.</p>
<p>Personally, I prefer the HP-49g+. The unique entry system is confusing at first but only seems logical after a while.</p>
<p>Any one else use and HP calculator.</p>
<p>whats a numeric selover?</p>
<p>Sorry about my typo (now corrected).
A numeric solver is an application that allows one to find approximate soultions to equations. It is much easier to use than symbolicly solving every equation.
On the TI-83, the solver is found at the bottom of the math menu. To solve an eqation, hit ALPHA and then solve, which is located above the enter key (or nearby, My calc is at my locker now)</p>
<p>nah, solver on ti 89 owns all.</p>
<p>type in something like</p>
<p>solve(x^2 + sin(x^(3/4)) = 4x^3,x) and it tells you what x is.</p>
<p>amazing.</p>
<p>depends on what you need it for, I find TI-84 to be a faster grapher than 83 plus, and 89 wins for solving powers hands down</p>
<p>faster grapher? meaning it plots the lines and stuff faster? that's not that significant...</p>
<p>But if you're planning on getting an 83+, i would consider getting an 84, since I think the 84 is going to replace the 83 soon (but that means like 5 years or so).</p>
<p>No, The 83 and 84 are exactly the same for all intensive purposes. Buy an 83 and save yourself money.</p>
<p>Ti 84 plus silver edition is great because it has preloaded applications on it</p>
<p>so is the Ti-89 the ideal/best overall calc?</p>
<p>Yeah, the 89 is the best overall. The only disadvantages are that:</p>
<p>(1) costs more (around $140 I think...)
(2) weighs more (this is not that important though)
(3) less durable (you can drop a ti 83 off a desk as many times as you want and it'll be fine. this isn't true for an 89)
(4) statistics features are worse</p>
<p>The advantages far outweight the small disadvantages. The only imoprtant one I feel is (4), and that's only if you're in stats. Other than that, symbolic manipulations are amazing.</p>
<p>P.S. Symbolic manipulations mean like in the ti 83, if you say (x^2 - 1)/(x - 1), the answer will be whatever that expression evaluates to for the value stored in x at the time. However, in the 89, if there's nothing stored for x (0 is not the default), then </p>