<p>I’m going to be a freshman this fall, and I want to take honors calc III. What type of calculator should I get? Will the TI-84 Plus Silver Edition that I have be good enough for the class?</p>
<p>That’s what my D had at school.</p>
<p>Just upgraded the boy to the NSPIRE from the 84. The 84 got him through his first year at UA. Not sure of your student’s major, but I’m told the TI-89 has “Engineering-specific” apps on it. Little brother starts High School this year, so I thought I would kill two birds…</p>
<p>^^just be sure younger son has a test approved calculator for ACT/SAT etc. DD has both an 84 and 89 Platinum(?) - one is approved the other isn’t.</p>
<p>Does your son like the NSPIRE? DD is on the fence about an upgrade. Her HS calc teacher didn’t care for it and didn’t recommend it to students (but it could be he didn’t want to learn the ins and outs of another calculator in his last year of teaching)…</p>
<p>You’ll thank yourself so much if you get an Nspire or 89, if you’re going in a STEM major. If not, I’m not so sure spending $150 on a calculator like that is wise. The 84 should suit your needs if you are used to it.</p>
<p>He has had the NSPIRE for about a week now, so the jury is still out. I was impressed with it, but I am not an engineer by trade myself. Ironically, the “NSPIRE for dummies” book has praised so for in helping him navigate it. I will update as I get feedback from him.</p>
<p>Thanks for the pointer on the ACT-accepted calculator. I will look into that.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m going to be a STEM major, so I’ll look into getting an NSPIRE or an 89. Is there an advantage to getting one over the other?</p>
<p>The 89 is a precursor to the NSPIRE CAS. The NSPIRE CAS is almost like a computer. You can launch applications from the desktop. You can input math expressions like they would look like if you wrote them, and the calculator displays the answers in the same format. And color display. The CAS (computer algebra system) evaluates equation, expressions, derivatives, integrals, summations, etc symbolically instead of numerically.</p>
<p>Of my favorite things however is the ability to scroll through calculations you already put in. The 89 had a memory of 30 calculations, the NSPIRE may have more. You can scroll through calculations, select the input, and hit enter and the calculator preloads the expression in the input window so you can change a number or two. This is exceedingly useful when doing engineering problems which often involve very large algebraic expressions.</p>
<p>Thanks, @feenotype! I’ll be sure to get an NSPIRE then.</p>
<p>I would be remiss if I didn’t point something out before you bought that calculator. Answering your actual original question about calculators for Cal III, most if not all professors do not allow calculators of any kind on exams. The exams are designed so that the solutions can be simplified with mental math or aren’t required to be simplified. The same thing can be said of most every math course above calculus level. But the NSPIRE or 89 will be of great value for your STEM classes, so think of it as a long-term investment.</p>
<p>Here is a syllabus for MATH 247 from last year I found by searching from the UA homepage: [UA</a> Online Syllabi](<a href=“UA Online Syllabi”>UA Online Syllabi)</p>
<p>I offered my son the 89 or NSPIRE for his Graduation Gift. He did research and decided on the TI-89. </p>
<p>He said both would be excellent for his engineering classes. The NSPIRE was probably a little better, but the TI-89 works like the TI-84. The NSPIRE has a bit of a learning curve. I found it last week on Amazon for $128.</p>