calculator for math/engineering courses?

<p>Hello:</p>

<p>Does anyone know if there are suggested calculators to purchase, or restrictions on what calculators can/can't be used in math/engineering courses? </p>

<p>For example, will at TI89 be of value in these courses, or will the professors not allow them?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>It depends. Some engineering/chemistry/physics professors will only allow you to have a basic calculator(no graphing calculator) while others don’t care because nothing is going to help you except for your own understanding. In every math class I took(all calculus) no calculator is allowed. Of course Im talking about during the midterms and final for these restrictions. During class or for homework you’re free to use what you want.</p>

<p>The TI89 is nice because of the CAS (pretty sure that stands for Computer Algebra System). You might want to look into the TI NSpire CAS color calculator as well. I’ve never used it, but it sure seems like it would be a good one. That one is new, so maybe a little risk involved there.</p>

<p>Should get a cheap scientific calculator for those inevitable classes where the fancy ones aren’t allowed.</p>

<p>The CAS calculators are nice for checking homework, but it is always more than a good idea to make sure you know how to do the job without it. And sometimes it’s just easier to do something without the calculator rather than figure out how to get the calculator to do it.</p>

<p>Once you get into high enough math classes a graphing calculator will become completely useless because the concepts are too high up >_></p>

<p>I do not disagree. But I am curious. How high up? For example…</p>