<p>Hello, I've had my TI-83 plus for about 2 years and its served me well in the elementary graphing needs of Algebra 1 and 2 but next year I will be taking AP Calculus BC and I need a better calculator. I'm also sick of having to perform a lot operations by hand while my fellow math club members easily punch a few buttons on their calculator. Please do not lecture me on how its important to be able to do stuff by hand and such, I know how to do it but not having a CAS system is slowing me down. Right now it is between the TI Nspire cx CAS and the TI-89 Titanium. I'll try to avoid starting another calculator forum but after playing around with my friends calculators the TI Nspire is much more powerful and easier to use than the 89. My question is: are there a lot of extra programs and functions available for the Nspire (I know you'd have to "jailbreak" first) like there are for the 89, or is there a large gap? Is it easier to find good programs for the Nspire or the 89? Which one will serve me best during contests?
Thank you.</p>
<p>I’m currently taking Calculus BC, I barely even use my TI-84</p>
<p>Also many contests (like AMC) don’t even let you use ANY calculator.</p>
<p>Well from what I’ve seen, the curriculum of calculus courses varies from school to school and apparently I am required to have a TI-89, Nspire or the Casio Prizm. Also, the ICTM contests which are the Illinois math state competition allows CAS calculators and because of this many problems are designed with the assumption that you will have one, last year I feel I would have done much better if I had one.</p>
<p>I’m taking Calc BC and I have a ti-83 and an A…</p>
<p>dude, the illinois math state comp has little prestige, compared to the AMC.</p>
<p>@wcao9311 Why does it matter if either one has more prestige? That’s not why I’m doing it, and they are very different types of contests.</p>
<p>@swiftyfan13x Good for you but as I said my school requires a calculator with a CAS system, and if all the schools had the same AP programs then AP tests scores would carry a lot more weight than they actually do in college admissions. </p>
<p>The question still stands, are there a lot of extra programs and functions available for the Nspire (I know you’d have to “jailbreak” first) like there are for the 89, or is there a large gap? Is it easier to find good programs for the Nspire or the 89? Which one will serve me best during contests?</p>
<p>Wait, your school requires you to get a CAS calculator?</p>
<p>I did many math competitions in HS, and very few of them allowed a calculator. Out of the ones that did allow a calculator, special functions on the CAS wouldn’t have helped much anyway. </p>
<p>To answer your question, I prefer the NSpire CAS/CX over the 89 or 83 (but it’s only my opinion). I don’t know much about additional programs, but from years experience doing HS math contests, as well as calculus BC, you most likely won’t need them.</p>
<p>oh you’re required to have a CAS… </p>
<p>that’s odd, considering it’s not really necessary for BC… </p>
<p>As for which one to get, I’m not sure if it matters as long as it can do standard CAS functions (finding exact values, solving equations, differentiation and integration, etc.)
I have a friend who has a TI-nspire cas, it seems like a pretty good CAS to me.</p>
<p>I got through multivariable calculus with no calculator at all, I don’t think you really need an advanced graphing calculator.</p>
<p>I have a cx, and it’s awesome! But two things:
- When the teacher demos something on a non-nspire, you’ll have to figure it out yourself (may require extensive googling)
- All math competitions and math classes I’ve competed/been in do not allow cas, but do allow cx. I guess it’s a school/competition-specific thing.</p>
<p>@swiftyfan, LOL yeah i have a ti 83 and it’s everything i need, really</p>
<p>Oh well thank you all for your replies, but as I said my school requires it, for whatever reason, and the ICTM contest allows it and there are some triple variable system of equation problems that go much faster with a CAS so it kinda kills two birds with one stone.</p>
<p>dude a ti 84 can solve 10 variable equations with some apps.</p>