<p>My question: how are calc classes at some of the universities people are going to here? </p>
<p>Specifically, any instances where the ti-89 (my favorite calculator) is banned? </p>
<p>My ti-89 is my friend. Tabbed menus are the best!</p>
<p>Hmm... my only experience is in an AP calculus class, but I know we were only allowed to use calculators half the time to ensure we learned how to do stuff without a calculator. This of course was to get us ready for the AP exam, but it might be a good guess that college is going to require some non-calculator work. Hope that helps!</p>
<p>I've taken two math classes so far and all calculators were banned for both of them. One was about Ordinary differential eqn's and the other was about linear algebra and differential calculus of several variables. (Math 53 and 51 at Stanford)</p>
<p>A programmable calculator ban is pretty universal for math courses.</p>
<p>^Not true.^</p>
<p>I'm studying differential equations and linear algebra this semester and so far the ti-89 has been banned in all my courses.</p>
<p>It really depends on the professor. Some will allow all calculators; some will ban only programmable calculators; some will ban all calculators.</p>
<p>Also note that when calculators aren't allowed, it usually means that there isn't too much computational work on the exam (at least in my experience). No one expects you do math with any decimal points without a calculator.</p>
<p>all my math courses in college have banned calculators</p>
<p>How are the exams otherwise? Mostly free response (yay!) or multiple choice? </p>
<p>Heres my worry. I'm rather proficient at the theory calc stuff actually; I know the rules and how to apply them to problem types. Its just that I'm really not much of a lightning mental calculator. For whatever problem: Bang, whats s'((5/3)^4)! Well....um, between four and five?</p>
<p>You would be expected to know that it simplifies to (5/3)^2, which simplifies further to 25/9, unless that's a factorial symbol instead of a exclamation point (which wouldn't make sense: the factorial operator is only valid with natural numbers like 0,1,2,3,..). Basically, bad example.</p>
<p>However, if you're not allowed to use a calculator, your instructor would not expect you to completely simplify an answer. For example, if you get 6^7/5!, you should be able to leave it like that and not have to know that simplifies to 2332.8.</p>
<p>Some profs banned calculators. Some were nice enough to give problems with easy numbers, but others were just ugly. Luckily, there is partial credit and curving!</p>
<p>Moral of the story: don't be too calculator-dependent.</p>
<p>doesn't matter if some classes ban it...get a ti89, it's another name for God</p>
<p>I went to UC Davis, BS in Chemical Eng., and I don't remember ever using a calculator. No one really cares if you can crunch numbers, they care more if you can manipulate equations such that you can create a solution. "Solve for x" is irrelevant.</p>
<p>If thats the case, I'm OK with it.</p>