Choosing a calculator.

<p>Sorry, forgot to add it in - eBay :D</p>

<p>whatever you do, dont get an 89!
and personally i like the ti-83+
its easy to use.....and yeah...ti-84s are alright too , but some teachers dont like them</p>

<p>the 89t makes sure you wont even have to show up to pre cal class it solves almost every kind of equation and finds limits and is usable on all college board tests. there is no reason to not get one. just watch out for the sharp learning curve</p>

<p>I didn't even find the learning curve to be that sharp, and I'd never used a graphing calculator. I guess I am a little technical minded, though.</p>

<p>It's funny than the 89 is allowed on SATs while the 92 is not because the 89 still has alphabetical inputs, just have to use alpha keys... it's totally plausible to use it for you-know-what. Still, it's totally allowed. Can make things go faster, certainly.</p>

<p>If you get an 89 know its useful powers, but don't use them as a crutch!</p>

<p>Yea, gotta love the "factor()" and "solve()" :D</p>

<p>Get an 83 or 84.</p>

<p>Every math teacher at my school has banned the use of 89's because they're so easy to cheat with. And you can't use it on the ACT. (or is is SAT? one of those tests doesn't allow the 89.)</p>

<p>Plus, the 89 is SO much harder to use and has a way steeper learning curve.</p>

<p>ALSO consider that the teacher will more than likely teach with an 83 (that's the one that they usually project on the board). If you don't know your 89 backwards and forwards you will have a lot of trouble equating what the teacher says to what you have to do on your calculator.</p>

<p>I am lurking in this thread a little and one other thread on a parents message board on another site because I have to take in my niece (who is 15) in the middle of August for kinda sad reasons. I just do not want anyone to think I am weird (because I am grown), so I thought I would explain that for a sec:) Trying to learn about you younger folks has been trippy for me.</p>

<p>On the TI site it makes like you cannot use the TI 89 on the ACT, but here is the hyperlink for anyone who wants to know exactly what it can be used on</p>

<p><a href="http://education.ti.com/educationportal/sites/US/productDetail/us_ti89ti.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://education.ti.com/educationportal/sites/US/productDetail/us_ti89ti.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>A word of warning, though. I am a University student and we cannot use TI89's on the GRE and the GRE is a really important test for grad school. Actually, one cannot use a calculator at all for the GRE. So, you folks think things through with some of this calculator stuff.</p>

<p>If 89's are allowed, I would strongly suggest you get one. A 83 is fine, but doing algebra multiple times for a problem versus using solve() sucks. And you very likely will need to revise your initial equation in AP Calc/AP Phys because you spot something you did wrong unless you get a very easy teacher or are very, very good at it.</p>

<p>As long as teachers don't ban it, you really, really want one.</p>

<p>Only get a TI 89 if you want to spend forever trying to learn to use it.
It's allowed on the SATs (I just used it and lost it a couple months ago), but not the ACT, so I'd look for a list of what's allowed for any tests you plan on taking before buying.</p>