Quick calculator question.

<p>I'm buying a Ti-89 Titanium for EE soon. In high school, there were some cases (such as the ACT) where Ti-83s and 84s were allowed but 89s were not because they were too powerful. Will there be any such situations in college (specifically UIUC if it matters) or can I ditch my old Ti-84 for good and take only the 89 to college?</p>

<p>It's going to depend on your professors, but for your math courses (calc sequence, diff. eq.), you will probably not be allowed to use any calculator. For most engineering courses, you can use your TI-89 no problems. Again, this will depend on the class and professor, but for most courses, you will be allowed to use your calculator (and it will be very helpful, especially using the symbolic function).</p>

<p>Yeah, don't expect to use your calculator in Math unless your professor wants to show it making a mistake. Physics professors will allow it, I suppose, although it shouldn't be necessary. Chemistry and biology shouldn't require one. Only engineering classes might make one useful, and, truth be told, you'll probably find a full-fledged computer more helpful in those. But yeah, you can probably use it most places, excluding math.</p>

<p>why buy the ti-89 when you can buy the HP-50G. Its so much better.</p>

<p>real engineers use HP's, at least at my job and in every internship ive been to and well ive been told by alot of engineers. I have both and I must say the 50g is much more powerful and has alot more features.</p>

<p>I use the TI83 plus and find it extremely useful and find myself using it pretty often. You won't necessarily get a chance to use it much but it helps in class A LOT especially since you can program your own formulas and actually keep up with the professor while everyone else is sitting there trying to solve equations on paper.</p>

<p>Ah, but there's something instructive about solving equations by hand.</p>

<p>My calc professor would only let us use scientific calculators on tests so I got a cheap TI-30 or something like that for times when I couldn't use the 89. If you have another (less powerful) calculator, bring it along just in case. You never know what could happen.</p>