<p>I'm headed to CMU this fall as a Computer Science major. I was wondering which graphing calculator I should get. The TI89 looks like the best thing in the market right now, but it seems like the TI-Nspire will win in the long run, and since I gave at least a year and half before I need the advanced features, I'm leaning towards the Nspire.</p>
<p>I used a TI-89 at GaTech and I loved it. It's popular enough where you can download TONS of apps online too. Never heard of the other one.</p>
<p>The Nspire is the latest from TI, specs wise its about 10 times superior to the 89, but it looks like the TI89 is a more mature product right now.</p>
<p>Get to college and buy one when you need it for class. Chances are it'll be useful for physics and nothing else. Math classes probably won't allow a calculator and your CS courses won't have any math that a calculator will be useful for, so why spend the money now?</p>
<p>Do you have a graphing calculator? If you <em>do</em> currently have one and this is a question about <em>upgrading</em>...</p>
<p>I haven't said it in a while, so I'll say it again. I have had my TI-83 since seventh grade. (That's... fourteen years... eesh.) It's the only calculator I've used since high school... Through four years of engineering in college, through graduate mechanics, through finite element methods, through professional practice... It's the calculator I've used.</p>
<p>Use <em>whatever</em> graphing calculator that you know all the features of <em>right now</em>. You're not going to want to have to pull out your manual every time you want to do something new. Anything you can't do with whatever graphing calculator you currently have, you're going to want to do on a computer anyhow... Matlab, Mathematica, whatever.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you <em>don't</em> have a graphing calculator yet, just go ahead and buy something without so many funky bells and whistles that you'll be able to figure out what all its functions are in a few months.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice, I guess I'll put off the purchase until the classes begin then.</p>
<p>I'll second aibarr- you don't really need something <em>that</em> fancy for a graphing calculator. Who cares if it can do a ton of symbolic stuff- do you really want to try typing out long expressions on the calculator? If you have to do hard integration or other complex symbolic stuff, you use a computer (Mathematica, Maple, Matlab, and friends). And if you actually want to plot something, the screen on a graphing calculator is close to useless- a 19in color computer screen is a lot better than a 3in calculator screen.</p>
<p>You are a computer science major. You don't even NEED anything beyond a simple Ti-83, if that. Remember, almost no math professor lets you use calculators on tests. I am nearly done with the last math (other than stats) class I have to take for my undergrad, and I have used a calculator on a test exactly 0 times. The only benefit I see is that you can do Stats stuff on a calculator quickly.</p>
<p>Oh hey, I go to Pitt by the way, CMU is close!</p>
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I haven't said it in a while, so I'll say it again. I have had my TI-83 since seventh grade. (That's... fourteen years... eesh.) It's the only calculator I've used since high school... Through four years of engineering in college, through graduate mechanics, through finite element methods, through professional practice... It's the calculator I've used.
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<p>Same here. Now and then I'll forget my TI-83 and have to borrow someone's 89 and I wind up completely lost because there's so many functions on there (most of which they don't even know how to use or what they are!).</p>
<p>Go with the 89.. I have had one since sophomore year in high school, and I have not turned back. Even though you most likely will not use it in your math classes, its useful when you are trying to check identities, do integrals you can't figure out, etc. Sure it has a ton of functions that you won't ever use - but if you are going to get a calculator just go with the 89. </p>
<p>I'm not even sure about the nspire (never heard of it). But don't get an 83... after using an 89, an 83 feels like MS-DOS.</p>
<p>Yeah, for Computer Science it may not be necessary. I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that the 83 would be able to meet ALL college needs however; in my Circuits II class we need to be able to do complex matrices quickly on our calculator, as well as solve some pretty awful equations that can't be done easily by hand.</p>
<p>In my case, I went with an HP 50g over a Ti-89 Titanium.</p>
<p>I think you should buy a TI-89 because you can copy/paste any equation you entered and that functionality is a lifesaver because it’s easy to make mistakes with signs. Also, you can calculate any type of integral, limits, etc. The math teacher didn’t care if we use graphic calcs or not in his calculus I course!</p>
<p>It looks like the nspire is closer to the TI-84 than the TI-89. It looks like the 89 is still more advanced for math stuff.</p>
<p>I’m also a CS major and I didn’t have a graphing calculator when I went to college. I bought a TI-84 Silver (pink). I love the TI-84 and it has been fine, but now that I am moving up to higher maths, I have decided to upgrade to the Voyage 200 (pretty much the same thing as the TI-89). I decided to upgrade after messing around with someone else’s 89 last semester. I liked that it will give me either 2π or 6.28318531 (or whatever), among other things. </p>
<p>FYI, if you think you may need help from a teacher or a tutor, the TI-84 will probably be your best bet. That is what most people use. I hear people, both tutors and instructors, including myself, tell students every day that they can’t help them with their calculator if it is something other than a TI-84. This is especially true when it is not another TI, such as for an HP or a Casio (I won’t even look at a Casio, personally).</p>
<p>only class i used a calc for was Stats</p>
<p>Make sure you get a calculator that can do symbolic integration. If you ever need it, you’ll be extremely glad you did.</p>