<p>I am going to take Calculus BC AP for my last term of high school. (We have a block schedule.) I have been using an 83+ for the last 4 years and now I want something better. I am going to be an engineering major, most likely at a UC. What calculator should I buy? What do most people use? I am leaning towards a TI-89 Titanium.</p>
<p>Ive heard that the 89 is the preferred calculator by engineering majors. But Ive also heard that the 89 is so powerful that it is not allowed in some math/physics classes while the 83 is allowed. Buy the 89 but hold on to your 83.</p>
<p>89 titanium is top of the line right now...</p>
<p>I use a TI-89 for complicated math problems, such as integrals and matrix problems. I use my TI-83 for number crunching. </p>
<p>Some college courses don't allow any kind of calculator on exams. I've had calculus, phyiscs, and statics/mechanics of materials courses that wouldn't allow calculators. I've also had courses when calculators were vital do to all of the numbers involved. It depends on the college, course, and professor.</p>
<p>If I have to use anything beyond my t83 plus, im gonna quit school :P</p>
<p>TI 89 Titanium off ebay. Got mine for $130. That thing can do anything.</p>
<p>um...TI 89 for college calculus courses?? I don't think so. A 83-Plus or the new 84 Plus (??) is enough.</p>
<p>I'm taking AP calc/AP phyiscs this year as a junior. The interface on the 89 is MUCH better and you can do much more. Don't sell yourself short.</p>
<p>As much as I love my HP 49g, the above posters are probably right that a TI is the way to go (at least if you expect other people to help you learn to use your calculator). Few people use HP calculators (more expensive and less well known) but everyone I know who has one loves it, and I could never go back to using a calculator that doesn't have RPN.</p>
<p>I wasn't allowed to use ANY calculator during my first calculus course - and that was in high school.</p>
<p>In both my math and my physics class last term, neither a TI-83 nor a TI-89 were allowed. In physics we were only allowed to use department-supplied scientific (non-graphing) calculators and in math (multivariable calculus) we were not allowed to use calculators at all. I don't know if this is the same as in the UCs, but I would suggest that you wait until you get the syllabus for your first math/science class before deciding on a calculator.</p>
<p>When I took multivariet calc at UCLA calculators weren't permitted during examinations. I can't remember if we used them in physics.</p>
<p>But since i'm a TA for my school's multivariable calc class i get to use a TI-92 which is like the most advanced thing in the entire world. It predicts lottery numbers.</p>
<p>Unless you need calculators to multiply/divide/whatever, calc can be done (at least up to the level I'm at) without a calculator, and unless you are going to use the integrate function, isn't a help.</p>
<p>"calc can be done (at least up to the level I'm at) without a calculator"</p>
<p>Most rediculous statement I've ever read.</p>
<p>definetely don't sell or give the ti-83 even with the ti-89. Like stated above, some won't allow it because it's so darn powerful, and they will allow the 83. Of course it's not helpful if no calculators are allowed</p>
<p>"calc can be done (at least up to the level I'm at) without a calculator"</p>
<p>What type of homework grades do you get? No offense, but unless you're any more of a child prodigy than the rest of us, I don't believe this. If you don't use a calculater assignments take a lot longer. Aside from checking the thousands of dumb mistakes you're prone to make when performing calc. functions, calculators are necessary to understand the nature of many graphs (especially in functions/non-functions where Y is not solvable). TI-89 is a must have imo.</p>
<p>Elijah, there are two qualifiers to my statement that I don't think you read (partly my fauly, partly yours). One, I said up to the level I am at. I am only at the second semester level. BC type stuff. Second, I said "may." By may I mean if the numbers are friendly. If you have cos(179.2/cubert(pi)) then no, it can't be done without a calculator. But as far as integrating and deriving, I havn't found a problem I needed a calculator for. We can agree to disagree, but don't tell me my own personal experience is rediculous and untrue.</p>
<p>Crank nit: spelling counts, guys: it's "ridiculous," not "rediculous." The root is "ridicule", not a casee of "re" "culousing."</p>
<p>GeorgeS is right: absolutely a TI-89 or whatever is needed to calculus. That's why generations of math and science students hit a stone wall. Hundreds of thousands of students, all looking at problems in their books and saying, "Gee...we can't do these."</p>
<p>It's amazing what you can do with pencil, paper, and time.</p>
<p>George S and TheDad,
Whether you choose to believe me or not, I have a perfect homework average as well as a 100 both quarters last semester. I did, however, get a 96 on the exam so my average was a 99. And I never said I was any good at spelling. I could have looked it up, but I didn't feel like it. So, in my opinion, I don't think that you need a calculator for anything in BC calculus or below. Do I use a calculator? Yes I do. I use it for multiplying and dividing etc because I know I can multiply 3.72353 by 91394.2 and then divide by 8 if I wanted to take the time, but why should I when I have the little box that can do arithmatic for me? But that is more of want than a need.</p>
<p>Thank you Patrick for not addressing anything I said. I believe that you have a 100 homework average, so do I, and I'm sure a lot more people in these forums do as well. Perhaps you are more "gifted" than I. I use my TI-89 like a crutch, and where I go to school I don't know anyone who doesn't. I believe since we are in second semester now our calculus is "BC" now (we don't use that notation where I live).</p>