<p>should i purchase a TI-83, TI-89, or just a scientific non-graphing calculator? what calculator will i need the most for engineering?</p>
<p>i am taking statics and engineering analysis 1 currently.</p>
<p>TI-89 Titanium. Get good with it and you will be a wizard and will be able to solve problems super fast.</p>
<p>A basic scientific calculator to use on exams, and a computer with Mathematica or Matlab for homework sets. There are some calculators (~$20-30) I remember looking at on Amazon that solve integrals but don’t graph. That would be more than sufficient.</p>
<p>I’d get a ti 84 or 89 for classes you can use calculators in. I wouldn’t settle for a basic scientific because you can install helpful programs and use matrix capabilities, etc with the ti8x. </p>
<p>A computer with mathematica or something is a nice idea and I honestly use wolfram more than my calculator but I can’t take my laptop to a physics or circuits test but I can take my ti84!</p>
<p>Why do you need a calculator? Just buy matlab – it’s what the majority of working scientists and engineers use today and it’s what we used 80% of the time at my previous company (a scientific engineering firm).</p>
<p>If you’re a student, you can get an academic license for around a hundred bucks. If you’re not, there are some free alternatives like Octave or MathPy/SciPy.</p>
<p>The TI-89 Titanium has one feature that really recommends it: it can do symbolic calculus. Give it an equation, it can give you the derivative and integral. I recommend it above all TI graphing calculators.</p>
<p>HP makes some very nice graphing calculators as well, I am not familiar enough to recommend, but I would suggest checking them out. That having been said, you may not be able to use them in exams and can use a computer more easily out of exams, so consider what a graphing calculator needs to give you to make it worth buying.</p>
<p>Definitely get a little scientific calculator for exams - you WILL need one, and a graphing calculator will not be permitted.</p>
<p>By far the best value at $17 for a scientific calculator is the Casio fx-115 ES which is not programmable but does not need to be since it has so many applications programmed into it such as the ability to do integration and summation problems by just entering the functions and data into the templates provided by pressing the appropriate key. It solves equations, systems of equations, complex number problems, does all the statistical operations and has a preprogrammed list of 40 scientific constants and 40 unit conversion functions.</p>
<p>IMHO if you are going to not need to hide the fact that your using a CAS (like i had to taking College Algebra) then I see no need to get the TI 89 considering the Voyage 200 is now about the same cost. Sure its not really a big deal until it comes time to type in stuff and then the keyboard of the Voyage is really nice. Of course you can always use TI Connect and just transfer your notes over, but with windows 7 now its a pain. TI 89 only supports net 1.0 so you have to download it… too much trouble for me.</p>
<p>The question remains: what do you want to use the calculator for? You will need a basic scientific calculator for exams, perhaps a few will allow a graphing calculator, very very few will allow a full-keyboard calculator like the Voyage 200. Out of exams you can use a calculator and/or a computer. I got a TI-89 Titanium, but to be honest I rarely use it anymore - it was nice when I was struggling with some calculus, but since then I just use a computer and either EXCEL or MATLAB, along with a TI-34 for tests.</p>
<p>Incidentally, the TI-Nspire looks pretty badass if you really want a graphing calculator - TI finally realized that technology had advanced past 1995!</p>
<p>You should make sure you’re allowed to use powerful calculators for your exams, because if not it’s a complete waste of money. I never had a class that allowed me to use a TI-89 (or anything similar) on an exam. Instead, I brought a TI-36 or something like that to exams. And these days, it’s not very useful to learn how to use TI-89s because working scientists and engineers no longer use them; they use matlab. If you plan on going to grad school, it will also benefit you to become comfortable with matlab since many courses will use it exclusively.</p>
<p>For calculus we were not aloud to use calculators on the tests. For calculus hw TI-89 is what I like or the computer program MAPLE. So far for most classes I have taken (Junior in Civil) we have had to use an FE calculator. These include: HP 33, HP 35, Casio fx-115 ES, TI-30X, and TI-36X. These are the calculators you can use on the FE/PE exam. I use the casio fx-115ES it is by far the best one on the list of fe calcs. </p>
<p>So I would get both: TI-89 (or something similar) and Casio fx-115ES</p>
<p>I would say the TI-89 is not necessary but its nice to have.</p>
<p>The casio is cheap. I don’t know anything about the other brands of graphing calcs. I have always used the TI-89</p>
<p>Thirding the Casio fx-115ES. Best calculator I’ve ever owned.</p>
<p>Ok, I might be hijacking the OPs thread, but what would you, the cc community, recommend: mathematica or MATLAB? Why would you make this recommendation?</p>
<p>I use Maple allot and its pretty good. But I can’t compare to those others since I have never used.</p>
<p>On the Casio, be sure you get the fx-115 ES. There is also a Casio fx-115 MS which costs about the same that superficially resembles it but does not have near the capabilities of the ES for scientific and engineering applications.</p>
<p>I say HP50G. I have used it for a year and I can say that the build quality and just overall, it beats out Tis out of the water (except the nSpires, those are great). RPN is just faster in general. The processor for the HP 50G is just faster and better than even teh ti 89’s.</p>
<p>I have mixed feelings about HP calculators. I bought an HP48G about 15 years ago and it is still going strong and is a great calculator despite its vintage and has a processor that is still fast by today’s standards. However, about 8 years ago I bought an HP49G over the internet that looked kind of cheaply made when it arrived. In a little over a year, it just suddenly stopped working. The HP service representative said it had suffered a major failure and that it was not repairable and since the warranty had run out my only alternative was to buy a new one for $180 which I of course did not do. </p>
<p>If the new HP50 is built like the HP48 series was I would be interested in getting one but if it is more like the HP49 I would not touch it with a ten foot pole.</p>
<p>HP learned from their mistakes and the HP 50G is SOLID. I am not afraid if it dropped, but I do not take my chances. The calculator feels “dense”, if you get the gist of what I am saying. The buttons click very solidly unlike the ti 84. Overall, I still am advocating the 50G</p>
<p>If EE, something with a matrix solver. I like the TI 89 but I’ve heard the HP50g is a beast. After a while though you’ll just be doing everything with matlab or some computer software anyway.</p>