<p>Hi! I've had a TI 84 through middle school and high school, but last year it got stolen. I'm a rising senior and I want to replace it with something that I can use through college. On a bunch of old threads everyone recommended the TI 89, is that still the best option?</p>
<p>What classes are you planning to take?</p>
<p>I’m a math major and have no use for the TI-89. Most professors don’t allow calculators on exams, and those that do only require a scientific calculator for computation. I’d stick with the TI-84 - otherwise you’ll just be wasting your money on features you won’t need/use.</p>
<p>I’m not sure yet, math/econ/physics, maybe engineering. The 89 is only $20 more on amazon, is it really not worth it?</p>
<p>Well, I’m no math major, but I’ve only had two professors that didn’t allow graphing calculators on exams. One was a calculus professor and the other was a chemistry professor where only scientific calculators were allowed.</p>
<p>If it were me, I’d buy another TI-84 (Plus, maybe?) and a cheap scientific calculator. </p>
<p>I don’t think I’ve seen too many people with 89 models.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention that I had one professor ban ‘symoblic manipulators’ on exams, and that included the TI-89 but not the TI-84. </p>
<p>I’ve used a friend’s, and honestly, I would prefer Wolfram Alpha over the TI-89 just b/c it’s much easier for computing derivatives and integrals if needed.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s worth it, but if $20 doesn’t mean much to you, then go for it.</p>
<p>I had to have a TI-89 for high school and used it all the time, but when I went to college I found out that wasn’t the norm – I took a couple of calculus classes and we were not allowed to use graphing calculators at all. The calculator I get the most use out of now is just a regular scientific calculator.</p>
<p>I think a TI-84 should have been good enough for most people in college. Even in math classes, an 84 would have been the prof’s recommend calculator to get.</p>
<p>However, TI-89 are considered by college kids to be the best/most handy one. I have an 89 that I used my last two years of high school, and will be taking that to college.</p>
<p>FYI, most engineering profs recommend a TI-89…some even requires it for ENGR…depends on your college.</p>
<p>"However, TI-89 are considered by college kids to be the best/most handy one. I have an 89 that I used my last two years of high school, and will be taking that to college.</p>
<p>FYI, most engineering profs recommend a TI-89…some even requires it for ENGR…depends on your college."</p>
<p>This is simply untrue. You’re not even in college yet. The engineering thing is just a marketing ploy by TI; just b/c it’s on the package doesn’t mean you need it.</p>
<p>My roommate’s in engineering, and one of his prof required them to have a TI-89 by the end of the 2nd school week. I’m just bringing the 89 since I’ve used it since junior year in high school, and as a PoliSci major…I don’t have a calculator problem, 3 semesters of math to graduate.</p>
<p>So 1 professor means most professors?</p>
<p>^Exactly. I know people that are juniors in engineering programs and use a regular scientific calculator much more frequently than a graphing calculator, let alone a TI-89.</p>
<p>I miss those royal blue calculators with the red buttons I use to use back in grade school. The TI-108.</p>
<p>Yeah, one professor in a freshman engineering class is a bit much to say “most professors”…</p>
<p>TI Nspire cx cas is the latest TI calculator and is a significant step above the 89 (I had an 89 for almost a decade).</p>
<p>Nspire is in color, and is more intuitive.</p>
<p>Ie to do an integral on 89 you need to say the eq comma the variable comma lower bound comma upper bound. On Nspire you are given the symbol and the d graphically. You mouse to the integral enter the lower bound, press up and enter the upper bound, fill in the eq, then go rift past the d and enter the variable.</p>
<p>It’s how you would actually write the integral on paper.</p>
<p>I’ve never actually seen someone using a TI-89. I’ve only taken two Math courses in college, but the standard to me seems to be the TI-83/84 (plus). In my Stat class, you could use those for everything. In my Calc class, you couldn’t use them for anything except your homework and labs. No quizzes or tests. I gather from those experiences that calculator allowability depends on the specific math class. </p>
<p>Personally, I would go for the 84 since you’re familiar with it (and just on the off chance that you end up in a class where the 83/84 models are allowed but the 89 is not due to its additional capabilities, which I’ve heard stories about).</p>
<p>A majority of my time as a math major I’ve never used my TI-84 much besides in Calc 2 for some things we were required to do. Other than that, just simple arithmetic. </p>
<p>I’d buy a cheap scientific calculator and a TI-84. I think TI-89 is overkill.</p>