<p>Right now I have a TI 84+, but im hearing more and more on how great the 89 is. The reason I do not have it now is because our calculus class does not allow it. Im wondering if its beneficial to purchase one now, learn how to use well, and bring it with me to college? I just don't want to be stuck with a calculator I can never use. Thanks!</p>
<p>Good question...One important piece of information we would need to help you with that: what kind of courses will you be taking/what do you plan on studying?</p>
<p>I have a TI89 and it's extremely useful. No way I'd ever switch back to 84 or 83. It can solve for unknown variables, and quickly/easily do integrals and derivatives. If you'll be taking math or math-heavy sciences like chem and physics, it may very well come useful. I would recommend getting one.</p>
<p>My prof only allows 84+'s and below</p>
<p>If u r an engineering or physics major, defenitely get TI-89. It is so powerful that using it is almost like cheating in the exam.</p>
<p>I got an 89 before going to college thinking I was going to need it, but on almost all of my exams (I'm an engineer) we are not even allowed a calculator, and on the exams that do allow it, it must be a standard scientific non-graphing calculator.</p>
<p>An 89 isn't worth it, if you aren't going to be allowed to use it on tests, because then you won't use it on homework, so that you can be ready for the tests. Don't get an 89.</p>
<p>Buying any Ti product except its Semiconductors is not worth it. They make a poor calculator and have only gained success though payoffs and bribes. The only reason your first instinct would be to buy a Ti is that, they pretty much paid the majority of elementary and secondary education institutions, so that these schools will be Ti only. This is the reason that many schools will only allow you to use Ti Calculators, Its not because they are better its because of money and contracts. When I was in HS I refused to ise Ti branded products as I knew they were poor from past experiences, so I just didnt use a calculator. Even had several disciplinary meeting with the principle because I continued to bring my HP. I would always ask them why cant I use a non-ti and they would say thats just the way it is. So investigated the situation and found out that there were a lot of contacts and payoffs.</p>
<p>The ti-89T is quite weak in comparison to other calculators on the market. Such as the Hp-50g and prior Hp models, even the Casio graphing calculators. I currently use the Hp-50G and its amazing. If you look at the majority of engineering/physics/chem professors and those in industry, you will never see a Ti calculator. They are laughed at. they are usually not to advanced and are made for the idiot user. If you are a engineering student look at the international students, do you see them using Ti's, hell no they all use Casio or HP. Many times though American born Engineering students bring Ti's to school and then later realize that they are inadequate and later get an HP. I have Interned as a EE at Lockheed as well as CSX and nobody carries a Ti. I mean absolutely nobody. </p>
<p>I am a Engineering student and we are allowed to sometimes use the graphing calculator and I find it very useful. As a engineering student the majority of us have graphing calculators, not that we rely on them but as a tool do make tedious derivations and integrations possible in seconds rather than minutes. This is worth it as I sometimes get so much more that the time it would take to do these simple calc problems, it would make me spend hours on end longer to do some of my problems. This i just not worth it. Also the ability to save literally Millions of variables on my calculator makes it a lot father than retyping everything every time. My calculator holds a self programmed huge equation library that I can copy and paste from, so I don't need the equations anymore, I just select then edit it. This also cuts down on time.</p>
<p>I wouldn't go for a TI anything, as they just aren't worth it, do yourself a favor and pick up a HP-50G. But don't listen to me, go and do your research for yourself, ask a engineer if you know one.</p>
<p>The TI-89 does a lot of neat stuff like factoring, algebra, etc. It's great if you want to save some time on a higher level math course (or breeze through an easy one).</p>
<p>The one area where you may have trouble is if you take a stats course designed for a TI-83/TI-84. Some textbooks seem to be designed for those calculators. However, the TI-89 can do everything the lower powered models can, so just read your manual a bit--the book tells you where to find whatever you are looking for. It's also not quite as thick as the TI-83+ manual.</p>
<p>Most people allow TI-89's on tests, even the guy who I had for College Algebra (mandatory course that is like Algebra II from high school). There may be a prof or test or two that doesn't, but if you already have a TI-83/TI-84 just keep it around for those occasions. Otherwise you could probably borrow one from someone. The one you want to avoid is the TI-92, which doesn't look like the regular TI-8x calculators (it looks like a cross between a calculator and a laptop)--I don't know of anyone who uses one and I don't know of anywhere they are legal.</p>
<p>The only downfall for some is that TI-83 games cannot play on a TI-89. If you are hopelessly addicted to Super Mario on your calculator you need to find an alternative (though I think there is Mario for the TI-89).</p>
<p>I have an I-pod. I like it.</p>
<p>My calculator is at home.</p>
<p>Calculators are not allowed in my calc course in college. As they told us, it is impossible to use a calculator to write a proof.</p>
<p>What will you study in college? I use a TI-89, but not for anything complicated (mostly the equation solver and basic math) The majority of complex math done in science, math and engineering is done on computer with Maple, Matlab, and others. The reason I would not give up my 89 for anything is the screen, which renders whatever you input in the calculation as "pretty print" on the screen, so it's easy to spot sources of input error. </p>
<p>Also, the graphing capability of the 89 is crap compared to anything you could get on Matlab.</p>
<p>Katharos thats not true at all, I make my HP 50G do proofs all the time.</p>
<p>Facts:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Any half competent engineering department will not let you use an 89 on exams.</p></li>
<li><p>If you are needing to use an 89 to solve homework questions, you are probably doing it wrong.</p></li>
<li><p>For all upper level classes where you could conceivably use an 89, you need to learn Matlab/Maple/etc because thats engineers actually do things in real life.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Well, not all of us know what [ln(3.75/1.75)]/[2pi*0.32] is off the top of our heads. You absolutely can calculate that on a scientific calculator, but why if you have an 89 (or any other type of graphing calculator) and are allowed to use it?</p>
<p>only if ur an engineer/math/physics major.</p>
<p>Timduncanbball</p>
<p>your wrong. really wrong</p>
<p>actually I'm 90% right. Anyways, I'm talking about Freshmen/Soph level engineering students anyways. As a freshman you will not need something like an 89. Even as you take your advanced classes, you are better off learning to utilize Matlab for complex calculations, numerical methods, etc. An 89 sucks compared to computer programs for graphing, and plus, no professor is going to let you do work simply by plugging into an 89. </p>
<p>An 89 would only be useful in a handfull of cases for such students, and not nearly worth the money.</p>
<p>90% wrong maybe.</p>
<p>------- (kind of weird calling someone that, but...),</p>
<p>That's how the university I attend works. It doesn't want its students relying on calculators in pure math courses. It wants to test students' "math ability" and "extended knowledge" in homework and tests, and the best (perhaps not the funnest) way of doing so is by askng students to construct proofs on their own.</p>
<p>Ti 89 Is The Best Calculator Ever.</p>