Whichever one that may be, I don’t have it. (Or any grammar skills at the moment.) I’ll need one though. Gonna be taking higher maths - Calculus and everything related - in a few months, and haven’t used a graphing calculator since the TI-83 I had in high school.
So tell me, what’s the calculator I’ll need to actually survive calculus this time around, and what neat tricks can it do?
I use the TI-86 and have done so for a while. As I understand it, you will not be taking the SAT or any other standardized tests. In that case I recommend the slightly more expensive TI-89. Much better than the 86 in terms of solving equations. I know of only one person who has the 89, but that’s due to the above-stated reason concerning testing.
I was lucky enough to have a class that was taught specifically using a Casio graphing calculator. Thus, I actually learned how to use all the buttons and menus, and do all the stuff that’s highly non-intuitive.
When my high school one crapped out, I bought the next generation model, though I had to hunt high and low to find it. (Casio seems to have lost market share to TI big time.) I haven’t figured out all the buttons on this one, yet, but it does what I need to do: integration, equation solving, statistics, and the new one even does functional fits to data points, though it does them slowly–but that’s a handy ability to carry around in your pocket, if you’re the sort of person who needs to do that on a regular basis.
I bought a Casio fx-451 in high school. IMHO, it was the best all-around calculator ever made. It worked flawlessly all through college, and I still use it (I’m now 33 y.o.). Too bad it’s not made anymore.
I would agree with aetbond417, the TI-89 is probably the best I’ve used especially for calculus considering it does symbolic intergration and will give you exact answers which teachers in calculs classes like so much. I think it also does 3 dimensions which will become an asset in your 3-rd semseter of calculus, but like aetbond417 said you can’t use this thing on AP tests or the SAT’s so I think some professors might ban them also, just something to think about, I used an 83 all though calculus and statistics and it worked fine for me
Coolest calculator I’ve used? Why, the one I’m still using: Canon Ai Note IN-5000. What makes it so cool as a calculator (only one of its many functions, the IN-5000 being an electronic organizer) is that there’s no keyboard - I just write the equation on the touch-pad and when I enter the = sign, it displays the answer. For higher order functions, there’s a touch-screen “pull-down” menu for selecting them.
Got it in 1992 and still use it every day. Only drawback is if you don’t read & write Japanese - it was built for “domestic consumption” in Japan.
Ooh, Ooh! I just got one and it is the coolest toy of the year 
Got a TI-89; it handles everything up to (and including) imaginary numbers and indefinite integrals, as well as most of what’s needed for differential equations; in fact the first math class I’ve encountered for which it cannot perform every task is my Complex Vars & Applications class (which uses a few tricks I never dreamed of, so I guess that’s not suprising.)
Oh - with regard to the concerns over testing; I haven’t encountered anyone that forbids it yet. The only problem I can think of with the 89 is that it’s pretty expensive - probably best to look at online auction sites first.
Happy calculating,
Le Sang
Math Nerd Extraordinaire
I just have two words for all you TI geeks:
Hewlett Packard
Get a used HP-48GX on Ebay. It’ll calculate and graph circles around anything TI has ever made.
The ACT is the only test I know of that forbids the TI-89. I have one, and used it on both the SAT and SAT-II.
It’s quite nifty. I spent the first few weeks fiddling around with it to find out all the cool tricks.
Oh, and City Gent…one of my friends had a HP. He said it sucked sour monkey ass. He returned it and got an 89, which he says is far more useful.
I own one. Important points:
Yes, I am a total nerd. :rolleyes:
For me, the best place to purchase was from a catalog called Calculators, Inc. I believe their website is http://www.calculatorsinc.com but I am not positive. Happy graphing!
Must…correct…grammar…
unlike its big brother
Sorry. Nothing interesting to contribute about calcs. I may be a grammarian, but at least I’m not a computer dork… 
Hey, those calculator dorks are nowhere NEAR as nerdy as us computer dorks!
Oh ho, but I’m both.
As noted by AET and others, I won’t be taking any calc tests on this thing beyond what’s given in my college classes. (High school and all associated tests were years-that-feel-like-ages ago.) That being said, the TI-89 sounds like it kicks all ass, though I’ll admit that I’m kinda curious about this TI-92+ that’s been mentioned as well.
Thanks for all the responses, guys! 
Oh, and one more question about the whole banning thing. Are these calculators banned because of the programmability, or simple functionality. Not that I’d imagine my professors-to-be being too anal about my knowing all the fundamentals for behind the math - this is more a “math you’ll need to know when you do the whole computer programming thing” math requirement than anything else - but it’d still be good to know, just in case.
Oh, and City Gent, I’ll see if I can find a store with an HP for me to play around with, but I really am more familiar with the layout and interface of TIs. And, as with the whole PC/Mac debate, familiarity counts for a lot when all else is near-equal. I’ll take it under consideration though.
Here’s a site with some info on the calculator issue. No question, on the SAT’s, the TI-89 is allowed.
Although no one asked, here’s a list of calculators you can use on the AP exam… Not only is the TI-89 on the list of acceptable calculators, the site actually says “Nongraphing scientific calculators are not permitted.” hmmm…
… Took me a few minutes to find this, but I just found the ACT site. Yep, the TI-89 is prohibited. I wonder why they banned it and no other test did.
Okay. This is just speculation, but it’s the theory my high school calculus teacher had as to why the ACT prohibits the TI-89, and it’s just because the equation solver is soooo easy to use. It’s my favorite function on the thing. Not only is it smaller than the TI-92 and TI-92+, but it’s also faster than the 92. Another bonus is that it doesn’t make you look like quite so big a dork as it doesn’t sport a full qwery keyboard.
You know I just took the sat and checking our calculators consisted of pausing for a second then going on:)
OMG, these things are even cooler than I thought. I just stumbled on to http://www.ticalc.org and there are so many executable programs available that it’s scary. Even scarier is that they have instructions on how to overclock your TI calculator. God, this is good stuff!
As others have said - the TI-89 definitely is the best calculator out there. I’d actually just about put it on the same level as cheating, and yes, I do have one :D. These things are absolutely amazing, but the best thing that I like about it is actually its user interface, it’s FAR better than anything out there (that I’ve compared it to), I love being able to scroll up and down to see previous answers with such ease, use previous answers just by hitting enter, and the “numeric solver” is SUCH a time saver (you just put in a function and add |x=n at the end of it to evaluate it at n).
However, I think most teachers are catching on to the TI-89’s abilities, because the other day when I asked my teacher about something she mentioned that I might not be able to use my calculator on the tests anymore - which is probably due to its algebriac manipulation abilities. Unfortunately the main reason I use the 89 over the 83 (I have both) is not because of that, but because of the user interface. Just a warning, you might want to check with your professor/math department first to see if they have a list of “unusable” calculators so that you dont spend $150 on a paperweight.