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  1. #1

    Is the TI-89 titanium better than the TI-84 silver edition for college?

    Ok so turns out my other calculator was stolen, a TI-84. Im still currently in high school, a junior, taking pre-calc and physics. I bought the TI-89 because i noticed it had stuff needed for electral, and mechanical engineering plus ap calc and ap physics. My question is which would be better for the future (its also much harder than the TI-84 to use). Need help as soon as possible.

  2. #2
    well, since you're obviously going for an art degree, i'd say the T-1000 is going to be your best bet. it's ability to change it's shape to fit the situation will probably come in handy.

  3. #3
    I got away with a TI 83+. So just get whatever is cheaper.

  4. #4
    Get a TI-nspire CAS. I don't know if your teacher(s) will allow it, but it is allowed on the SAT/PSAT and on any AP exam which requires a calculator.

  5. #5
    I was using a 86 until i got caught in a rain storm and my bag got soaked through and ruined it. I went with an 89, but really never felt that anything on it helped me more than another graphing calc would have.

    oh 89s aren't allowed on the ACT, not sure on SAT or PSAT, never took either.

    Mechcanical engineer BTW.
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  6. #6
    Titan vindicatorx's Avatar
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    I have the TI 83 + they ask for ti 83 and up. I used mine for a total of 2 classes now it just sits in my desk.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by vindicatorx View Post
    I have the TI 83 + they ask for ti 83 and up. I used mine for a total of 2 classes now it just sits in my desk.
    You could probably buy one used for mad cheap, hell you could have my TI-84 for free if you lived near me.

  8. #8
    Banned Orlong's Avatar
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    There is nothing better than using a paper and pencil to figure out things the old fashion way. What happens when the power gets turned off or batteries die and you wont know how to do math. Most kids that go through school these days couldnt tell you how to figure out the square root of 9219 without a calculator. Heck most of them cant even figure out change if the register doesnt work
    Last edited by Orlong; 2012-11-15 at 01:21 AM.

  9. #9
    Way back in high school I collected pretty much all of the TI calculators 80, 81,82,83/83+, 85, 86, 89, 92+

    None of them had any value during my comp-sci program: you just weren't allowed to use them on exams. Even slogging through calc3 the 'calculation' you have to do is basic arithmetic that you can almost certainly do in your head quicker than plugging it into a calculator. For my physics and chemistry tests we were allowed to use one of those simple calculators (sin/cos/tan/log/ln were pretty much all you could have for "advanced" functions). Check with the course outlines for the university you'd like to go to and see if you're allowed to use any of them.

    If they're all equally useless in college (because they're forbidden on tests) then you may as well just cheap out and get whatever is least expensive or whatever your text book recommends (or what your friends have so you can share games). If you've got some money to burn then snag the most powerful one you can drag with you into your exams. The TI-92+ was on the list of approved calculators for my high-school math exams, the TI-86 wasn't -- which is strange but that's the way it goes. A TI-89 is kinda nice for a math exam because of the solver. I recall it was more capable when it came to matrices too but I don't know if you'll be doing much with those in high school.

    For math homework you'll probably prefer to use something like mathematica or maple anyway: they're faster and more powerful than any calculator.

    I'm not sure where you're getting the "it's much harder to use" from. it's software is very similar to what you'll get on the other ti calculators - it just has more functionality (which you can ignore).

  10. #10
    If you're going for an engineering degree, get the TI-89, trust me. Do note, however, you probably won't be able to use it for your first two semesters of calculus. It will do all that easy shit for you.

  11. #11
    Merely a Setback Sunseeker's Avatar
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    There's actually a pretty significant jump between the processing power of the TI-84 and the TI-89. I don't know if it's worth it though, the 84-silver got me through physics and calculus just fine.

    Personally, in todays age calculators are rather pathetic tools, especially for their price. Considering the processing power of your average generation phone(lets say a slightly older one like the Android HTC Incredible 2). The TI-89 uses a processor developed in 1979. It has a maximum of 16mhz. The HTC Inc. 2 runs a 1ghz processor and some 768 mb of RAM while the TI-89 relies on 256 kb ram and only 700kb storage memory available to the user, of a total of 2mb. The TI89 is also significantly larger, but IMO, more durable.

    For absolutely no charge, you can get apps for the Android that do everything the TI-89 does.

    Now mind you, I'm not questioning the quality of the TI-89, it's a fine product. However, the longevity of a such a product is indeed questionable.

    in short: if you have a modern smart phone, there's no need to purchase any series of calculator. Simply locate an app that can do all the same things, at worst it might cost you $10 for such an app, such as this one: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....mathapp&hl=en
    Human progress isn't measured by industry. It's measured by the value you place on a life.

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  12. #12
    Only one problem smrund, some places disallow phones (especially during tests) because they fear students sharing answers with them.

  13. #13
    Calc/physics/engineering professors in my university don't allow you to use graphing calculators in their exams. Find out their policy regarding graphing calculators before throwing away your money.

  14. #14
    The Lightbringer N-7's Avatar
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    Most universities asks you to show all your steps/forbid "advanced" calculators anyway during exams/homework.

  15. #15
    Merely a Setback Sunseeker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rukentuts View Post
    Only one problem smrund, some places disallow phones (especially during tests) because they fear students sharing answers with them.
    You can always set your phone to airplane mode and thus prevent it from receiving any signals. But I am aware of that.
    Human progress isn't measured by industry. It's measured by the value you place on a life.

    Just, be kind.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Torethyr View Post
    Calc/physics/engineering professors in my university don't allow you to use graphing calculators in their exams. Find out their policy regarding graphing calculators before throwing away your money.
    I had a graphing calculator during college and I only ever used it to do basic math calculations you can do on any calculator. They are nice because you can see the whole calculation instead of just the most recent number but other than that you can just get a scientific calculator. My physics and math profs didnt care if we used them because they wouldnt help and any computer based calculations and graphs were done using computer programs like Matlab.

  17. #17
    TI-83+ seem perfectly fine, I actually had my teachers sometimes ban the fancier calculators because they could trivialize a lot of things we still are learning to do the hard way.
    Quote Originally Posted by Aucald View Post
    Having the authority to do a thing doesn't make it just, moral, or even correct.

  18. #18
    I graduated with a mechanical engineering degree. I used a TI-89 titanium, but didn't use it to it's full potential. The one thing that I can't live without now though, is the ability to scroll back through previous equations and answers and copy paste them into the active line. I don't know if they've added that feature to 83+ or 84 silver, but it is a huge time saver when you have long equations where you have to change one small thing and you don't have to re-type the whole thing. I had an 83+ in high school but it got stolen as well, so i upgraded to the 89 titanium because i heard it could do integration for you, but i never ended up taking the time to figure it out.

  19. #19
    Deleted
    Depends on what you study really. TI 89 is really a monster and very useful tool for instances where you can't work with a laptop. The price and the eligibility to be used in tests are the only possible drawbacks.

  20. #20
    It really is ridiculous how expensive some of these calculators can be (over 200 dollars sometimes) when they have literally a thousandth of the power a modern smartphone or tablet has, and far less capabilities.

    Texas Instruments must make almost as big a profit off their "high end" calculator sales as movie theaters make off popcorn.

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