EE major here but still a freshman

I have YET to use anything beyond simple math on my TI 89 here at UMR

I am beginning to think a simple yet good scientific calc would have been just as good

Will I ever have the NEED for the horsepower of the TI 89 in my EE studies? Or is it best to use a simple easy to carry scientific calc and maybe Excel or Matlab on a laptop for the heavy duty stuff?

Im thinking abt selling my TI 89 hence the question

It'll be nice when you get to calc 2/3 and diffeq

You can do it. I knew a guy that made it through college mostly with a slide rule, but he owned a TI-89 the whole time. He did use the TI-89 more towards the end though. It can be done but the first few years aren't really math intensive compared to the rest. All engineering doesn't use math the same, which is why they go easy at the start. I was using full 89 horsepower on tests and wishing it had more on some tests.

Same here. By halfway through my second year, I was downloading applications specifically geared for calculations used in EE and MechE.

Good luck, things get MUCH harder from here.

I didn't have one until I was done with diffEQ. Though after I got one, I wish I'd had one the whole time.

Frankly I HATE HATE the display on my TI 89!!! Cant see the damn thing! Display technology is from the 80s!!

If I do sell it, and needed another calc, would look at the new Casio models out there with great displays!

Or use iPad and app!

What say you?

LOL.. glhf getting to use ipad in any test

and Casio's are ok... but TI is the prevalent calc on campus, so you won't get any tips from others on how to use it.

If you can't read the display, look into glasses or turn up the contrast. I have a feeling that you just don't know how to use your calculator properly and think it was a major waste of money.

+1

Plus (and though I know other calculators do this) the ability to scroll through your answers and previous calculations is nice. Especially if you have to do the same calculation over and over. Its easy to paste the old equation, and scroll to the number you want to change to get a new result.

Also you know you can disable that silly homescreen - mine goes straight to the equation/result list every time.

ALT: College Board issues aside, I have fond memories of TI-BASIC, writing in it a 3D graphing engine and a stock market analyzer. With enough patience, I could make anything ... but friends. (Although with my chatterbot experiments, I certainly tried.)

Do what you want, but selling it to get the cash, you won't get much for it, maybe $80-100. Then you are going to go buy a $20 calc, an expensive casio or an iPad. Regardless you aren't saving money.

Good luck convincing instructors to let you use the iPad on tests.

As far as the technology on a TI-89, the best part about it is that it uses AAA batteries, when your battery dies right before or during a test, you can always have a couple spares in your backpack. Without having a backlit display, those AAA batteries last much longer. Not saying it can't be improved, but I certainly wouldn't ever want to have an iPad type calculator.

ee grad student here. just get something that can do matrices and you'll be fine. i've been rocking the ti-86 since high school and it is more than enough.

Thanks

I figured an 89 was overkill even as a soon to be grad

I am a super senior in physics and I never used a Ti-89... A buddy lent me one once saying i should try to use it but i never figured it to be really necessary. I do have the 17 dollar one from radio shack, it has that "pretty print" and does simple integrations and differentiations, plus its solar and battery so i never have to worry about batteries going dead. I think unless you plan on doing a lot of graphing with it, i'd save my money and go with a cheap 20 dollar one.

I think the application on my TI-89 I've used the most so far is Notefolio.

well maybe if you had a real major you would need a real calculator