New calculator - no tsure where to put this 3

[SperlingPE]

I am in the market for a new calculator.
It has been several years since I purchased my current calculator and it is starting to decline.
So I have been doing some looking around when I have time and I ran across Texas Intruments Nspire series calculators.

Has anyone used these?
Are they more for the student than for real world use?
I have the basics from TI's web site but I have more questions.

Can you really do yor calculations on your calculator and save them and then down load to your computer?
Fully programmable?
There are some functions that if they work like I think they do would be nice.

 

[connectegr]

My latest solution. IPad with GO TO MY PC app. I can view and manipulate my PC from my iPad. Not as efficient or functional as using my laptop. But, pretty amazing in a pinch. I can access my company server, programs, Outlook, etc, etc. I can use Excel and Mathcad. The connection works anywhere with my iPad Internet connection. Admittedly the interface is clumsy. The Documents to Go app allows better manipulation of Excel files. AutoCad WS allows viewing and notations on dxf and dwg files. Other apps are available for steel section dimensions and properties. And several apps that function similar to my HP calculator. In a relatively short time my iPad has come a long way. Eight months ago my responsibilities required my laptop and HP 48 (which this post has proven antiquated) to be my content companions. Although they have not been replaced, many of my tasks now fall on this amazing new gadget. (including this response).

As I mentioned above, a laptop is the best portable calculation tool. I have never found the time required to program a calculator to be time or cost effective, even for simple applications. If portability and durability are factors, there are laptop options. Maybe in eight more months I can leave the office with just my iPad.

http://www.FerrellEngineering.com

 

[jbuening]

I'm surprised by the amount of HP users, but they were the only game in town years ago. When I was in school back in 2004ish, 95% of the class had some version of a TI and the rest (who were actually going for surveying) had the HP. I myself have a TI-89 and love it. I tried the HP with the RPN and couldn't get the hang of it. I resorted to a Casio for the PE and SE exams, which did everything I needed for the exams. I like the TI's because you can arrow up at a previously calculation and take that exact result and add it to another equation you are starting. It holds around 30 different calculations on the screen.

 

[JAE]

My take is that getting used to the HP RPN is similar to getting used to drinking Scotch Whiskey. Both require a getting used to but once you get hooked there's no going back.

HP48G, HP35s, and Laprhoig.....sigh.

 

[271828]

I'm surprised by the amount of HP users, but they were the only game in town years ago. When I was in school back in 2004ish, 95% of the class had some version of a TI...

Superior marketing and deal-making > superior calculators ?

TI catches people in the 7th or 8th grade. Their calculators are good enough that there's little motivation to try something new.

I don't know how this came about, but our high school teachers actually require a TI graphing calculator. Something just doesn't seem right about that. I guess if HP could've done anything about it legally, they would've already.

 

[connectegr]

TI provides keystroke instructional calculators to high school math teachers. A projector shows the student the keystrokes the teacher makes. This is why the teachers "recommend" the TI calculators to the students. And as others have mentioned, TI is at the very least adequate for most applications.

Kinda like Microsoft and most school computers. As part of their anti-trust settlement, Microsoft was required to provide millions of dollars in computer software for academic programs. I am sure that was a tough deal to close.

http://www.FerrellEngineering.com

 

[271828]

Both require a getting used to but once you get hooked there's no going back.

That's my experience. I've seen a small handful of TI converts when their college calculator broke and we were able to talk them into hanging in there with an HP48G long enough to get used to it. I've never known anybody to go back.

I think some people would have issues going to true RPN with a three or four level stack, though. Bumping an entry off the top seems like a "bug" to new users, and I can see where they're coming from. One man's feature is another man's bug LOL.

 

[271828]

TI provides keystroke instructional calculators to high school math teachers. A projector shows the student the keystrokes the teacher makes. This is why the teachers "recommend" the TI calculators to the students. And as others have mentioned, TI is at the very least adequate for most applications. Kinda like Microsoft and most school computers. As part of their anti-trust settlement, Microsoft was required to provide millions of dollars in computer software for academic programs. I am sure that was a tough deal to close.

Makes sense, and about what I'd assumed.

 

[IRstuff]

It's worse than that. The TI graphing calculators are basically written into the California Algebra 1 text books. My kid is slogging through the book, even as we speak.

And, I don't see HP having a site similar to education.ti.com. And TI is hardly a newcomer, of course; one of their first forays into head-to-head competition with the HP35 was the SR-50, back in 1973-ish, which was the only affordable choice compared to the HP-35, when I was in high school.

One of the nicer bits of the older nSpire was the TI-89 keypad swapout, i.e., you could make the nSpire behave like a TI-89, since there was this perverse requirement in my son's high school to have a programmable calculator for one class, but a nonprogrammable calculator in another. The current CX model of the nSpire has a "press to test" function that disables a selection of functions for tests that don't allow them.

TTFN

FAQ731-376
Chinese prisoner wins Nobel Peace Prize

 

[Brad805]

Once you go RPN, you never go back. My HP48 died, and was replaced with the 50G. I do not like all the steps to convert units on the new HP 50 at all. I still miss the plastic model I had in university, but that was lost years ago.

Brad

 

[msquared48]

I was at a market survey a couple of weeks ago, and they passed out TI calculators to use.

I asked, "What's this?", and proceded to do the problems by hand.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[tumbleleaves]

After 6 months I WENT BACK to my Casio.
1) The Casio does not take batteries.
2) Its affordable at $10. Buy several.
3) With the dual line display, automatic recall of the previous answer and ability to edit the previous entry -- RPN advantages are no longer existent.
4) Never understood why the stack cuts off at 4.

That being said it was great mental exercise learning RPN and was a good experience.

 

[JAE]

For the HP48 - there is no stack cutoff at 4.

 

[271828]

Sorry. I should've been more precise. The RPL models such as the 48 and 50 have no stack limit. It's the RPN models such as 35s, 33s, etc. Don't want to give any potential converts the wrong idea!!

tumbleleaves, I believe you are a TI or Casio stock holder. Going from algebraic to RPN/RPL had no inverse operation. LOL Seriously, if you don't mind, which model HP did you have? Unfortunately, HP put out two unpopular models, the 33 and 49.

 

[msquared48]

For most equations, the stack of 4 was all you needed...

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[271828]

Mike, are there equations that cannot be punched through with four? I don't think I've ever seen one. My old mentor claimed that three is adequate, but I've never investigated his claim.