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I need a calculator
Yoshua
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I will be taking math classes up to Calc I and two physics classes. So I am looking to get a decent calculator. Any suggestions? I would like to keep the cost under $200.
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https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001EMM0G/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Served me well enough and definitely under $200
Edit: though based on the description, it's not necessarily the best one if you're looking for a physics calculator.
Double-edit: Although that calculator was the one specifically requested that I use by the university. Some calculators were actually *prohibited*, so your best bet is actually to look up the class and see what calculator(s) they recommend. All the TI-Nspire models were banned in my math classes.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
https://www.amazon.com/Texas-Instruments-Titanium-Calculator-packaging/dp/B0001EMLZ2?th=1&psc=1
I got through it with a TI-30X
If you are in college, check with the Math and/or Physics department. They likely have a deal with the school computer store to provide significant discounts for 1-3 models they suggest using.
Just be careful with classes labeled something like General Physics I or II, as they often only allow a scientific calculator for tests.
In most of the math courses I've taken we weren't even allowed calculators on the tests. The exception has been a class on MATLAB programming, where you are actually expected to calculate things on the test.
Outside of tests you can have all of that functionality and more just by using wolfram alpha, or any number of other similar free services
My memory of the normal curriculum is rusty, but I don't think there is any reason you couldn't do all your precalc maths in polar or spherical coordinates. I'm sure your teacher would be more than happy to accept answers in terms of r, theta, phi, just so you aren't bored with material you've already mastered.
Things like train accelerating at different rates or bathtubs that are both filling and draining.
Which was exactly why the big graphing calculators were banned from test day. But it was very helpful for my personal learning because I used it properly and not to just fast track my homework. Also programming.
That takes more work than just expecting the student to plugin values to a function and copy down the results.
I did this for linear equations. That class was the worst. Every assignment was hours of tedious bullshit.
I don't remember ever needing a graphing calculator in college.
That class was brutal.
Conceptual understanding is great and important but there is value to the depth of understanding that comes from having an intimate familiarity with each of the steps involved in an algorithm's solution.
You can know the pythagorean theorem, but if you can prove it and understand the proof, that's better.
There's a difference between asking you to multiply using an abacus and asking you to NOT use a machine which can simply give you the answer if you know how to get it.