<p>What calculators are generally required/allowed for use at Caltech?</p>
<p>Depening on your major, calculators will be more or less useful. Engineers really need them (although Mathematica will also do the trick), theoretical majors don’t really end up using them that much. You’re not allowed to use symbolic manipulation in a fair number of classes on exams either.</p>
<p>As for myself, I’m madly in love with the TI-89 I got in 7th grade that I’m still using every so often.</p>
<p>Just bring whatever calculator you’ve used in high school here. At least, I wouldn’t spend $100 on a fancy new one that you almost definitely won’t need your first year here anyway.</p>
<p>I’ll second halfthelaw- so far for core, calculators have just been useful to do some stuff in chem. I personally use an HP-15c scientific calculator for that purpose. I have an HP49, but haven’t touched it yet. </p>
<p>As far as which ones you can use, you can use any one you’d like. The test will usually tell you what features you are allowed to use (ie, no stored notes, no stored formulas, etc). So if have a fancy calculator that can do all that stuff, but you can’t use that functionality on the exam, you can still use the calculator- it’s up to you to follow the Honor Code and do the right thing.</p>
<p>Honor code makes the Caltech atmosphere sound so amazing. I hate that our teachers make us use their calculators or show cleared mem before and after everything we ever do. I really hope I get in.</p>
<p>I left my calculator at home because I thought I wouldn’t need it. I should’ve brought it; trying to find a calculator 15 minutes before a set/exam is due is somewhat inconvenient.</p>