<p>I am currently looking for a graphing calculator for AP Calc BC and AP Statistics. As well, I want it to last in college and I am thinking of majoring in either premed or business.</p>
<p>So, should I get the TI-86? Thanks a bunch!</p>
<p>Many people don’t end up using a graphing calculator a lot in college. After all, you’ll probably have a laptop and anything that your calculator can do, your laptop can do better.</p>
<p>I really have hardly touched my graphing calculator since high school, but I liked it a lot back in the day. It’s an HP 49G, which uses RPN. TI is the usual choice, though. Any graphing calculator will do the things you really need it to do. Get one that isn’t too fancy and maybe you’ll even learn more math ;-)</p>
<p>You should probably get a TI83, or if you want to splurge a little, get a TI89. Some people swear their TI89s got them through the bc exam, but you can do everything you need to on the TI83. Also, there’s no point in buying them new, they’re a lot cheaper on ebay and just as good.</p>
<p>ps. why is this in the parents forum?</p>
<p>Thanks beck and pseud.</p>
<p>@ pseud- I was wondering if parents have any experiences with TI-86 as it is a pretty old calculator.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Nope, but I do know how to use a slide rule. ;)</p>
<p>And I can count on my fingers!</p>
<p>See which calculator the teacher suggests.</p>
<p>My advice- buy the graphing calculator your teacher recommends. You invest $100 or so, and when you clep out of a course (or two) of calc, you save hundredsssss.</p>
<p>TI-84+ seems to be the best loved. I just got it, and love it. Get it.</p>
<p>I love my TI-89! You’ll probably have to take 2-3 semesters of calculus if you’re a pre-med. Plus, you can always use the TI-89 when your future kids take algebra/calculus.</p>
<p>i have a ti-86. i got it during trig in high school. it has a lot more memory and can hold more games then the ti-83 can. the only downside is i thought math things were less easy to do on it. i never used the ti-89 but i’ve heard good things.</p>
<p>I have a ti-86 and sometimes people give me some flak since apparently the ti-89 is fairly more capable with calculus type tasks for not much more money, and the ti-83+ can do most useful things of the ti-86 for less money.</p>
<p>On the other hand the ti-86 is a durable, long lasting calc. It got me through heavy usage in two semesters of advanced physics and a semester of solid state devices (I’m in engineering…) so clearly it’s capable of a lot.</p>
<p>No matter which TI calc you get, the site <a href=“http://ticalc.org%5B/url%5D”>http://ticalc.org</a> is invaluable.</p>
<p>And if you really want to dig into the guts of those calculators and create your own programs, I remember that digmedia’s son wrote some programming tutorials for that site.</p>
<p>
Wha?? The Ti-89 has a reasonably nice [Computer</a> Algebra System](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_algebra_system]Computer”>Computer algebra system - Wikipedia) which allows for symbolic solving of equations, symbolic differentiation/integration, summing of infinite series, and the calculation of limits. The Ti-83 can take only numerically do these things, which basically means that the Ti-83 is useless for algebra/calculus. On the other hand, though, far too many people don’t learn basic calculus enough precisely for the reason that their Ti-89 can do it all for them.</p>
<p>The Ti-83 is much more convenient for statistics. Dealing with lists/matrices/data is kind of a pain on a Ti-89.</p>
<p>The Ti-86, in my experience, is the worst of both worlds: it has the overly-complicated interface of a Ti-89 while offering only the limited features of the Ti-83 (plus useless features like ‘unit handling’). </p>
<p>To be fair, though, I haven’t used a graphing calculator in over three years, but I doubt things have changed substantially.</p>
<p>I’m a student, but I agree with the cghen’s post. The TI-83+ is far superior for statistics. And after a semester of AP Statistics, you know that calculator backwards and forwards. And it’s been four years since I took AP stats, but my textbook at the time had a lot of places where it explained how to do things on the 83+, and so having an 89 instead of the 83+ would have been a disadvantage there. For AP Calc (AB), I had my TI-83+, and my school had a class set of 89s. Some things were a lot simpler on the the 89 and some were still simpler on the 83+ (which may or may not have been because it’s the one I knew how to use really really well after taking stats). And I’m nearly positive that we were allowed to use both in the AP exam.</p>
<p>For me, the 89 is better for some specific things, while the 83+ is better for the more general things. Even if I could trade, I wouldn’t give up my 83+ for an 89.</p>
<p>I support TI-89.</p>
<p>At UofToronto there is a general rule in all first year math class: No calculators of any kind. Which stucked for me because I used the TI-84 in highschool and almost relied to heavily for me. So first semester was pretty tough.</p>
<p>yeah, we weren’t allowed to use calculators in my high school calculus course… however we were allowed in college… and every time they showed us something I was like… if only we could have done this in high school…</p>
<p>Is the Ti 89 the model that isn’t allowed during SAT testing??</p>
<p>My son was not allowed to carry the 89 into college Calc exams…he informed his younger brother yesterday…I was sitting in. He used the 89 on the AP Calc test and the 83plus in his two semesters of Calc at Duke. </p>
<p>I imagine this is different from school to school.</p>