Engineering students; TI calculator or smart phone app?

[Centauri]

I've decided to go back to school for engineering starting this fall, which of course means that I'm going to need to invest in a calculator.

What I was wondering was, with the advent of smart phones, is buying a professional graphing calculator still necessary or are the applications available for smart phones just as capable?

I'm basically just trying to avoid wasting money if I can get by with hardware I already have.

Thanks.

 

[Vic Vega]

Calculators are cheap now, just buy one.

 

[Ayah]

Can't have a phone during exams.

 

[PottedMeat]

i'd get a ti92 plus off ebay - they seem to go for ~$30


...or a ti89 rom + android emu

 

[Centauri]

Calculators are cheap now, just buy one.

A 'graphing calculator'

 

[Centauri]

Can't have a phone during exams.

Guess I'm buying a graphing calculator then.

i'd get a ti92 plus off ebay - they seem to go for ~$30


...or a ti89 rom + android emu

Yeah, that's significantly cheaper than new. I'll keep an eye out, thanks.

 

[Dumac]

Depending on what engineering degree you are going for and the faculty that teaches it, you may be able to use a graphing calculator in exams.

I doubt anybody would allow a phone during exams, though.

 

[gorcorps]

The fact that you thought you'd be allowed to utilize a device whose main purpose is to communicate between people, and has instant access to the Internet, makes me think you shouldn't be going back to school.

 

[Vic Vega]

A 'graphing calculator'

Yeah...

 

[coxmaster]

Most of my engineering classes didn't allow graphing calculators.. But last semester I had a class that let us use a Ti-89 emulator+phone..

 

[bonkers325]

you don't need a graphing calculator for the following reasons:

a) you will likely need to show work, which means having a graphing calculator with lots of functions won't help you
b) if you're smart enough to program your graphing calculator to do more complex stuff, you probably don't need a graphing calculator. also, see (a)
c) if you plan on taking your FE or PE exam, you cannot bring a graphing calculator to the exam
d) i haven't used a graphing calculator since high school, and only because it was mandatory

 

[chubbyfatazn]

Just pick up a cheap used TI84 or TI89. I got my TI89 for $50 off Amazon.

The last TI89 I had lasted 10 years, I got it in 2003... and it only died because I dropped it too many times.

 

[Centauri]

The fact that you thought you'd be allowed to utilize a device whose main purpose is to communicate between people, and has instant access to the Internet, makes me think you shouldn't be going back to school.

Yeah, but common sense and intelligence don't always equate.

 

[Bryf50]

I had a TI-89 throughout school and it was totally worth it. A graphing is more than just the graphing capabilities. Firstly, the interface of the 89 makes performing long chains of calculations way easier than the 83/84 or a basic calculator. And you get cool stuff like quadratic and differential equation solver, partial fraction expansion, unit conversion, base conversion etc. We were never allowed to use any calculator in math classes but it was extremely useful in engineering classes.

 

[RedCOMET]

I had a graphing calc for my computer engineering classes and for my information systems grad school claseses. The graphing calc made it easier to enter long annoying equations( think stuff that has multiple parens) than I think would have been easier to do on a phone.

I also used excel, matlab, maple, and mini tab as well, but for most stuff my ti 89 was my go to device. I also had a simple 4 function cal as well, since sometimes that was the only thing u could use on an exam.

As another commenter said, showings you work is important, but if u screw up entering that info into a calc, you'll loses points. Done that myself.

 

[brianmanahan]

ti-89 ftw

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I just bought a TI-99 in an antique shop.

 

[KillerCharlie]

Nothing beats the awesomeness of doing calc and difeq symbolically with a calculator.

 

[disappoint]

I've decided to go back to school for engineering starting this fall, which of course means that I'm going to need to invest in a calculator.

What I was wondering was, with the advent of smart phones, is buying a professional graphing calculator still necessary or are the applications available for smart phones just as capable?

I'm basically just trying to avoid wasting money if I can get by with hardware I already have.

Thanks.

Why not wait until you start to find out what everyone else is using or what they recommend? I went into EE with just a regular scientific calculator, the textbook, a 5 subject notebook and a pencil. First day of Calc I the professor recommended every student get a graphing calculator.