Texas Instrumentsgraphingcalculators are, in my eyes, the best line of graphing calculators on the market. If You are interested in the purchare of one, you can probably find one at prices close to these:
x TI-80 | $57 |
# TI-81 | $70 |
* TI-82 | $84 |
* TI-83 | $100 |
+ TI-85 | $100 |
+ TI-86 | $120 |
$ TI-92 | $160-$200 (Depends where you find it) |
x This is TI's simplest calculator. It's cheap, but the features are about as low as its price. It has a small screen, low memory, no connectivity, limited programming (like TI-81), and no matrix.
# This is a "fair" calculator. It does have matrices and a larger screen, but it has less memory than the TI-80 and even less programibility.
* I like (and really recomend) these two calulators. They are very funcional, fairly compatible, are very programable (great games), and have 32k of memory.
+ This is a good calculator for doing scientific stuff. It has an extra wide screen, an equation solver, and unlimited 8 character variable names. It supports both upper and lower case letters, special, greek, and international characters, and it also supports things like vectors, complex numbers, polynomials, and more, Including ZShell, which allows you to run assembly language on your calculator! My only complaints are that its draw commands are limited. There is no command to draw text on the graphing screen and you can't erase lines.
+ This is also a realy good calculator. It is basicly and enhanced TI-85. It has all of the same features and lots more. It keeps the same wide screen and has the new ergonomic case, just like the TI-83. The awesome thing here is the expanded memory! TI has finaly listened to the cries of the users! The TI-86 has 128K of memory, with 96K of it being user memory!!! That even out does the TI-92 in user memory. It even has the draw commands from the TI-82/83! I was thrilled! My only regret, is though it has all the draw commands, the line command doesn't support erasing a line like the 82 and 83 do. It does have the text and pixel commands though, as well as any other important commands. It is a very, very nice calculator!
P.S. TI, add a color screen to a graphing calculator (Like CASIO did with two of their models!!!)! You can use it for presentations, complex graphs, and GAMES!!!
$ If you can afford it and you want the most advanced calculator there is, this is the Best one to choose (currently). This calculator has nearly everything. It has 128K of memory (70K for user and it is expandible with the TI-92 plus module from TI), a super large 128x240 pixel, high res screen, and a programming language that leaves everything else in the dust! And TI really made a great machine. It has a QWERTY keyboard and it displays formulas as they would be written and it can solve nearly any equation for any variable and shows all possible answers! It has an interactive geometry application and has a 3D graph mode (it can display multiple graphs in one or two modes with its split screens too)! (Only two flaws: Its QWERTY keyboard makes it not allowed for SAT type tests, and it is very, very big. It is definitely not pocket sized. (see the picture further below)).
Obviously, if you read the product descriptions, you can see which calculator is my favorite! I think the TI-92 is the greatest tool there is for the one who does calculations. I can tell you that the TI-92 has been called "The God of Calculators," and I fully agree. Along with the features mentioned above, there is also a very spreadsheet like data, matrix, and list editor, and it has a very useful file management system which supports directories (So you can group files into a folder for just that project or so all your GAMES can be together! Cool!). It also has an awesome interface that looks a lot like the MacOS, and why not, since it has a 16-Bit, 10 MHz, Motorola 68000 Microprocessor, the same type of processor that was used in a total of 7 Macintosh models. The only difference is that, except for the Mac XL (which only had a 5 MHz processor), the TI-92's processor is 2 MHz faster than the other Macintosh processors (they only had 8 MHz processors). Imagine that! A calculator that out speeds a computer!
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