Graphing Calculator Math
August 4th, 2009
Texas Instruments TI-NSpire Math and Science Handheld Graphing Calculator
Strengths:
The document management system — multiple “problems” can be kept in the calculator at the same time, and each problem keeps its own variable names; good graphing capabilities; ability to split the screen and work with multiple views of the same problem; spreadsheet application. The calculator has 5 “applications” (calculator, graphs & geometry, spreadsheet, data & statistics, notes), and information can be shared between them.
Weaknesses:
The documentation is very poor. There are two user guides, with considerable overlap in the contents. In User Guide Part 1, which comes packaged with the calculator, there are 25 pages on the Graphs & Geometry application, and the information on how to actually plot a graph is barely mentioned. User Guide Part 2 comes as a PDF file, and has more detail, but is badly organized and missing a lot of information. For example, instructions for a number of operations say to “drag” something, but nowhere in the manual does it say how to do that.
Keypad: other reviewers have commented on the difficulty pressing the right buttons on the keypad. Even worse is the “mouse” operation. I finally discovered that dragging involves holding the center “Click button” while pressing the arrow keys on the “NavPad”. It is very difficult to control the cursor with the NavPad, and doubly so when trying to hold down the click button. Also, what operation is done by a click or drag is dependent on where on the screen the cursor is, and it’s difficult to control the cursor location with the level of precision needed.
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Why would I want a TI 83 you may ask? What about the 89? It’s a higher model, and has more buttons! Yes, that’s exactly it, it has more buttons, and way to many features you won’t use. I have a Ti 83+ (More memory than the origional, but same everything else) and it is great! It has built in Financial Apps, which is a nice addition (and helpful!) compared to the 82 (which it is also compatible with!). But the 89? Even the 85? They take greater than calculus students to even need/use those functions, and they are a much harder to learn calculator. The Calculus teacher at our school says that the 83 will get you all through calculus and most likely beyond college. My calculator, which is really easy to learn, came in handy the first day in Geometry. We had to figure an area of a wierd shape and we only had the co-ordinates, i punched them in, and POW, found the area. If you do get this calculator, a TI-Graph Link is a must, this allows you to download software and updates from TIs website, some software could almost be considered cheating, while others can be games for fun. Unless you want to spend $200 for a TI-92+ (not even allowed by most teachers, it’s so powerful), this is THE calculator for you!
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I’m still getting used to this calculator, and for me it hasn’t been quite as intuitive to use as the TI calculators I’ve owned, but I’m probably just too accustomed to the TI layout, etc. This calculator does all the stuff I need, which is generally only basic arithmetic and the occasional statistic. I love the 2-line display, and the numbers are easy to read. One thing I don’t like is the absence of an “OFF” button. When you’re done you simply put the protector back on and let it go off in its own sweet time. The slide-on protector has a “quick reference” sticker on the inside, which is nice but not very extensive (it covers modes, multi-replay, standard deviation, data edit and mean). Overall I’m pretty happy with this calculator though, and in this price range I think it is a good value.
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Categories: Graphing Calculator
