as a very confused chemistry I student right now i’m searching for a good idea for a calculator for my pre-reqs. one that will be good for all the chemistry’s. and physics as well as some biology. I saw a TI-84 Silver addition at walmart tonight and it looked like it covered all the subjects with only homework help too… i dunno about all that but it was around $128. what did some of you purchase and found to be a wise decision on this similar journey? thanks
I think I had a TI-83, can’t remember, you just need to be able to do logarithms.
My chem instructor, who primarily teaches physics and astronomy, recommended a TI-30 series calculator. I picked mine up at Walmart for about $15. So far, it’s working well as all we’re doing is algebra with scientific notation thrown in.
hak
Unless you need to do graphing functions and/or are taking trig/calculus, the TI-83 is probably overkill. You need a calculator that does logs for chem and that does all the trig functions for physics. The simpler, the better in my opinion. It took me an entire freaking quarter to figure out how to use the cursed calculator. I think we had to get the TI-83, though. The math, chem and physics departments mandated that there were only certain types of calculators that could be used on tests.
TI 30X – solar powered, 2-line display, easy to operate, reliable, unbreakable, about $13 to $15 depending where you look for it. This baby’s the best unit on the market for the money.
Some classes forbid the use of programmable calculators such as the higher end TI’s on examinations.
- Miller J. Said:
as a very confused chemistry I student right now i'm searching for a good idea for a calculator for my pre-reqs. one that will be good for all the chemistry's. and physics as well as some biology. I saw a TI-84 Silver addition at walmart tonight and it looked like it covered all the subjects with only homework help too.. i dunno about all that but it was around $128. what did some of you purchase and found to be a wise decision on this similar journey? thanks
I've had a TI-84 Silver since the beginning...I've used it now for gen chem 1, pre-calc, and stats. I would highly recommend the 84 (doesn't need to be silver), or at least get the older 83 on E-bay or where ever, because if you have either of those models then you will probably be set as far as calculators go for the pre-reqs.
I’m using a TI-34 it’s really cool. my dad is a principal and found it at a jr. high math dept. can do great things like converting to scientific notation and such. beats the Business Analyst calculator I was using.