Re: new educational calculators from TI and Casio Message #2 Posted by Bruce Bergman on 6 Sept 2007, 12:24 p.m., in response to message #1 by Don Shepherd
Hi Don --
The new TI looks interesting. I'm guessing it's going to be a low-end version, but it seems to pack a pretty good punch. Tables, equations, what looks like good stats, etc. I bet it'll be under $49. I don't know that I would call this a competitor to the HP-35s, but it MIGHT indeed be just that. I like the "patterns" feature - that would be great in the lower-ed math systems.
However, I AM freaking out about one thing: it has an ENTER key, and no equals (=) key. ;-)
Oh, and look at the "order of operations" screen. IMHO, that's EXACTLY why we need HP models in the classroom. To have a screen that basically tells students that unless they get their parenthesis right, their result is bogus, stinks. Oh well...
The Casio is that model I was writing about last month on the forums here. It's impressive. Super clear display, great functions, and even has some brain-dead BASIC-like programming language. I think Katie was mentioning that it can be programmed fairly nicely. One of the replies was a download link for both the manual (PDF version) and also for a 30-day evaluation of the calculator for the PC.
Although the menu system is a nightmare (and cluttered too), it was fun to poke around on the calc and see what it can do. At $99 for the unit, with a $100 discount for educators, it's a steal. ;-)
thanks,
bruce
Edited: 6 Sept 2007, 12:25 p.m.
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