HP Forum Archive 18

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What's the best calculator for a college Physics course? Message #1 Posted by Ron G. on 7 Jan 2008, 2:00 p.m. It's been a while for me. My son is now asking the question. Many thanks. Edited: 7 Jan 2008, 2:00 p.m.

Re: What's the best calculator for a college Physics course? Message #2 Posted by Dave Shaffer (Arizona) on 7 Jan 2008, 3:31 p.m., in response to message #1 by Ron G. What physics course(s)? And, will he be taking higher math courses, too (like calculus)? For the first two or three semesters of intro physics courses (mechanics, E&M, modern physics), anything with scientific notation, trig, and exponential/log functions should be adequate. Square root and square are mighty convenient, too! I used to teach both algebra- and calculus-based intro courses and I never used, nor expected my students to have, anything more complicated. In the HP line, the new 35S should do nicely. I took calculus back in the days lo-o-o-o-ng before calculators and managed quite handily. The fancier HP and TIs are apparantly thought to be almost necessary for such classes now, though. Others here can comment on that.

Re: What's the best calculator for a college Physics course? Message #3 Posted by Eric Smith on 7 Jan 2008, 4:06 p.m., in response to message #1 by Ron G. Unless the college/professor/syllabus state otherwise, I agree with Dave that a basic scientific calculator is sufficient, and that the 35s would be a good choice. Some math classes have a recommendation for a specific graphing calculator. Two years ago I took a Linear Algebra class for which the TI-85 or TI-86 were listed as a requirement. I used an HP 49g+ due to my preference for RPN, and it worked out fine. Because I wasn't using one of the recommended calculators, the professor was not able to help me with the calculator, but I didn't need any help. Actually the professor had a hard time helping students with the TI-86 due to his own unfamiliarity with that model.

Re: What's the best calculator for a college Physics course? Message #4 Posted by Paul Guertin on 7 Jan 2008, 5:12 p.m., in response to message #1 by Ron G. Quote: What's the best calculator for a college Physics course? That depends on the instructor. Some insist on graphing calculators (sometimes a specific model). Others forbid them during tests, allowing non-graphing models only. Still others do not allow programmable calculators (which would rule out the HP 35S mentioned above).

Re: What's the best calculator for a college Physics course? Message #5 Posted by Eric Smith on 7 Jan 2008, 9:47 p.m., in response to message #4 by Paul Guertin I had a General Chemistry class in which graphing and programmable calculators were not allowed on tests. I used an HP-32E. I considered using a DIYRPN with all support for models other than the 32E removed, but I wasn't sure that I'd be able to convince the professor that it met her requirements.

Re: What's the best calculator for a college Physics course? Message #6 Posted by Arnaud Amiel on 8 Jan 2008, 3:10 a.m., in response to message #1 by Ron G. It has been 10 years for me now that I finished my degree in physics but at the time I found the units calculation ability of the 48 (now 50) series invaluable. Arnaud

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