How necessary is a Ti 89 for EE/Computer Engineering

[duragezic]

If you remember I posted at least a couple threads about buying a Ti89. And these were months ago and still I don't have one. If I could get a used 89 from someone upgrading to a Titanium it would probably be $60 or $70, but I haven't been able to find one.. I don't feel like dishing out $100+ unless its really necessary.

I have ~60/128 credits towards my CpE degree so I'm starting to get into some EE courses. Other students in my class pretty much all have 89s and say they can do a lot of things, but it's not that my 83+ can't do anything. People thought you needed a 89 for complex numbers, but the 83+ works just fine. Plus I got this Simult. Eqn Solver and Root finder for any power (taken from the 86 I guess) apps that level the playing field. A lot of students in my class can't do ANYTHING without their 89s though, and I don't wanna drop down to that level. In fact, I'm trying to use my calculator less and less during simple calculations and doing algebra more than using the calculator.

I didn't feel I needed a 89 at all in Intro Signal Processing & Digital Logic. It would've been helpful in Linear Alg & Diff Eq but those went good with my 83+ still. Right now I'm in Circuit Analysis and once I get refreshed on some integrals, I don't see how a 89 could do much more. Of course I don't know what types of things are ahead of me.

Opinions?

 

[franksta]

We were rarely permitted the use of calculators in any of my EE courses. And when we were a simple $10 one was enough. That said I've had a TI-83 for almost 10 years now and it's overkill.

 

[eLiu]

THe way I see it is this: if you can't do it by hand, Maple is better...otherwise do it by hand and move on w/life.

 

[MrDudeMan]

you need to be able to do all of it by hand. using a calculator as a crutch will only hurt you.

 

[duragezic]

I should add this one SENIOR EE Indian fellow (I go to a small engineering school) whom are mostly pretty dedicated to their EE studies (or should I say obsessed) once said to me "This is what makes me an engineer" and he points to his 89 Titanium. He was dead serious too.

 

[akubi]

don't need it but if you can really get it for 60 bucks, do it.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I dont have an 89 titanium. I bought it in high school. Uhhh.. the calculator has yet to come in handy in college. It was only useful during physics in high school...

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

I have 1 semester left to my EE degree and I don't have a graphing calculator. You'll see soon enough that for really complex problems, you need something powerful like MATLAB (or Maple, but you hardly ever need to solve symbolic eqns once you get past math/physics courses). The rest of it, you can solve with a scientific calculator. I really don't understand why so many people are so obsessed with using these TI calculators.

edit: I had a TI-83 in high school and I haven't touched it in years, it's collecting dust right now.

 

[stephenw22]

Through my entire degree (BSEE), I only used a graphing calc to check my calculus answers in 1st year.

If you can't do it without using a graphing calc, please don't graduate.

The only time a graphing calc would have been nice was during my 3 phase power-related classes. Converting ABC to DQ or calculating power factors and phasors would have been easier with built-in formulas. But I got by just fine, and I understand the concepts much better than many of my 'plug-and-chug' classmates.

It makes me sad that my former university has now 'standardized' on TI graphing calculators for all of their engineering students. Profs will just make longer tests that are only actually testing the kids' ability to punch numbers in quickly, and to download programs off the internet for their calculators.

After you graduate, there are much better (and specialized) tools for performing calculations that relate to your specific field of work, whatever that may be. If you need them, you should either get them for yourself, or have your company supply you with them.

 

[Analog]

As a prof in EE, I can tell you this: Keep it simple. I don't care what my students use, but many students don't even know how to do simple conversions on their complicated calculators. And no, I don't allow calculator manuals!

 

[harrkev]

Back in my day.......

Once upon a time, HP calculators were the best in the world. Once you know RPN, you NEVER want to go back. Too bad HP just stood by and let TI take over their crown. They went over a decade with only giving their top-of-the-line HP-48 only a slight speed and memory bump.

 

[Rock Hydra]

I have a TI83 Plus SE...which just sits on my dresser collecting dust. It worked well when I used it during school though.

 

[slpaulson]

I'll be a senior in CE, and I hardly use my TI 89 for anything an 83+ can't do.

In my experience, most professors don't allow calculators on exams, at least ones with integrals and that sort of thing where a TI89 would be an advantage.

 

[magomago]

as a BME right now...never really. what the professor usually gives on tests requires you to think but once you flesh out the concept, the calculations are pretty straight foreward.

The only reaosn to have a tI is if you are a "seeing your previous calculations" whore (Which I proudly am). I don't like one line calculators because it erases the work each step, whereas my TI-89 saves something like 50 steps.

But beyond that, I haven't really used any of the functions of a TI that a regular calculator didn't have...