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Scientific calculators... Phone App vs Standalone.

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88keys

88keys

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I have a cheapy $20 casio which works alright but I want something nicer and will likely need a better one in the future anyway so I've been looking at some of the Texas Instruments models, however it is also new phone time and so I'm thinking about just using my Samsung Galaxy S4 as one which seems like a good idea because it can also perform other functions which are useful for work.

The main things i need this for are geometry, moderately long equations and some light trig.

Granted the biggest downside would be batteries and charging but I could probably get a week (or almost a week) out of this on airplane mode.
 
The lack of tactile feedback makes calcs on phones suck. They're nice for a quick backup, but if you really need a calc, dedicated hardware is best. Btw, go RPN, or go home.
 
Ken g6 said:
:thumbsup: I had this HP48 emulator installed on my phone for awhile. Turned out I didn't need it and my phone is so cheap I couldn't afford the space. But this can tell you whether you like RPN, at least.
Click to expand...

Here's a good rpn calculator for quick stuff...

https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=rpn&fdid=com.ath0.rpn

It's no HP48, but it's light, and works well when you need to do some quick math. It also has big buttons which are more certain to hit on a phone.
 
Just get a smartphone app. They have a million times the functionality and do it much faster.

I have tons of calculators. Scientific, graphing, handwriting, programmable, and they're all blazing fast on a high resolution display. I cold never go back to a bulky, slow TI-84.
 
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There are only a few reasons to use a standalone calculator
-you do a shitton of number crunching at work, but don't have a PC program for it, and/or you don't like your keyboard's number pad
-you're a student and not allowed to use real tools because it's too easy to use google or wolfram alpha just like people in the real world do
-you're old
 
You fancy bastards will never take my HP!
Slide_rule_scales_back.jpg
 
Rakehellion said:
You fancy bastards will never take my HP!
Slide_rule_scales_back.jpg
Click to expand...

It is interesting that geeks with slide rules designed and built the Apollo rockets and then landed men on the Moon. The power of the on-board computers used in the LEM would be dwarfed by the embedded processors in things like coffee makers today.


Brian
 
No college course allows you to use smartphones during a test.

Outside of school I think I would like my 5 inch phone as a scientific calculator. But if my work was science, I'd prefer a computer with apps specifically for the task at hand.
 
I can get by with my casio for school. The classes aren't going to go on forever so this would mainly be for work purposes as far as the big picture is concerned.
 
shortylickens said:
No college course allows you to use smartphones during a test.

Outside of school I think I would like my 5 inch phone as a scientific calculator. But if my work was science, I'd prefer a computer with apps specifically for the task at hand.
Click to expand...

Exactly. There are much better application specific computer programs if that's your line of work. For me, in engineering, that's Matlab. The only reason for my TI-84 is tests. For basic/quick calculations for homework or something I use my phone.
 
For regular usage nothing beats the real thing, as it frees up your phone for other stuff, like if you want to look up a formula or something. It's also more intuitive to use real buttons.
 
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