Calculator GENERAL

Just buy a fucking calculator holy shit, it's not a huge investment.

Wow, you are so fucking edgy dude.
Kill yourself.

HP 48GX

The opposite, actually. I'm disgustingly dependent on my calculator. I wish I was better at mental math, it'd help me more during exams to not have to do every pedantic step on a calculator, but whatever.

Math professors at universities make you do it all in your head, anyway. Whether you like it or not isn't relevant at all.

Most professors past Algebra 2 won't let you use a ti-89 unless you also show your work. They're aware of how easy it is to just input equations and get an answer right away, so they outright tell you(or at least in my experience and others), that if you show no work you get an F.

You get better at not using your calculator by not using your calculator. Don't use it for calculations you could reasonably do mentally and you'll get better quickly.

swissmicros.com/#

An HP-16C clone is pretty Holla Forums

This.

My cal 3 professor wouldn't let us use a calculator at all.

We had to show work but could use calculators. This was at my ultra prestigious community college though.

The best way to learn how to do it without one is to step through the problems with one then again without it.

I was never allowed to use a calculator for any math class in Uni, and that was with a minor in the subject. Calculators aren't really needed for calculus anyway. Unless your professor is a complete asshole the actual numerical calculations you would need to do on a test should be pretty simple. For checking homework or just playing around I would recommend mathematica or something similar.

I am done with my master of science in engineering soon, and I never had the need for a graphical calculator. Not in a math course, and if I need advance plotting capabilities then I would use a computer.

If you've actually been told that you need to have a calculator for exams, it's likely that your institution will also tell you a (basic) recommended calculator. All you're going to use it for is finding logs and square roots etc, you don't need petaflops.

Otherwise, if you just misunderstand what math courses entail (as seems likely, since you're taking calc 1) don't bother with a calculator at all. You won't need it, for any and all of the reasons gave. You'll be examined on your understanding of the concepts, not nitpicky calculations.

I used to sit through entire math classes programming shitty text games on one of these little niggas instead of paying attention. Holla Forums as fuck lad.

thank you, this is perfect (other than the price..)

Well, in University nobody actually cares about actual arithmetics, I've had a professor for calculus II make a mistake on the blackboard and have 1+1 to be 3, it was real fun. I've also had mistakenly done bad calculations (having a two magically disappear, for example, but it was lucky that it was a sin over a 2pi period), and I've been forgiven.
Most of the exams at uni will default to "small" numbers, integers below 10, having a "50pi" is a bestiality. The thing is that it's designed to test if you know the theorems and definitions, not calculations. Summing and multiplying is something computers do for mathematicians either way. I've had forgotten calculators for exams and nothing happened. I'm not sure if it's like that for engineering, but computer science and maths at my uni are like that.
Of course, over here graphing calculators aren't really common at all, but I'm not sure if they have capabilities for flux and circulation and those things. Are they able to do complex calculus and such?
Of course, I come from a poor shit-tier third world country.

Well, in University nobody actually cares about actual arithmetics, I've had a professor for calculus II make a mistake on the blackboard and have 1+1 to be 3, it was real fun. I've also had mistakenly done bad calculations (having a two magically disappear, for example, but it was lucky that it was a sin over a 2pi period), and I've been forgiven.
Most of the exams at uni will default to "small" numbers, integers below 10, having a "50pi" is a bestiality. The thing is that it's designed to test if you know the theorems and definitions, not calculations. Summing and multiplying is something computers do for mathematicians either way. I've had forgotten calculators for exams and nothing happened. I'm not sure if it's like that for engineering, but computer science and maths at my uni are like that.
Of course, over here graphing calculators aren't really common at all, but I'm not sure if they have capabilities for flux and circulation and those things. Are they able to do complex calculus and such?
Of course, I come from a poor shit-tier third world country.

Electrical Engineering here. This is the only calculator I've ever needed from Calc 1 to Calc 3, Physics 105 to Electromagnetic Waves for EE.

You shouldn't need a calculator to do calculus anywhere beyond simple arithmetic simplifications at the end of the process.

Well, in University nobody actually cares about actual arithmetics, I've had a professor for calculus II make a mistake on the blackboard and have 1+1 to be 3, it was real fun. I've also had mistakenly done bad calculations (having a two magically disappear, for example, but it was lucky that it was a sin over a 2pi period), and I've been forgiven.
Most of the exams at uni will default to "small" numbers, integers below 10, having a "50pi" is a bestiality. The thing is that it's designed to test if you know the theorems and definitions, not calculations. Summing and multiplying is something computers do for mathematicians either way. I've had forgotten calculators for exams and nothing happened. I'm not sure if it's like that for engineering, but computer science and maths at my uni are like that.
Of course, over here graphing calculators aren't really common at all, but I'm not sure if they have capabilities for flux and circulation and those things. Are they able to do complex calculus and such?
Of course, I come from a poor shit-tier third world country.

Why?

π is just there to make calculator-fags sweat balls writing down non-pretty numbers like the tools they are.

no, because having the 50 there is a bestiality, most numbers I find in my studies are: -1, 0, 1, 2 and 3, sometimes 5. 4 is a rare find.
They're there multiplying whatever constant (e, pi, i, etc).
The bestiality comes from having 50 before pi.

also, pi is beautiful you fucking faggot, say that to my face.

As beautiful numbers go, π is pleb-tier.

Yeah, it's babby's first constant, but she still serves her function.

Depends on the exam. The thing that will catch you up will be the CAS, not the RPN. If you're willing to work out what you can use for non-CAS exams, a 50g is insanely cheap for what it does.

So I'm doing a surveying course and that's the calculator we were expected to get, AND they expect us to use RPN. I was pleasantly surprised.

I like the mental image of some fat neckbeard lugging one around, looking down on all the casuals with TIs and other portable ones with 0.1% of the power and 50x the battery life.

God no. What is the Apple of SBCs anyway? Pis are the Windows.

So I might actually do this guys. Rationalization being that it will last me the rest of my life, though I don't know how'd I'd make use of it outside of school.

Is RPL > RPN?

I think the fact that colleges are not allowing one to use some calculators is fucking retarded. About as dumb as when programming classes forbid you from getting help from the internet.

RPL is just a programing language for some HP calcs IIRC.
RPN (postfix) is different from algebraic (infix) notation. I think it's easier to do equations once you learn to use it and use the stack to store values.

You know how you operate a regular calculator? That's what you compare RPN to. With RPN you have a stack, you push values onto it, and do operations on the topmost items. For example to do the operation 45 + 3 * 2 this is what you do.

45
3
2
45
6
51

Note that brackets weren't necessary. You just put the values in left-to-right but do the highest priority operations as you get to them.

RPL is a programming language. On mine for example you could enter the following:

> ->NUM

Top stack item is squared, swap the top two stack items, sqares the new top item, add them together, then square root. ->NUM executes it. Pythagoras in other words.

I knew a little of RPN, had read the Wikipedia page on it and watched a couple YouTube video, but don't know anything of RPL other than that's it's reverse Polish lisp and an OS.

What advantages does being RPL have other than sounding cool? And is anything that's RPL also RPN?

I like these swissmicros but they don't offer an RPL model, only RPN.

You're never going to pass calc 2 OP just give up now.

Thanks man. Can I program this hp 16c clone to have the trig functions?

Idiot. RPN is how you operate the calculator, contrast with the typical 2 + 2 =. RPL is a programming language with some RPN conventions. Like my Pythagoras example is effectively a macro, working on the stack.

What piece of crap doesn't have them built-in?

I don't believe the hp 16c does, bigger idiot

And you didn't answer my question any dubs man. I was asking if the machines os is RPL, is it always RPN, never algebraic?

*angry dubs man

Looks like it doesn't. Someone wrote some but you'd be way better off to get a model with the functions built-in.

Older HPs are exclusively RPN, those swissmicro clones are probably the same. Some of the newer HPs offer algebraic in addition to RPN.

RPL is only a feature of newer HPs. Older ones like the HP-71B use BASIC.

Sauce?

hpmuseum.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/hpmuseum/articles.cgi?read=350

No inverses though. So yeah, don't bother.

fellow EE fag here and I second this.

i used ti-36x pro from trig/alg2 till physics 3/calc 3.

if your calc teachers are worth a damn they aren't going to let you use graphing calculators.

ti-36x pro is the fucking bomb.

Draw your own fucking graphs

i had this one
education.ti.com/en/us/products/calculators/graphing-calculators/ti-nspire-with-touchpad/tabs/overview

use the ti-84 keyboard though, but its has a great screen and alot of memory

I use that one.

bump

I got an HP 35s. It's pretty nice.

I got in to programming by teaching myself basic on a TI-84 during class in middle school.
Good times.

So, objectively best calculator regardless of the price?

Obviously that you can use in your hand, not NASA tier.

it depends on what they allow you to have. KnightOS is available for some TI calculators, might not be very stable yet though: knightos.org/

might also depend on the uni or college, class length varies

wxMaxima is free, in both meanings of the term.
if you just need a scientific calculator on your computer then Speedcrunch is pretty nice.

I really wish there was a way to get convenient statistical management/computing tools without playing TI and Casio's fucking scalpers' game. A lot of these calculators are exactly the same as they were ~30 years ago yet they still have the audacity to charge ludicrous prices for them.

WHY DON'T THEY HAVE TRIG FUNCTIONS

would it be so hard?

because the calculator wasn't made to be a scientific calculator? It's a computer engineering calculator, hence the 1's and 2's compliment, bit masking button, etc.

I used a $10 HP for calc 1 and 2.

At home I also used a REPL and wolfram alpha to check my work and mess with concepts. Save your money.

That's a good tip. Thanks.

I've had this little guy since middle school about 10 years ago and it still serves me well.

this is the only graphing calc I've ever used and its the first commercially released model afaik

It's pretty good.

I have a TI-83 plus and TI-86, are these worth keeping around?

I get that but why not just include them in case that particular consumer wants to have access to those very popular functions too? It seems like it'd make it way better, a lot more uses without sacrificing it's niche

ofcourse, i have a ti85 and its great