Calculator for Grades 7 through 12?

[TripleB]

My daughter is getting ready to enter 7th grade and I'm looking to get her a calculator she can use from 7th grade all the way through 12th.

Where I teach (7th grade) we use the Texas Instruments Ti-73 graphing calculator. I like it (probably because I'm so familiar with it) but I don't think it would be a wise purchase because she will need something more in high school.

I was thinking of getting her the Texas Instruments Ti-84 Plus but saw that the Texas Instruments Ti-84 Plus Silver Edition as well as the Texas Instruments Ti-Nspire can both be had for just about the same price as the Ti-84 Plus.

For anyone who has had experience dealing/working with the Ti-84 Plus, Ti-84 Plus Silver Edition, or Ti-Nspire, I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments.

TripleB

 

[Bellalee]

I've had no experiance.. I have the TI-83 plus.. I think I am getting old... some of those can be so complicated though, I only know that there are only few days far and in between that they actually use pretty indepth stuff.. For a girl that young.. I would tell her to pick out the prettiest one.. simple and silly but it works.

 

[BlackDiamondGeckos]

The TI-84 is perfect for most, if not all, of high school. I had a TI-84 Silver. When I took AP Calculus, however, we needed something better. So I got a TI-89 Platinum (it differentiates and integrates, and has a really handy 'solve' function- which she probably wouldn't be able to use until calculus). I use that still, up here in Berkeley. Most people won't need anything better than a TI-84, Silver just offers more memory I believe, and a change in color.

 

[BGalloway]

The TI 84 plus and 83 have the integral and derivative solve functions too, I never needed to use the TI 89 in AP calc. I tutor on campus (college) and we use the TI 83 if a student forgets their calculator. You really only NEED a TI 89 for engineering stuff and really advanced calculus.

I have no experience with the TI-Nspire, but can tell you that the TI 83, 84, and 84silver will work well from 7th to 12 grade and well beyond.

Happy shopping

 

[BlackDiamondGeckos]

Ya, the 84 does have those functions, but only for definite integrals and derivatives evaluated at given x's. Try differentiating x^2, it's not going to happen. We used that a lot, especially for speeding up any problem

Also, the 84 has a solve function too, but only for equations=0, the 89 expands that to any equation.

So, IMO the 84 is perfect for most if not all of high school, but the 89 just offers functions that the 84 does not. It's been really helpful and useful and for people that are lazy and want a quick smart calculator that can do just about anything, I pick the 89. For anything in middle school and high school the 84 will suffice.

 

[BGalloway]

My calculator is obsolete :cry:. I tried diffentiating x^2 with the tutor center's TI 83. It didn't work . You can use the graph to find the derivative of x^2 for a specified x value though. My vote is still for the 84 unless you are doing something that needs the higher math functions of an 89.

 

[Bellalee]

I thought most schools were trying to not rely on calculators... I know I wasn't allowed to have a calculator in Calc 1 or 2.

 

[BlackDiamondGeckos]

We had tests that were in 2 parts, with calc and without calc. Without calc showed if we knew the material, without calc we were able to solve harder problems and it taught us how to use it so that we were savvy for the AP and IB exams. The more we were familiar with the calcs the less time we lost per problem.

 

[Khrysty]

I've used the TI-84 silver edition from Junior high to now (my second year of college) and it's suited me just fine. It has most functions needed unless your daughter is going to be taking extremely difficult courses (works fine for calculus).

 

[LizMarie]

I say invest in an easy to use Scientific AND Graphing Calculator. Lets say she takes Chemistry or something they sometimes won't allow graphing Calculators because you can write the formulas into them and use them during the test giving you an unfair advantage. Graphing calculators are great for Calculus and stuff to check yourself doing homework because when I took calculus we weren't allowed to use calculators part of the time.