I need help choosing a graphing calculator

Okay, so I need to decide on a good, price-function (has sufficient functions) graphing calculator sometime this month and my parents say that once I get it, there won't be a next time - which probably means it has to last me the next 3 years of high school math (most likely Algebra 2 Honors, Trig/Pre-Calc Honors, AP Calculus), through college, and optimally allowed on the SAT or tests similar to it. The graphing calculator would preferably be easy to use and utilize the most out of its battery life/(solar?).

So I've come up with a few of Texas Instruments' graphing calculator: TI-84 PLUS Silver Edition, TI-Nspire with Clickpad, TI-Nspire with Touchpad, TI-Nspire CAS with Clickpad, and TI-Nspire CAS with Touchpad. However, I am open to suggestions.

I just use a good old TI-83 Plus. It's served me well, the battery life is great despite how much I used it, and it'll do everything you need. You can create programs on it to solve certain problems faster. It's also very durable. I don't see the reason to buy anything fancier. However, I doubt your college/university will allow any of these during tests since you can basically store as much information as you need on the calculator. They made us all buy a specific scientific calculator, but it was pretty cheap.

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Originally Posted by bleach

Okay, so I need to decide on a good, price-function (has sufficient functions) graphing calculator sometime this month and my parents say that once I get it, there won't be a next time - which probably means it has to last me the next 3 years of high school math (most likely Algebra 2 Honors, Trig/Pre-Calc Honors, AP Calculus), through college, and optimally allowed on the SAT or tests similar to it. The graphing calculator would preferably be easy to use and utilize the most out of its battery life/(solar?).

So I've come up with a few of Texas Instruments' graphing calculator: TI-84 PLUS Silver Edition, TI-Nspire with Clickpad, TI-Nspire with Touchpad, TI-Nspire CAS with Clickpad, and TI-Nspire CAS with Touchpad. However, I am open to suggestions.

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If your college is anything like it is here, papers will either ban calculators outright (math), or only allow non-graphical/non-programmable calculators.

Never heard of schools banning calculators for anything around here, they just clear the memory before you start.

Never needed anything more than my ghetto trusty TI-85.

Which later died, so I got a ghetto trusty TI 83.

Plus, there are a ton of TI-83 tutorials out there if you need help with something.

ti84+ silver. we all use them at my school. theyve got plenty of ram for whatever programs you would want to put on, and theyre cool looking.

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Originally Posted by Timo

If your college is anything like it is here, papers will either ban calculators outright (math), or only allow non-graphical/non-programmable calculators.

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My Statistics course doesn't, hell, the book even details HOW to do all the complex maths on a TI-83/84+ calculator.

Also, I've been perfectly happy with my TI-83+.

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Originally Posted by Timo

If your college is anything like it is here, papers will either ban calculators outright (math), or only allow non-graphical/non-programmable calculators.

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In the US, teachers will generally let you use the graphing utility in class and on homework. Also, depending on which unit your test is on, you may or may not be able to use it (if it's a test dependent on your knowledge of formulas, you probably won't be able to use it since you can store data) . That said, they generally only allow TI-83, TI-84, or the Cassio equivalents. Those other ones would not be allowed on the SAT tests or in-class examinations. They also typically clear your memory prior to the test.

I use a TI-84 Plus, not the Silver Edition though. I find myself just defaulting to my scientific TI-30X more and more, since it does most of what I use the TI-84+ for and what teachers will allow you to use it for. It can't do graphs, but it can display tables.

I was always of the opinion that schools should provide Ti-83s for when the students need them (students just buy batteries) and if the student wants to buy anything to do homework -- a license of Maple (or Mathematica, etc) is cheaper and will do you much better throughout high-level science and math.

Lol, MatLab is a glorified graphing calculator without a built-in method for input. My programming teacher was pushing it, but I'd rather do all the assignments in C++ instead of wasting my time dabbling in a program I'm not going to use later. As for schools providing TI-83s, my high school provided TI-84 Plus calculators when I was there, I suspect they still do. It really depends on how cheap how much support each school receives from the budget.

Since it seems that the TI-84+ SE, though released 5 or 6 years ago (?), is widespread and appears to be easy to use, I might go with it albeit its lower resolution when compared to the TI-Nspire. Hypothetically, would the TI-Nspire be nearly the same as the TI-84+ SE if I snapped on the TI-84 keypad?

The reason I ask this is because the two are nearly the same price from the merchants/sellers I'm looking at. Here is the TI-84 Plus Silver Edition (with fulfillment by Amazon) for ~$121 and the TI-Nspire for ~$125 (with fulfillment from Amazon) .

Honestly couldn't tell you what to get without knowing the rules of your exams and such. Also, I know how to use a TI-83/4...I don't know how to use the Nspire. Therefore, I recommend the TI-84. It's always a safe option.

Okay thanks you guys. I guess there isn't a real reason to go with anything like the TI-Nspire (teachers aren't using it/recommending it etc.). It seems that there is poor documentation for the product and so it could be confusing for people who aren't tech savvy, the resolution is "downgraded" to the TI-84 resolution when using the TI-84 keypad (not like it's a major thing), and the buttons are tightly fitted predisposing the user to a higher chance of typographical errors - according to reviews that is. I hope I don't have remorse although Texas Instruments have pretty good calculators (have a TI-30X IIS which is awesome).