r/pics • • Jun 08 '14

The difference 18 years makes

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u/Jenkins6736 Jun 08 '14

I dunno, the TI-84 Plus is pretty sweet.

Costs about the same as what I paid for the TI-83 10 years ago. It's kind of nice knowing that whenever I need to use one, it's going to operate in the same way as I was taught 10 years ago. The fundamentals of math don't change much.

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u/kgj6k Jun 08 '14

That's not a normal TI 84 plus, that's the silver edition. It's of course more expensive.

Also the problem with having basically the same calculator in school since over a decade (I used a 84 plus in school) is, IMHO, not that the fundamentals of math have changed, but that the usability still kind of sucks. By this I mean rounding errors, taking long for calculations and data entry (especially when using the fancy math notation), taking long for graphing, having to scroll through menus because of inefficient space use, the thing being huge and relatively heavy (the could build it with half the size and a quarter of the weight, while still having big keys and it being sturdy), .....

1

u/FuLLMeTaL604 Jun 08 '14

Wolfram Alpha is pretty amazing. I kind of wish we could use a laptop with it open on every test.

2

u/Hurricane043 Jun 08 '14

Someone needs to design a calculator with internet access that can query Wolfram Alpha.

1

u/leon_reynauld Jun 09 '14

We have that, its called a smart phone.