the420star

If you check out the TI-89 you will see that it is allowed for use on both the AP calc test, AB and BC, as well as the SAT. The SAT thing does not matter, but the AP Calc test does. The TI-89 is able to do any form of integration and diffentiation. The AP is not a normal test, it is for college credit, get your child the calculator and you can almost be sure of a 4 or better. Just thought i would give you all a heads up, and if anyone gets one and has ?s about how to use it let me know.
I just read a post about becoming dependent on the calculator, i have taken 4 semesters of college calc, as well as 3 semesters of other math courses, all calc based, in addition to taking all my electrical, physics which were all calc based. I do not advocate passing the 89 to your child for all of ap calc. this post is ment simply to let parents know that the 89 is now allowable on the AP and can prove to be very benificial during both claculator sections and free response.

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Paradise Lost

Actually, you can't use the Ti-89 on the SAT, how do I know this, because I couldn't use my
freakin Ti-89!! Same with ACT, damn bastards.

Not sure about AP Calc test though, but if you really can use it, it probably won't help much
anyway because the problems are less calculation oriented, and more logic oriented. But
it is a great learning tool in my opinion. I've figured out so many problems because it just
doing it for me, I could see where exactly I went wrong... Good stuff...

aerozeppelin

Uhhh, you are DEFINATELY wrong about the SAT. I used mine just recently.

Most teachers/administrators are IDIOTS though and will tell you you can't use it on the SAT/SAT II's because they mix up the ACT (which does ban 89's) and the SATs. You can definitively use it on the SAT and SAT II Math, and it will do any/all of the actual math for you.

For Calc, I found the 89 to be fairly useful. I was able to calculator rape the calculator part of the MC (there are calculator and non calculator parts to both the MC and free response parts of the test), but the 89 was of limited use on the FR portion of the test, as you have to show work to get credit.

If you do decide to get your kids an 89, know that you are effectively choosing the SAT over the ACT, because you can't use an 89 on the ACT and 83's work totally differently than 89s. Also, most teachers will teach on 83's, so if your kid isn't good with learning to use computers/calculators (the 89 is basically a computer) then I don't know if it would be a good choice.

Finally, the 89 will be able to smash pretty much any HS math test that you can use it on, and can also be used to cheat on other tests really easily (ie: notes for physics/chemistry in the calculator). 83's can also be used for cheating via note storage, FYI.

Janey

thank god we don't have SATs

amonkie

Just be aware that by becoming entirely or mainly dependant on your calculator, you may be hurting yourself in the long run. In my college Calc II and Calc III classes, I was NOT allowed to use ANY calculators, much less my '89 on any of the in class exams. There were many people who struggled because they no longer had the calculator for a crutch. For the SAT, this isn't really that big a deal, but if you're using the AP test to help get some college credit out of the way, be aware that possible classes to follow may not be as calculator friendly.

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mirevolver

Just know that a lot of university math departments are still wary about the TI-89. Last time I checked, the math testing room at ASU still will not allow students to bring in an '89.

The TI-89 may be great for the AP tests, but it would also be helpful to have an '86 handy so you can fall back on it if the University doesn't like the '89.

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Flyguy

Thank god I worked my way around that damm test getting my degrees.

The Magic

The TI-89 is insane....I'm in AP Calc and I have friend who has an 89 (I only have an 83 unfortunately). He can do a lot of the stuff we do in class on it. He could probably do everything if he took time to learn it even more.

1010011010

Overkill. They don't allow graphing calculators at the Naval Nuclear Power School for security reasons. Thus, most of us had a TI-36X or a TI-30ii. The 36X had a better function set, but the 30ii had a 2-line display. Either one was more than adequate for the math we had to do (just nuclear physics and thermodynamics... nothing fancy).

I'd recommend getting a 2-line display, scientific calculator. I personally use a Casio fx-115MS+. It costs $15. The only thing I find it lacks are build in imperial/metric conversions. If the TI-36X is ever released with a 2-Line display, I'd recommen it as well.

I have a TI-92 and 86 from college and highschool. I never could convince myself that it was faster to try to get the calculator to solve the problem in one go (With several rounds of "track down the data entry error") rather than solving it myself and just using the calculator for doing some of the hairier computational steps. So I basically had a $100 8-function calculator. I did like the ability to save intermediate calculations and see the previous steps I had done, though. If you're spending 5 minutes trying to type in the problem so the calculator will solve it in one go, though, realize you're spending more time doing your homework that way than if you just learned the subject.

The 3D graphing is really fun to play with, though.

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Stiltzkin

Took my AP calculus exam over a year ago, with a TI-86. Got a 3. But hey, we only had one semester to prepare for that exam (it was supposed to be a full year, but our principal fucked things up). I didn't get a TI-89 until college, because... get this, it was <i>required</i>! Go figure.

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