Texas Instruments TI-89 Titanium Graphing Calculator
by Texas Instruments
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Texas Instruments TI-89 Titanium Graphing Calculator
Customer Review: Powerful Calculator; Highly Recommend
Summary: 5 Stars
Great Aspects:
With tons of RAM and powerful functions/calculations, this calculator can't be beat; think of it as a really souped-up TI-83 Plus. It is also very easy to edit/re-use past calculations. The ability to hook up to a PC via the provided USB cable and software can prove to be very useful as well as the ability hook up with other TI-89's (again, the cable is provided). Anybody taking calculus or a subsequent course should strongly consider this calculator (especially if you're in the later courses).
While not really relating to school or math, this calculator is capable of running some really cool games.
Downside:
It takes time to learn how to use all of its programs and functions. Sometimes, you have to go through some pretty complicated processes to do some fairly basic functions. Don't throw away your manual. Buttons are on the small side and it is sometimes hard to read buttons (especially the alternate, "2nd," button functions). If you're not taking calculus or a higher-level course, you don't need this calculator, particularly since it's not cheap.
Summary:
The TI-89 Titantium is an exceptionally useful tool for those entering math/science fields, starting with calculus. For those who just take math courses because they have to (for graduation requirements), this calculator isn't worth the investment.
Highly Recommend.
Customer Review: Great Calculus Calculator
Summary: 5 Stars
This calculator is a must for any Calculus AB class or above. It is the first in the TI series that handles integrals, differentials, 3D graphing, differential equations, user-defined variables, upper and lowercase lettering, and custom flash apps... to name a few. It has a visually-pleasing home screen, to allow you to see equations as they would naturally be written, instead of in a single line filled with parenthesis. Built-in flash applications allow you to do things like create study cards, edit lists and matrices, edit text, and solve simultaneous equations. The one con about this calculator is that it is much less adept at performing statistical operations, such as linear regression, than the previous TI calculators. The TI-89 Titanium, however, was designed for calculus, so this is not a huge problem.
The buttons are very quiet and responsive. Over time, depending on what they are expose to, then can become occasionally stuck, but anyone who treats this calculator well won't have any trouble with the input. Using this calculator for about 4 hours a week, a fresh set of four Duracell batteries lasted 6 months in the device. This will vary depending on your contrast settings. The case is quite durable, but that's not to say that the components are, so be careful with this.
This is a top-choice calculator for any level Calculus class, and I would recommend it to anyone.
Customer Review: Printed manual IS available
Summary: 5 Stars
Well, it's just a "short" 606 page version for the TI-89 (not Titanium) and TI-92, but it still beats dealing with 900+ pages from Titanium CD or on-line manual.
Just go to epsstore ti com -> United States -> Graphing -> TI-89 <or> TI-92 Plus -> Manuals/Guide -> "TI-89 and TI-92 Plus full guidebook(English)".
After you are done with that manual, you can easily hone your specific Titanium mastery reading from the monitor.
Functionally TI-89 and TI-92 are nearly identical (minus keyboard on TI-89), so you can find very nice books on TI-92, like those from Gilmar publishing, that you can apply to your Titanium.
I had the same gripes as "cool dude" (see review below) about .25 - 1/4 switching until I started working in the exact mode, pressing [diamond][ENTER] (instead of just [ENTER]), when decimals are needed.
Still, if I need to work just with fractions and other simple things, I pull out my trusty Sharp EL-506WBBK. To switch from .25 to 1/4 and back I toggle the [a b/c] key.
Another example:
If a result of your calcultion is 743/27, to turn it into a proper fraction 27 14/27 on TI-89 you have to envoke propFrac:
F2, 7, 2ND, (-), ), ENTER.
On Sharp: 2ndF, [a b/c].
But then again, TI-89 is crafted for much finer things. And how it does them is beyond praise.
Customer Review: A (very useful) niche item
Summary: 5 Stars
For pre-calculus and first-year calculus classes, this calculator is *probably* overkill and could even end up detracting from your understanding of the material, if you are using it instead of learning to do the integration and derivatives.
For higher level classes, however (Multivariable calculus, Differential equations, quantum physics) I would definitely recommend the Ti-89. For math classes, where the main part of the problem consists in *constructing* an integral rather than solving it, it's great to be able to check things quickly so that you don't go through unnecessary work solving an integral that wasn't right in the first place. For some of my science classes (quantum physics) this calculator has been indispensable.
There are other comparable calculators out there, but if you aren't familiar with those options, the Ti-89 is the safest bet, and you can be fairly sure it's what most other students will be using. The learning curve isn't going to be perfectly smooth for most people, but it's much easier to find someone who can explain a particular feature if you're not the only one in the class using that type of calculator. In summary, thanks to the Ti-89's fairly full feature set and prominence in academia, I definitely recommend this calculator.
Customer Review: The power of this calculator is unreal
Summary: 5 Stars
Prior to actually using this product, I wouldn't have been able to imagine such a wealth of features being incorporated into a single hand-held device. It's the most powerful calculator I've ever seen, and even 6 months after my initial purchase of it I still occasionally discover useful and shockingly-advanced functions I didn't even realize it had.
For higher-level mathematics (undergraduate level calculus and beyond) it's just too useful for words to describe. I've been using similar models all the way back to the TI-82 (that's not a typo, I do mean the TI-82), and despite having become familiar with Texas Instruments' powerful graphing calculators, the TI-89 still blew my mind.
The flipside of this truly impressive device is that it's just overkill for basic applications. You just don't need the incredible power of this calculator for anything but serious engineering or other fields that deal with advanced mathematics; if you're not a science or engineering student, you may well be better off with a less costly and less complicated model. If, however, you have a use for such things as symbolic equation manipulation/solving and parametric/polar/differential/3D graphing (among an endless list of other capabilities), this is THE calculator for you.