Students in
precalculus
and calculus courses usually want to have a graphing calculator
available.
Calculators are often required in assigned homework problems. The
policy
for calculators at quizzes/exams may vary from course to course (or
from
one exam to the next, depending on the course material involved).
If you wish, you can wait until classes start to find out whether a
calculator
is crucial for your course. However, if you want to purchase a
calculator
before you arrive, then the following information may be useful.
Any graphing
calculator is
acceptable for your personal use in study and on homework
assignments.
However, some “fancier” calculators contain a computer algebra system
(CAS)
that allows them to perform symbolic manipulations. Calculators
containing
a CAS (for example, the TI-89, TI-92/TI-92 Plus, Casio FX2, HP-48 and
HP-49)
are generally not allowed at math quizzes and exams. Some courses might
not allow any calculators at exams.
If you need to
buy a graphing
calculator, or want to upgrade from an older model, the Math
Department's
recommendation for our courses is the Texas Instruments TI-83 Plus. For
the courses requiring a graphing calculator, the instructors and
teaching
assistants will have TI-83's and should be prepared to deal with
questions
about using it in the course. Students using other models will need to
use their manuals to figure out for themselves “what buttons to
push.”
The TI-83 Plus also has built-in probability distributions that are
required
in Math 320 and which students may also find useful in any course
containing
statistical material. (These distributions can also be downloaded from
the web to the TI-86 and some other Texas Instruments calculators)
Even if you’re
fairly familiar
with your calculator, don’t forget to bring the manual along with you.
A word of
caution:
Do not become
overly dependent
on your calculator. It's a very useful tool for complicated
calculations,
but you should be able to do the basic computations and manipulations
in
calculus without a calculator--or, at most, just using it to help out
with
tedious arithmetic.
You're
probably
too dependent
on your calculator if, for example:
1) You
use a calculator when you need to know sin(pi/6) or tan(pi/3) or
ln(e^(-3.9))
2) You
use a calculator to get answers in calculations such as 4/7 + 3/8,
which
can be easily done by hand. Finding (approximate) decimal answers
instead
of exact fractions in relatively simple problems generally means that a
student uses the calculator too much.
3) You
don't know the appearance of simple graphs like y=(x-1)^2, y=cos(2x) +
1, y = 2^(-x), etc. without having your calculator graph them.
4) You
find yourself immediately punching buttons on the calculator as soon as
you get started on a test. Generally, not very many problems on a
calculus exam will genuinely require a calculator.
Information for
TI-83 use in calculus
Other
information about the
Math Department—including access to the calculus placement exam and an
updated list of fall 2003 courses and instructors—is available on the
department's Undergraduate
Web Page
Graphing
Calculator Comparisons (for Texas Instruments)