TI-Nspire vs TI-89 Titanium for Physics

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sed8em

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I was originally planning on getting a TI-89 Titanium for my calculus based physics courses and labs for this coming quarter, and saw the TI-Nspire while shopping for one.
I was intrigued by the advertised target courses by the Nspire, including physics, biology, chemistry, college math (diff. eq., polynomials, etc).

http://education.ti.com/educationportal/sites/US/productDetail/us_ti89ti.html
or
http://www.ti-nspire.com/tools/nspire/index.html

Does anyone have any experience with the TI-Nspire? Is it really as good at those functions as it claims? Or is it just a marketing thing?

I am finishing up engineering (calculus based) physics this Spring, taking the MCAT next summer, and will continue to use the calculator I purchase well into med school and residency, so I want it to be appropriate for the long haul.
 
TI-89 by a long, long, long, long shot. NSpire is a feeble copy, don't even think about it.

TI-89 Titanium is the way to go.
 
oldschool TI-89 is the best :D Don't think they sell it anymore though. But yeah TI-89 is really good for Physics "C", can do a lot of the calculus for you
 
My TI-89 saved my butt more times than I can count. I wouldn't take an upper level math course without it... one of the best investments you can make in an engineering or math-based discipline. The value to be found while doing homework is much worth the cost of the device.
 
I still like using my 2004 Ti-84. I think the 89 is too complicated for the simple stuff.
 
450 said:
I still like using my 2004 Ti-84. I think the 89 is too complicated for the simple stuff.
Click to expand...

There is a huge difference between the 84 and 89. For sprtnbsblplya's purposes the 89 is the only way to go.
 
I am an Engineering senior. The single most useful tool I have is that 89 Ti calculator. It will do unit conversions, symbolic integration and differentiation, summation......just about everything, pass on the N-spire and get an 89 or a 200.
 
Question definitely answered, thanks guys!
I had a feeling the Nspire was an overpriced gimmick to get freshmen to spend $50 more than the 83+ most people would require.
 
just a side question: we've got Asus Eee PCs, Intel Atom CPUs, phones that are more powerful than a circa-2000 PC, and GFX card-based hardware rendering/math. 2004 graphing calculators are still the best out there?? my only experience with those devices was a basic TI-83 i had for high school pre-calc/trig and it was already 2 years old at the time. there arent newer, color LCD graphing calcs that render in realtime and have full screen displays??? comparing them to other pocket media devices does it seem strange? does it seem like they could be produced for less than $200 depending on the features?

why arent there graphing calcs with micro-SD slots, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc? why havent there been major advances in graphic calcs following the heels of unrelated devices using similar technology? WHY OH WHY???
 
Somnambulator said:
just a side question: we've got Asus Eee PCs, Intel Atom CPUs, phones that are more powerful than a circa-2000 PC, and GFX card-based hardware rendering/math. 2004 graphing calculators are still the best out there?? my only experience with those devices was a basic TI-83 i had for high school pre-calc/trig and it was already 2 years old at the time. there arent newer, color LCD graphing calcs that render in realtime and have full screen displays??? comparing them to other pocket media devices does it seem strange? does it seem like they could be produced for less than $200 depending on the features?

why arent there graphing calcs with micro-SD slots, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc? why havent there been major advances in graphic calcs following the heels of unrelated devices using similar technology? WHY OH WHY???
Click to expand...

Can you imagine a classroom full of students with calculators with expandable memory and wireless communication taking a test?

TI-89 is really a great calculator. In any case that I've really needed more, the work has always been done on a math package on a computer.
 
wow they let u use those ? i remember it was only ti 83+ only to be used
 
I got by with a ti86. If you know what you're doing you shouldn't need any of the advanced functions. I'm in differential equations and we're not allowed to use a calculator, and the same was true of my multi-variable calculus class. If you have it, you'll come to rely on it, and then you're screwed when you get a teacher that doesn't allow you to have calculators. My advice would be to save the dough and get a TI83.
 
We were not aloud to use anything beyond a Ti 83+ in my engineering, calc, and physics classes. Heck for some tests we were not aloud to use calculators at all.

I would go 89 Titanium based on past experience with one.
 
I have an original model TI-89. It is wonderful, and I recommend it (or the upgraded version) over any other graphing claculator. I use it constantly (I'm a chemistry major).

Just be careful, some professors (or departments) may not like you using such a powerful calcualtor, best to ask before you buy.
 
I can't say that in my physics classes I needed anything beyond what a TI-83+ provided. Haven't used anything beyond a scientific calculator in an exam yet, my professors tend to prefer doing stuff by hand.

I don't think a calculator will be a big deal- it does help sometimes to have a graphing calculator (finding roots, etc) but generally if you're near a computer all you need is a basic solar powered one.

Of course, your courses may be taught differently than mine.
 
I've been using the TI-Nspire CAS for about a year and a half. I enjoyed the 89 before that, but if you liked pretty print, you'll love the Nspire. Pretty print on the input as well as the output. If you are familiar with computers you'll feel right at home. Not only does copy/paste work like on the 89, but there is CTRL-z for undo. The functionality of the 89, everything is dynamically integrated. The List & Spreadsheet behaves just like Excel and it can 'talk' to a Graph & Geometry or Data & Statistics page. It is great grabbing a point and see how things interact and change. No longer do you need to do some "left bound, right bound, guess" to find a max, min, or zero. Just press MENU, Trace and when it gets close to a zero it jumps to it and says the word "zero". You can press ENTER to drop the point there and copy the number or store that number as some variable.

Using the letters is so much easier than using an extra ALPHA button. You can see some neat documents/activities that teachers have written on http://timath.com/. There many more in Activities Exchange but the TI Math site has videos. The computer link software is so much easier to use than the old TI Connect software. Drag and drop files onto the handheld.

I was just showing it to a friend who is just getting started with engineering. He is now planning on getting one. Make sure you get TI-Nspire CAS. The TI-Nspire is interesting in that you essentially get two devises for the price of one - a TI-84 and a TI-Nspire via the interchangeable face plate. With the CAS you love the built in units: _h = Plank's constant, _c= speed of light, _Gc is the gravitational constant, _me is the mass of an electron, etc.
Also check out the activities on http://tiphysics.com/ - again enjoy the video files.
 
I love my TI-89. I'm a cellmolec major, and I can't tell you how much time this thing has saved me- not only in physics, but also in chemistry. Sure, I COULD do a quadratic, but why not use the solver function instead? When you only have 50min to finish an exam, every minute saved is priceless. I can't believe people still buy TI-83s....



EDIT: I just read the website for the Nspire-

"The TI-Nspire handheld comes with the snap-in TI-84 Plus Keypad* that provides compatibility with TI-83 Plus, TI-84 Plus and TI-84 Plus Silver Edition graphing calculators."

I see that there is another keyboard option you can get (CAS) and am assuming you would purchase that version. If it's true that the TI-84+ keyboard causes the Nspire to mimic the functions of a TI-84, I would say get the TI-89 over it. Perhaps someone who has an Nspire can enlighten me about these snap-in keyboards. :)
 
Talonz said:
Can you imagine a classroom full of students with calculators with expandable memory and wireless communication taking a test?

TI-89 is really a great calculator. In any case that I've really needed more, the work has always been done on a math package on a computer.
Click to expand...
Sadly, in almost all my engineering and math classes, we aren't even allowed to use our calculators. :(
 
Any REAL math class would allow you to use calculators - the catch being, the calculator wouldn't be very helpful for the types of problems you'd have to work. Anyway, the only calculator anybody really needs these days is a TI-84+, but if you don't know algebra well enough, I guess getting a calc with CAS is nice.

Somnambulator said:
why arent there graphing calcs with micro-SD slots, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc? why havent there been major advances in graphic calcs following the heels of unrelated devices using similar technology? WHY OH WHY???
Click to expand...

There are calculators with MicroSD slots and wireless transfer mechanisms - HP50g. Calculators arent' meant to do the things you are talking about. They're meant to be ultra-reliable, durable, and portable. Sure color LCDs would be nice, but it never made Casio the superior calc manufacturer. Why would a calculator need WiFi? Calculators should stay calculators, if you want all of that other mumbo jumbo, just get an emulator on a netbook and be done with it.
 
The ti 89 titanium is great, I don't get to use it in my calc 2 class but it does come in handy, also for computer software check out mathematica or maple both own!:D
 
You guys are spoiled.

I got through engineering and advanced calculus classes with a Ti-82. Letting the calculator do all the work is useless when practically every class requires you to show your work for full credit.
 
w1retap said:
Sadly, in almost all my engineering and math classes, we aren't even allowed to use our calculators. :(
Click to expand...

Same.

Alchemic said:
Any REAL math class would allow you to use calculators - the catch being, the calculator wouldn't be very helpful for the types of problems you'd have to work. Anyway, the only calculator anybody really needs these days is a TI-84+, but if you don't know algebra well enough, I guess getting a calc with CAS is nice.
Click to expand...

None but the highest level classes at my old school allowed the use of calculators... And we wondered why math majors graduated with honors... With a GPA of 0.4-0.6 :p.
 
Anyone using a voyager 200 series calc? I still have my old TI-84. My brother's 83 silver ousts it graphing any line whatsoever. I don't know why my school doesn't let me use an 89 titanium, the 84 can take up to 45 sec to graph a basic line in a reasonable coordinate plain, and can barely play block dude.
On other thought, It would have been nice if they implemented irda in calcs and capacitive buttons. Yeah wifi and micro sd is a little too much, but not having irda...come on. They could get rid of the stupid ti transfer port and integrate a standard proprietary port in all the calcs for display output (just like teacher edition calcs).
 
I'm halfway through the second semester of calculus AB and Mech. Physics C, and I have to say, my ti-89 has done more work than I have. If you learn all the functions of the calculator and download some handy programs like the simultaneous equation solver, essentially you can just plug any question into the calc and it'l poop out the answer. From there you can scratch down some work and make it look like you actually did the problem.

Is this unfair to other students? Yes.

Is it cheating?


.... yes
 
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