Ti-89 Walmart 109.99 YMMV

Jon55 said:
Why again are these damn things so overpriced? There cannot be a single good reason for them to be $150.
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Give Wolfram a call and tell him that Mathematica is so damn overpriced. There cannot be a single good reason a single CD should be $1500.
 
Roberty said:
Who buys TI's new? Craigslist is by far the best place to buy a one. Last TI-89 I bought was $60 on CL.
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They didn't have Craigslist back in '99. :(

I still remember when my dad and I were at Best Buy deciding on which graphing calculator to get, TI-83 or TI-89. Luckily I picked the TI-89. Helped a lot with Calculus and other subjects. Though at the time it was hard to make the right choice since I was in middle school. :eek:
 
I learned more calculus thanks to my Ti 89 than I did from my teacher lecturing...

Did hundreds of problems a week and the 89 really helped out.
 
kumquat said:
Give Wolfram a call and tell him that Mathematica is so damn overpriced. There cannot be a single good reason a single CD should be $1500.
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:rolleyes:

I am pretty sure that all or most of the functions of the ti 89 are free at wolframalpha.com....
 
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=int%28exp%28x^2%29%2Cx%29

put that in your 89 and see where it gets you....
 
1 said:
:rolleyes:

I am pretty sure that all or most of the functions of the ti 89 are free at wolframalpha.com....
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Thanks, didn't know about that site and I tried it out with a couple of problems that I had already solved and everything checked out. I downloaded the app the the iPhone as a reference, $2 well worth it.
 
1 said:
:rolleyes:

I am pretty sure that all or most of the functions of the ti 89 are free at wolframalpha.com....
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Most, not all. And even with WolframAlpha, people still buy Mathematica and Maple...
 
kumquat said:
Give Wolfram a call and tell him that Mathematica is so damn overpriced. There cannot be a single good reason a single CD should be $1500.
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hahahhhahahahahaaha.

1500$ is cheaper than hell for professional software. Solidworks is ~4K, Inventor is in the same boat, and some FEA/CFD tools make those tools look cheap.

It's well under 10 times the price of a copy of MS office or Windows, and yet it's customer base is going to be ~1/1,000th the size. I'm pretty sure it's harder to write high end math software than it is a word processer.
 
vengence said:
hahahhhahahahahaaha.

1500$ is cheaper than hell for professional software. Solidworks is ~4K, Inventor is in the same boat, and some FEA/CFD tools make those tools look cheap.

It's well under 10 times the price of a copy of MS office or Windows, and yet it's customer base is going to be ~1/1,000th the size. I'm pretty sure it's harder to write high end math software than it is a word processer.
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LOL, I was kidding. I completely agree with you. I was making fun of the people saying a TI-89 is overpriced at $110.
 
kumquat said:
LOL, I was kidding. I completely agree with you. I was making fun of the people saying a TI-89 is overpriced at $110.
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Well, it is. It has to have been 6 years since I've bought my TI-89 titanium. I just looked at the back of it and it says "copyright 2004", so I'm guess its around 6 years old which sounds right. They haven't added anything to the hardware or to the software since then. Matlab, maple, mathematica, mathCAD have all released several upgrades in that time frame. Hell, look how much hardware has advanced since then. 110$ is nice, but that's a clearance price. The regular price is a monopolistic price.
 
So everyone is using the same recycled stuff from over 10 years ago? For roughly same price?

I think I still have my 89... I'll have to check if is an 89.
 
Jon55 said:
Why again are these damn things so overpriced? There cannot be a single good reason for them to be $150.
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Curriculums are based around them. I remember one of my books for trig actually referenced the TI86 directly, (with pictures, button symbols etc) and had assignments specially for doing things on them. The class had a box of them that they would lend out to people that couldnt afford one.
 
I'm in finance, so I have an HP12C, but excel does my dirty work now. Hah, I figured calculators were sort of like watches; not really necessary anymore. Neat to see you youngsters are still buying them :)
 
Well we can't bring a computer with us to do the work... like on tests. So we have to use a calculator.

I still use Wolfram Alpha occasionally, right now in Calc II with Integrals, it can show steps and point out something I'm missing along the way. Or just lets me verify my work. The calculator will just spit out the right answer.

Although I had some other classmates actually program their TI-89 to do some operations step by step so you could see how it was figuring out the answer.
 
vengence said:
It all depends on what you’re working with. I don't think anything is as good at large matrixes as matlab.
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Its matrices...not that I care, just an fyi...

And matlab is not necessarily the best at large matrices either. All I am saying is that Matlab is more often than not the tool of choice for solving real world problems.

There is a reason for that... and hence my ordering.
 
Blazestorm said:
Well we can't bring a computer with us to do the work... like on tests. So we have to use a calculator.

I still use Wolfram Alpha occasionally, right now in Calc II with Integrals, it can show steps and point out something I'm missing along the way. Or just lets me verify my work. The calculator will just spit out the right answer.

Although I had some other classmates actually program their TI-89 to do some operations step by step so you could see how it was figuring out the answer.
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If your major is going to require you to actually use integrals (i.e. applied math, physics, engineering physics and maybe some ee, me or ce stuff too) then it is better for you to stop using your calculator.

In fact, except for integrals that require partial fraction decomposition, you should be doing them in your head. I know you are just starting out, but learning it right the first time goes a long way. Struggle now, or struggle much more later...

I would say a calculator is ok to use to check your work, but DO NOT look for steps...struggle through the steps on your own. This is not merely an exercise......

When you start doing Fouier series, and solving the heat equation in spherical coordinates or solving the time independent schrodinger eq, etc,....you will never get your h/w done if you cannot integrate quickly and in your head for all but the most difficult integrals.

I have a lot of other advice, but I doubt it will be followed so I'll shut up now. :p
 
Right... we're actually not allowed to use the 89 on tests, so no point in using it for homework. Most of these integrals are simple enough you can do it without the calculator. Or just something like a TI-30...

89 was more helpful in Linear Algebra for matrices and vectors... much easier to store matrices in variables instead of writing them all down and doing it by hand. Etc.

My major is computer science though, so I'm not positive how much Math I'm going to need. I am required to take up to Calc I, II, III and Linear Algebra I, II, and Discrete Math... then a couple more higher level MAT classes.
 
I dunno but it says this on the auction:

The TI-83 Plus has all the essential functions, and is equipped with electronically upgradable flash technology.
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1 said:
Its matrices...not that I care, just an fyi...

And matlab is not necessarily the best at large matrices either. All I am saying is that Matlab is more often than not the tool of choice for solving real world problems.

There is a reason for that... and hence my ordering.
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Fibonacci, what makes you think I care that I miss hit a letter on my keyboard? Matlab is VERY good at large matrices. It's what was built for.

Perhaps you should spend more time working and less time attempting to make your self look smart on an internet forum.
 
1 said:
What makes you think that I care if you care or not?

Fib (feels that one stupid question deserves another)
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Like I said in my post. It's pretty clear you don't care about anything except attempting to make your self look smart.
 
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