TI-Nspire CAS Graphing Calculator

I cannot believe that school calculators have progressed to this! The TI-Nspire is an awesome calculator- or should I say mini computer? The reason I say this is that it actually says "Loading Operating System" when it starts up, OMG! And me coming from an IT Engineering background does not make things easier to do on this unit- I had to read the manual to get it working- who does that in IT?Anyway, my daughter's school recommended it and we had no choice as the whole class needs to have the same unit. Unfortunately I do not have the time to sit and teach myself, and then my daughter, how to use its basic functionality but at least the teacher is doing that part for me.If you want an all-beaut all-singing mini PC/calculator then this unit is for you.Advantages:* Large screen.* Does everything you can imagine.* Connects to your computer to expand its usability.Disadvantages:* Uses 4x regular AA batteries- I'm not a fan of regular batteries as they cost money. A Lithium Ion or latest rechargeable battery would have been MUCH better IMHO.* It's big- large screens don't come in small packages!* You need to read the manual to get it into calculator mode- LoL.

Ok, I just bought this calculator to replace my TI-84 Plus Silver, a great little calculator that despite my guilt of not owning some super-cool HP, served me really well for the year or two I had it.It was pretty too.Entire the Ti-nSpire CAS - clever name isn't it? It's printed right above the screen in case you forget (with a curvy n too). My Physics teacher mentioned he'd rather get the right answer than be inspired.. and that brings me to another point.There's still a learning curve. Don't bother with the manual, since nspire OS 2, TI includes a manual for the wrong model (nspire touchpad, non-cas). As a nerd, you probably won't even bother pulling the manual out of the box anyway. They showed some mercy, in that you can actually rip the back of the plastic bubble open without cutting yourself too!The keys are REALLY weird at first. However, after looking at the new one, you HAVE to buy this model. After about a week or two you'll be just fine with the weird key layout and the x, y, z keys are in a nice practical location.[...]I highly recommend the above link, it'll help you a ton with getting started (basic instructions).Seriously though, for the price it's a fantastic deal. The screen is something else too - it is a bit hard to view in a dark room, but so is any other calculator LCD. Sadly, TI hasn't.. and probably won't make anything backlit for some time to come.

For most of my highschool career, I managed to make it by on my ti-83 plus calculator. It did what I needed, graphed functions, found sin and cosine, and was more useful than just a regular scientific calculator.Enter Calculus.For the first time in my life, I had a 70% in a class, figuring out derivatives was a chore, and Integrals weren't any easier. So I bought the Ti-Nspire CAS and boy was I amazed! It can solve derivatives, limits, algebraic functions, statistics, and much more. The pretty font is a huge upgrade over the ti 83, and for the price you just can't beat this calculator.The only cons are that there is a slight learning curve on the ti-nspire; I recommend that you find a manual and learn the hotkeys for this calculator.For those currently in algebra, trig, and ESPECIALLY calculus I would highly recommend getting this calculator and watch your grades skyrocket.

Firstly, I own one of these, a 200 Voyager, HP 50G (and a 48), a Casio ClassPad (and various other cheaper Casio's), and I also have Maple on my machine which I have to use with my Master in Maths I'm currently studying for (for fun btw!)Let's first of all get rid of the TI voyager - can't use it in my exams (nice calculator though)Some feedback on some of the other reviews.I have never used a TI 89 so don't miss the old programming or any other backward compatible issues. So I've pretty much ignored those reviews.The comments about it's accuracy are more serious, HOWEVER... I was doing number theory and for integer calculations (and I mean big integers, things like 9^9^9 mod x) this beat the HP hands down, The TI 89 / Voyager may have the same integer engine. The Casio (whose interface i love) couldn't even handle basic sums to infinity which converge to transcendental numbers. Other stuff I've done I never had problems with.Though the small character keys can be pressed when using it, it's not that big a deal. And I much prefer the clean layout to the busy layout of the TI 89 and then HP, and being able to access letters, without having to press some other key etc.Integrating, differentiation, complex numbers, matrix stuff (and of course number theory) all very easy. Graphing easy too (though I rarely use this .. especially with Maple available)As with all these calculators the documentation is terrible, which is why I started using this over the HP 50g (also the integration of RPN and CAS in the HP isn't), the method of finding functions was just easier and I'm fundamentally lazy, I much rather be studying some complex theorem, than trying to remember some arcane syntax for a calculator function. Don't get me wrong, like all these calculators you have read the measly User guide (or near useless getting started guide) they give with it.The screen is ok (the font however is great), they all pretty much have the same problem, when it gets dark can't see screen..Right now, for me, this is the best out there. Though I do miss RPN! I'd like a better screen, actually same screen backlit. It's really 4.25 stars, but I've rounded up to the nearest integer because of some of the 1 star reviews (I'm fairly sure it's not one of the worst calculators out there...)