Things Engineers Like: TI-83/89

If you're an engineer there's a 100% chance you have a Texas Instruments calculator. Most commonly, engineers have TI-83 Plus calculators. It can do anything that you would need to get that degree. Basic arithmetic, trig functions, and graphing. Then, you have the statistic figures it can give for given values and such. For $100 or so, it's a great value. These things are built like bricks. I've seen them survive spills, drops, and smashes!

But these calculators can do so much more. No more trying to make words out of numbers (Sometimes rotating the calculator 180 degrees). These words included boo, google, LOL, and some other immature words. With these graphing calculators, you can now type anything you want. It could be your personal journal! Or use it as an electronic method of passing a "note" without the teacher noticing you're passing messages. And if you're bored or just want to just take a break from studying, you can just turn your TI up and play Phoenix, Tetris, or any other game you can get. I could always count on my TI-89 to boot up instantly unlike like my laptop.

I've seen some clever ways of taking advantage of the capabilities of the TI-83. Some people input functions into the calculator so they can simply input the variables and it just solves it instantly. A popular equation to input is the quadratic formula. You could have notecards to help you study for those times you don't want to carry all your half-ton books.

And for those with TI-89 (Or TI-89 Titanium like awesome people like me), you've have had apps way before the iPhone came out! And taking derivatives and integrals are as easy as cake. What couldn't you do with the calculator?! It was just me, myself and my TI-89. It was probably the most helpful thing I bought during my college career besides my computer. I just don't get that time with it anymore, oh how I miss those days (Or better yet, nights)!