[CHM 111] Extra Calculators

[Andrew J. Pounds]

On 05/24/2016 06:18 AM, wrote:
> Hello Dr. pounds!
>
> Will you have extra calculators in class for us to use for quizzes and 
> tests. I'm have been trying to find my TI-30 for 3 days now and I 
> haven't had any luck. Didn't want to mess up on the quiz because of it!
>
>

I do not bring extra calculators to class as I expect students to have 
their own handy every day.   In a rare event that a student's calculator 
dies in class I can usually scrounge around in my office and come up 
with a working calculator -- but you aren't guaranteed that it will be 
anything like what you are accustomed to using and you will also lose 
the time on the quiz or test that it takes me to go dig around for it.

Depending on your professional goals and future coursework, here are 
some calculators I can recommend.   If you have just got to get through 
CHM 111/112 and organic then you only need a basic scientific 
calculator.  The TI 36x Pro 
<http://www.walmart.com/ip/20564365?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&adid=22222222227014893211&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40940417912&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=78877143872&veh=sem> 
came out a couple of years ago, is under $20 at Walmart, and will do 
everything you need and more.  It's even solar powered.

If you are going on in the physical sciences or engineering and need a 
very powerful calculator that has 2D/3D graphing, equation solving, full 
numerical linear algebra and symbolic calculus, then I recommend the HP 
Prime 
<http://www.amazon.com/HP-NW280AA-B1S-Graphing-Calculator/dp/B00CMWCT26> 
(HP's new flagship and generally around $135) or the HP 50G 
<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GTPRPS/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687662&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00CMWCT26&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1TM8Z8G9XFZ2QMM887CM> 
(older, and generally found for under $60).  The 50G is not nearly as 
cool looking as the HP Prime and has a steep learning curve, but it is 
regarded by many in the science and engineering fields as the most 
powerful calculator on the planet.

Don't get me wrong -- HP is not paying me to say these things. Casio, 
Sharp, and TI make exceptionally good calculators -- the TI Inspire is 
amazing -- but they are primarily geared toward education.   I am a 
scientific computing professional and numbers that I am asked to compute 
are often critical to a projects success.  As such I have spent a lot of 
time over the years looking at calculators and their internal workings;  
I have never been disappointed by my choice in HP calculators.


-- 
Andrew J. Pounds, Ph.D.  (pounds_aj at mercer.edu)
Professor of Chemistry and Computer Science
Mercer University,  Macon, GA 31207   (478) 301-5627
http://faculty.mercer.edu/pounds_aj

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