I already have one scientific calculator, so why did I buy another for the workshop?
I spotted a TI-30XIIS on sale for $10 at the local office supply store, as part of their back to school scale, and realized I needed one. I use the one in my office fairly regularly, and could probably carry it around with me, but there’s a good chance I’d misplace it.
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They only had 3 color options in store – black, white, and pink. A bright orange or blue would work better to help it stand out, but I opted for white.
You see, I have been increasingly finding myself needing more advanced functions than my phone’s built-in calculator can handle, and the app I’ve been using is cluttered and “busy.” No matter how often I use that app, I just don’t like it.
I might also pick up one of the 4-function calculators also on sale. But there are several advanced functions that I find myself using quite often.
Trigonometry – When you’re working with triangles, squares or rectangles with diagonal components, or other angular situations, trig functions can help you solve quick dimension or measurement unknowns.
When I’m at a computer with web access, I’ll use Wolfram Alpha for more advanced solutions. Every so often I’ll use it on my phone, too.
But the ability to hammer it out on a handheld calculator can save a lot of time.
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Parentheses – Setting up parentheses around operations makes complex calculations much easier, especially if there are conversions involved.
Pi – When working with circles, you need pi. How much edge banding will you need for a table of R-radius? etc. You don’t need a Pi button – just type in 3.14 – but it’s a convenience.
Exponents
Square Roots
Inverse Numbers (1/x)
+, -, x, ÷ (of course)
This new model I bought is TI’s 2nd lowest-end calculator. It has more than I need, but has solar and battery power. The lowest-end calculator only has battery power. For something that will likely be used frequently sometimes and seldom other times, solar power is a must for me.
Update: I checked the calculator in my drawer, and it’s also a TI-30X IIS. The cheat sheet lining the inside of the plastic cover says copyright 1999. I know it’s at least 10-15 years old, but didn’t think it was that old.
I use calculators regularly, mainly my existing scientific calculator, my smartphone’s native app, the ones on my laptop and PC computers, and perhaps most often I use Google for simple calculations and conversions. I need more advanced functionality every now and then, for which Wolfram Alpha’s free web utility suffices.
I’m not the only one who uses a scientific calculator for workshop or project use, right?
And by scientific calculator, I refer to physical calculators and app-based ones alike.
Right now Amazon has the white one for $10, the black/blue one for $11, and a couple others at comparable pricing. Staples has black/blue, white, and pink for $10.
Model TI-30X IIS
Buy Now(via Amazon)
My new calculator has some added functionality I’m not yet familiar with (seemingly 2-line fraction math), which I might try at least once.
Talking about scientific calculators beings me back. I’ve used most scientific calculator functions before, except maybe the statistics ones, and have yet to use “Gradian” mode for angles.
I looked into some of TI’s other models, including their TI-36X Pro which their comparison chart says is the only one suitable for things like physics and engineering. Looking it up while thinking snide thoughts, I see that it offers some built-in conversions, with one product image showing automatic conversion from feet to meters.
The TI-36X Pro also has built-in constants – nothing that’s workshop-suitable, but all kinds of numbers that I wish my calculator had built-in years ago.
Imperial to metric conversions in the TI-36X Pro include lengths, distances, weights, volume, temperature, speeds, power and energy, and pressure.
It doesn’t have everything I could want – such as Nm to ft-lb conversions, but it has an awful lot. So many that I’m considering returning the TI-30X IIS and buying a 36X Pro. But realistically, these aren’t the types of things that I need on the fly.
I suppose I could also argue that I don’t need trig on the fly either.
The TI-36X Pro is double the price, at $19-20, compared to $10 for the TI-30X IIS.
The truth is, I didn’t realize I needed another calculator until I saw them on sale at Staples while picking up some various other home, office, kids, and workshop suppliers on sale as part of their back to school promo. As an aside, some of their sale items are good prices, others are brought down to regular street pricing, so shop carefully.
While it might not seem a lot to jump up from a $10 (on sale) calculator to a $20 one, I’m hesitant about the added complexity and button clutter. Selecting unit conversions by having to use arrows to scroll down or across menus? I think I’ll stick with Google for when I need conversions beyond the basic ones I have memorized.
I rely on my phone for a lot these days, but sometimes a unitasker like a scientific calculator is a good buy.
Kent
In trade school we have to use a 30XA to learn manual math on and it makes learning a pain but real life use after much easier. I’m Canadian so ther conversion from imperial to metric is a basic one that lots of people take for granted with phone app converters.
Doresoom
Most of my engineering courses allowed a TI-89 Titanium, or a Voyage 200, but some courses only allowed the 30X IIS. This was back in 2005/6, so it’s been a staple for quite some time – I just didn’t know it went all the way back to 1999!
Nathan S
We had a rubber button TI-36 in school back in the early 90s, but I think they go back into the 80s.
Bret
I like to use a scientific calculator when I’m doing woodworking projects. It frees up my phone for calls, texts, checking the weather, etc. The batteries on a calculator last way longer (years) than my phone and the screen doesn’t timeout as quickly although the calculator will power off automatically after a few minutes.
The “a b/c” fraction key is also handy and helps double-check any math I do in my head. Calculate twice, cut once.
My trusty calculator is the same one I used in high school about 25 years ago!
Stuart
Ah, my old calculator has that too! (A b/c)
I don’t think I have ever used that, but I’ll definitely keep it in mind! Going to d/e format and being able to convert to decimal and back seems very useful for 8th, 16ths, 32nds math.
*squeals with glee* As just one example, when laying out drawer my slides projects, the decimal math got too hard to do in my head, and was just manageable when laying it all out on paper. I ended up laying it out in a spreadsheet.
I think I’ve grown accustomed to only using the functions I need most and are most familiar with, that the other buttons have become invisible.
It seems that the fraction format isn’t new to the updated version of the same calculator I just picked up, the display is just a little different.
Thank you for mentioning it!
Chris Fyfe
I prefer a real calculator too !
Chris
firefly
I have that same calculator in a drawer somewhere back in my linear algebra day since the instructor didn’t allowed the TI 89 . Come to think of it I probably should put it in my garage once it turn up.
I am a TI-8x guy whenever I need to do some complicated math even though honestly I probably only use 1/100 of the functionality. The bigger screen with history is nice.
fred
Back in 1974 I decided that having my PE license would be useful. I was eligible to take all 3 parts (2 full days) of the NY State exam. So I did some prep, organized my notes into a composition book (loose pages were not allowed) and bookmarked useful pages in the books I decided to carry into the exam. It was the first time that calculators (rather than slide rules) were allowed into the exam – so I bought a, then newly released, TI SR-50 for some ridiculous (by today’s standards) price. Having the calculator was a godsend. The exam writers had not caught up with the new reality of exam-takers having a calculator. So on the basic part of the exam there were a few math questions or precision calculations that would have taken some lookup on tables and interpolation. Questions like what is the tangent of 482.5 degrees were now a snap – freeing up time to concentrate on more difficult questions. Anyway I passed with a rather comfortable margin.
fred
I looked up the SR-50 – selling for almost $170 in 1974 – but a lot cheaper and easier to use (for me anyway) than its HP competition:
http://www.datamath.org/Sci/WEDGE/sr-50.htm
Farid
Lol, Now your showing your age, Fred!
Back in Grad school, I bought an HP48S. It still is a great calculator. I bought the extended library / advanced math expansion card , which almost as expensive as the calculator back then. The whole deal cost back then as much as we pay for tablet or laptop nowadays. I could not afford a PC back then, even though I sold them as part of my evening job, so it the HP was my computer.
An M.E . prof assigned us to write a finite-element program to solve a heat conduction-convection problem in FORTRAN using the main frame. I lived outside of town and had two jobs, so making it to the lab in the evening was not easy. I decided to write the program on the myHP48.
Boy, did it work. It was a lot easier to input data and modify it as well than the main frame. All my buddies were jealous. The prof however, was not too happy aboutit and ducked me something like 20% of the grade, even though mine one was one of two that worked correctly. He was unconvinced the main frame was doomed and everyone was starting to use PCs.
Believe it or not, I am currently resurrecting the same program in Excel for a particular work problem!
fred
Showing my age a bit more: When I started college the University had 2 IBM machines – I believe one was a model 7090 and the other a model 1620. A few years into my education – with much fanfare – they installed one of the first IBM 360s. We had a PUFFT (Fortran) compiler for the 360 but also had a MAD compiler for the 7090. Running on the 360, we batched our programming and data decks (keypunched Hollerith cards) in overnight. Tried to debug – based on the printout of errors messages we got back the next day – then started over again. Banks of 360’s – puny by today’s standards – is what landed men on the moon. But by graduate school – a CDC 6600 had supplanted the IBM 360 – and it was remarkable how much faster students could turn around their programming. As I was leaving my academic life – my then Alma Mater was in the process of installing a CDC 7600 – the real predecessor to today’s supercomputers. A few years later the Altair was released – then a few years more the Apple I – started the PC revolution.
farid
Thanks Fred. They were just phasing out punch cards when I joined my college. I was lucky I did not have to use them, but I some older students were still working on their projects and got to witness a lot of tears.
Koko the Talking Ape
I just use a scientific calculator app on my phone. Not perfect, but my phone is literally on me all the time.
They used to call me Fred, really.
I use a pair of HP 20s for work and home. I purchased one for grad school probably 25 years ago, and added another for home use. The pair have served me well for years. Still find myself using phone apps for most shop calculations, but completely forgot about Wolfram Alpha, so thanks for the tip for trig functions. Will also beat having to work around memory registers, which my middle age brain seems to goof up a little too often at home.
Sure wish HP still made the 20s. Not fancy like their RPN models, but still more than enough for me, including simple stat functions, and built like a tank. There is also something to using the same calculator at home and work, knowing the button layout and all. That is one of my pet peeves when well meaning coworkers (and children) suggest a fancy graphing beast, teaching an old dog and all. Have to pry the 20s out of my cold fingers.
Jeff @ Tool Box Buzz
I use the dewalt mobile pro app on my phone. Used to be a TI-85 guy but when I got into the trades, I needed a trades focused calculator and handheld construction calculators are terrible.
Chance
I use the DeWalt app as well, works great and it’s one less “tool” to keep track of and try to find in the trailer when I need it.
Farid
I do use a real calculator, even though I have a scientific calculator app on my phone and another that does conversions. I believe the TI-30 is what school specified for my son in 5th grade advanced math. How times have changed!
Jim P.
I use the Construction Master calculator. Makes it easy to figure fractions instead of converting from decimal (I do have a cheat sheet to make it quick). I really like it for figuring my square on foundations for layout.
JoeM
Is this a real issue in the tool world? Calculator, App, or Program? I thought it was pretty standard?
I use all three. Whatever is in my hand, I use. For GRAPHING, I use my crappy TI-86 from College. It WAS a good model at the time, but I’ve been drooling over replacing it for a MUCH more advanced one ever since I left school… must be 15 years ago by now… I WANT the TI-Nspire CX to replace my TI-86, just for the sake of upgrade, and a hope of better battery use efficiency. My TI-86 seems to eat batteries, no matter how expensive I get, so I want a newer one that I might be able to use more. Sometimes I do need to use it for scale calculations, and a few benefits of being able to have multiple sets of calculations shown on the screen for reference.
I’m an Android user, so I’m at absolutely no loss for features when it comes to the calculator on there, plus I have the DeWALT app for when I’m just… in a DeWALT kind of mood… And I run Xubuntu Linux on my computer, so I’m at ZERO disadvantage for calculators there. The repositories must have at least twenty different calculators for the computer, depending on needs, taste, and whimsy. I personally prefer Speedcrunch… Just… Because I prefer it after trying the others, and felt most comfortable with it…
Calculators are a necessary part of our lives. If I’m at my Computer, I don’t see any reason to pull out my phone, or my Graphing Calculator to do Calculations. Sometimes I feel the need to make choices, but when I just gotta do some math on the fly, I can’t go wrong with my Cell Phone. It just isn’t a replacement for my Computer or Graphing Calculator in their particular niches in my life.
Zengineer
I honestly use a Hemi Concise 600 Circular Slide Rule. It has decimal/fraction tables, physical constants, conversions, and more printed on it. The main reason I like a slide rule is because the math continues. Say you want to multiply 2×2. Line it up on a slide rule and it automatically gives you 2 x2, x3, 4, etc. On a circular slide rule it just keeps going around so you never run out of stick. This is handy when you’re looking at ratios or laying something out every X distance.
Kevin
My mother gave me a basic scientific calculator when I was in high school which I still use. The AA batteries last for years. In university I bought a HP15C. It still gets some use as well. Probably what you learn on has a big influence on what you use. I never liked using graphing calculators to do basic calculations, trig, log functions etc. Graphing calculators seemed to be less efficient for these calculations. Most people that would need to do graphing are also likely to have a computer that has more power and a bigger colour screen. For me it is hard to beat a calculator for calculations.
DougSK
I second Kevin’s sentiment. Graphing calculators were largely banned from exams, so I did everything from a basic scientific calculators and only reverted to the graphing model as needed. Casio scientific calculators worked best for me. It looks like they still make the models I used way back then too. FX-300 and FX-115.
firefly
You are right. It all depend on what we are used to. Switching to a different key layout is a pain.
Most of the time the graphing calculators were banned not because of it math capacity but because of their memory that allow some basic note taking that were used by some to cheat. The best exam that I have took have always been open book, open note that were designed in such a way that require the student to understand the subject to ace it. In short even though it’s open book, without intimate knowledge of the subject matter it is still a guarantee fail. I tried to go without study once and it didn’t end well for me. So I think the general ban usual stem from the lack of knowledge or willingness to design a well thought out exam.
With that said, I prefer the TI-8x line because the way it reformat my entry to proper math notation for easier reading. Having the ability to view both the input and the output is huge for me because the output is only as good as the input. Beside it’s nice to be able to go back and edit the input in case I mistype something. So while I barely use the graphing ability of the TI-8x line, the multi-line display with formatted input display is a huge win for me. The TI-8x line also have all the trig function readily available unlike the TI92. While the TI-92 is arguably more powerful it was a pain to use because almost everything is hidden behind a menu.
fred
Back in the dark ages when I used a log-log-decitrig slide rule, most exams in engineering courses were open book. The NY State PE exam was open book and I brought a number inside a small carryon suitcase. There were folks who came with rolling steamer trunks with dozens of books. While it was an all-day exam over 2 days – having that many books would have been a distraction for me. I managed a decent (well above the 75% passing mark) grade on each of the 3 parts with my SR-50 calculator, and books on fluid flow , thermodynamics, heat transfer and mechanics plus a few handbooks for Steel, Mechanical Chemical and Civil engineering.
Stuart
The hardest tests I ever took were the ones that allowed open notes or open book. I tried to maintain good notes, and prepared by knowing where to find what I thought I needed to know.
I don’t know what was harder – open notes or open book tests, or take home midterms and finals.
fred
I always thought that some of the best test takers were pragmatists. They had a way (almost prescience) of figuring out what the professor wanted and, therefore, what was likely to be on an exam. Later on, for me anyway, not blessed with an eidetic memory, I realized that you needed to get organized. Removing, as best you could, the clutter from your notes and brain could be a key to success . By graduate school, I had figured it out.
Ultimately, I used more of my MBA education than what I learned in engineering school. But the discipline, problem solving and organizational skills learned in engineering served me very well in business. Being lucky certainly helped too.
Stuart
I think that, in math and sciences, and higher-level humanities and social sciences fields, preparation and a fundamental understanding are key.
I tend to cram for exams. In high school, I prepared for a math exam the night before. I got to class, and I don’t remember the reason, but the teacher postponed the test to the next day. I studied again that night and got a 94.
After that, my pattern of studying for exams for 1 or 2 nights didn’t change all that much, but I pulled out all the stops and prepared over time when I know it mattered.
I sometimes find myself wishing I could go back and start high school again, doing things completely differently. Maybe not. But college? I might do things completely differently there. Okay, maybe a little differently. Grad school? I would do a lot of things differently there. I suppose that’s a sign that I matured a little, finding faults in how my younger self did things?
It took years before I figured out the key to taking exams. You see, it’s not the exams that one should be concerned with, but the course material.
I spent too many years being taught that it took me too long how to learn. But once I did, I saw those around me stuck in the same pattern.
I remember a friend complaining that the physics exam he took had a problem that wasn’t from the homework or quizzes, and that it came from the textbook the class was expected to have gone through. He was going for pre-med.
When I was a grad TA, I went over a homework problem in class, and then when nobody asked for further clarification, I gave the same problem as the daily quiz, only changing the numbers around.
There were some good grades, and many not so good ones.
We went over the quiz during the next class, and everyone assured me they fully understood the problem. So I have the same quiz again.
Keep in mind, this was a homework problem that we went over, and a quiz that we went over again.
There wasn’t a lot of improvement in the grades.
Few students ever came to office hours, and many times it was one or two the afternoon before a homework problem set was due.
My best grades were in classes that I enjoyed.
I suppose I’ve done the same with tools. When there’s something that catches my particular interest, I dig deeper, I go further, I push forward, and I commit myself to a better understanding.
That’s what I should have done for each and every class, every exam – or at least more of them.
When I was a physics lab TA during my undergrad years, a lot of subject material made a lot more sense. Practice and having to teach certain things allowed me to draw deeper connections and form a more solid understanding.
I now find myself believing that, at least in a lot of cases, “man that test was hard,” at least for me – I can’t talk about anyone else – really meant that I hadn’t prepared enough, and/or I hadn’t had sufficient mastery of the subject matter.
I’d be lying if I said I was always sufficiently prepared for an exam, but realizing that I hadn’t had sufficient mastery of certain subjects or coursework? That unfortunately came to mind long after it mattered.
fred
Physics and Organic Chemistry were two early-on courses that were used to supposedly weed out students who were not cut out for the sciences.
The fellow who taught my freshman physics class later went on to win a Nobel Prize – but he cautioned us on the first day of class that we would only pass if we paid attention, not only to his lectures, but to the TAs. He also said that if he ever had an exam where someone got a 100 – he’d feel that he had not adequately tested the class. I recall that he gave out 19 F’s and something like 3 times that number of Ds in a class of 250 or so. Back in those days, grades were posted on little strips of paper hung on a bulletin board or office door. Your ID # and the grade sometimes needed a second or third look to make sure what you got. Marking on a curve, I often left an exam thinking I had failed. My final grade of an A-minus that semester was shocking. I did not fare as well in freshman English or German.
Sort of like you, later on being a TA for Organic Chemistry Lab, I grew to have a better appreciation for the subject matter and the difficulties in teaching and motivating others to help them learn.
Fazzman
Been using a TI 36x for over 20 years. Its the one my math teachers back in high school always wanted us to have for class. Nowadays as a machinist I use it on a daily basis. See them for around $20 or so. I may get a new one soon as I have a couple sticky keys but other than that it can handle anything I need.
SS
RPN or bust
Nathan
LOL RPN. I had to have a Ti-8X to get through college. I had 2 before it was all over but I do still have my Ti-86 – and it lives in the drawer of my office. with no batteries.
Why – I use RealCalc on my android mobile when I need it – otherwise I use a computer if handy. I layout stuff often in DraftSight when I can. Biggest thing – using my old mobile in the work shop I has RealCalc on it – and it’s connected to wifi for look up. Another bit I use with it is smart tools on occasion but only because I have it. (thread pitch gage)
If I was going to use a calc at the workshop I would use something more rugged than the ti-86 like the things you posted. But I’d probably buy as cheap as I can.
Ken
After having my trusty old 30X IIS die on me after a decade or so of riding around in backpacks I bought two new ones for work and home. The newer ones seem to have a lot of problems with buttons sticking down that never happened on my old one. The TI-89 sits at home mostly unused.
I do occasionally use RealCalc on my phone but only when I can’t grab a 30X IIS.
Nathan L
Gah RPN is my bane.
I was browsing around Dollar Tree the other day and was shocked to find scientific calculators there. Incredible that they can be sold profitably for a dollar now!
I had a flip-open Casio (or Sharp?) scientific calc in uni that had buttons built into the pleather flap so that, when open, you had the usual push buttons on the frame, plus a whole array of plastic membrane buttons on the other side. It had conversion factors and constants and a solar cell and i loved it dearly. I accidently put it in my back pocket and sat down on it at some point and broke the screen, and spent a week looking for another one like it (just before the advent of internet shopping)–in vain. 🙁
I’ve never really liked TIs. If i have anything more complicted than what a basic scientific calculator can handle, i’ll use a spreadsheet or other software. In the lab, i used to use a Sharp Zaurus SL-C860 clamshell computer to record data directly into a spreadsheet alongside my lab notebook. I could see trends etc. and decide when to terminate the experiment. More recently, i’ve used smartphone apps to record and calculate things for construction projects.