The Texas Instruments (TI) series of graphing calculators are perhaps the most popular graphing calculators in the world. Graphing calculators are most commonly used by high school and college students who are taking such math courses as trigonometry, advanced algebra, pre-calculus, and calculus. They are especially useful in these subjects because you can input equations and have the calculator graph them on a x-y axis. This gives the student a visual means of analyzing variables, equations, and their relationships to one another.
For anyone who has never bought a graphing calculator, you may be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choices. There are brands other than TI, however they are not sold as widely and do not contain some of the software common to most TI graphing calculators. Deciding which line of TI calculator to buy depends largely on your budget, course requirements, and what exactly you will need to graph using the calculator. Here we describe the three most popular models TI-83, TI-84 Plus, TI-89 because they account for the majority of the graphing calculator market, and chances are good that you will need one of the three.
First, a brief history of the TI calculator. The first TI calculator was the TI-81 series, which was produced in 1990. This calculator was designed to help students primarily with pre-calculus and algebra. This series was quickly replaced by newer calculators with more memory and more processor power. Two years later in 1992, the TI-85 calculator was released. This was the first calculator equipted with a link port and programming capability. The next was the TI-82, which is still produced in limited quantities today. The TI-82 was considerable cheaper than its predecessors, but lacked some of TI-85's advanced features.
The TI-83, TI-84 Plus, and TI-89 models were released in 1996, 2004, and 2004 respectively. The TI-83 model succeeded the TI-82 and featured a new sleek case design that has been used on all TI calculators since. The TI-83 was more revolutionary in that it provided a programming base designed by TI, so that the calculator no longer had to be hacked-programmed by the user. The TI-83 has all of the functions of the TI-82, but also includes some new financial functions. The TI-83 specs:
CPU: 6 MHz ZiLOG Z80
Memory: 27K RAM
The TI-84 Plus and TI-89 are both new models, having been released in early 2004. The TI-84 Plus model is fully compatible with the TI-83 Plus, but contains some notable upgrades. The new calculator includes an updated built-in clock, a new mini USB link port (still contains the standard I/O port), and faster, more powerful processor, and an increase in Flash ROM. The TI-84 Plus specs:
CPU: 15 MHz ZiLOG Z80
Memory: 24K RAM, 480K Flash ROM
Finally, the TI-89 is the newest calculator, which includes all of the most recent additions and upgrades from the TI-84 Plus. The CPU is MC68000 rather than the older ZiLOG Z80. The calculator contains both a standard I/O & USB mini port. Most notably, the caclulator is the first to provide real 3D graphing, and contains the most memory of any calculator to date. The TI-89 Titanium specs:
CPU: 12 MHz MC68000
Memory: 188K RAM, 2.7 MB Flash ROM
