24 replies to this topic

[yuppi]

Hi,
All my study-collegues have the ti-89 and I want to buy a Calculator too. But my old TI was just damn slow, too expensive and with nearly no functions. When I saw the FX of my Friend I throwed the TI away and was very happy until now. Now I would like to have some more features like a CAS and a graphic display. But instead of buying everything the others have I would like to know from whether anyone Could tell me anything about these three calculators.
The TI is a bit more expensive than the classpad and the classpad is a bit more expensive than the AFX.
So if i want to do nothing very spectacular would a AFX be enough?
What are the main differences between an AFX and TI?
What are the main differences between a classpad and AFX?
How about speed of these three?
A very nice feature of the TI is the measurements calculation. Is there something simular with the casio's?
What a defiinite requirement is, is matrix-calculations. Not the very big ones, but i need it.

Some more points that are important to me:
Calulating with complex numbers, and therefore Rectangle->Polar and vice-versa.
Some Physical constants.

Thanks in advance,
Karsten

[Andy.Davies]

if thats all you need, have you tried a CF9850G? or compatable (like the FX9750G which is the non colour version of the 9850G)

[yuppi]

Unfortunatly they don't have a CAS which i would like to have for analysis.
By the way, is there anything useful with the algebra-tutor-mode?

[BiTwhise]

The algebra totur mode is NOTHING USEFUL!

None of the Casio calculators have physical constants built in, allthough you can create them yourself.
As for measurement symbols, you wont find them in any Casio calculator (at present time) either.

With the Classpad (with a full greek symobol set) you can give your constants much more meaningful names than on the AFX.

TI CAS might still be a bit more advanced than the Classpad, but Casio seems to be working on it, and recently released an OS update.
The Classpad is also TONS FASTER for normal symbolic manipulation functions, although there have been some problems with slow list/matrix access (which I believe is partly fixed now)

If you don't need Cas the AFX is nice and cheap option.

If you need the most advanced Cas system out there, with unit calculations, superb 3d graph system, huge database of amatear program. Don't mind the price, and can accept a bit of slowness once in a while, the TI89 / Voyager200 is definetly your choice.

For anything else, I'de go with the Classpad.
The display is pretty big, and excelent for matrix input, however it might be a bit narrow when calculating big expressions.
Most calculations are real fast and effective, and the the touch screen with the whole 'drag and drop' feature is a bit sweet
The fact that it's priced cheaper than the TI89 is also a bit strange (allthough TI software is much more mateur), but certainly a pluss
Communiction between the CP and the PC is also very fast, through the USB interface, which is a big pluss for feature use of add-ins (for which you have over 4MB ) and datatransfers

All of these calculators have support for complex numbers. On the TI and the CP you also have additional symbolic manipulations of these (such a complex expand).. you have similar features in the AFX Cas module, but it's a bit a hazzle to have to leave the main app to do symbolic stuff.

With TI you have the so called 'Pretty print'. On the Classpad you can also input expression in this format, which is neat and sometimes even makes up for the lack of horizontal space

[yuppi]

BTW. where can I download the Simulator everyone is talking about

[BiTwhise]

The limited version of the manager can be found here:

Classpad Manager [6.2MB]

There are a few fixes with the lates OS update (that isn't available on the manager) as well as a spreadsheet application

[Bob Vila]

this is where i got mine... http://www.classpad.de/files/setup.exe but it is not exactly like the classpad, there are a few things missing

----EDIT----
Bitwise beat me to it

Edited by Bob Vila, 07 December 2003 - 10:01 PM.

[yuppi]

Okay, after reading the manual and playing with the simulator, i'm pretty sure that I will go for a Classpad. But one more question.
What games can I play on it?
Can I use games from other calculators like the AFX?

Thanks, for all those information.

[BiTwhise]

You can not play AFX games on it..

Right now there aren't many games out for it..

Saltire however is releasing a Chip8 emulator for it "soon",.. that should give you a nice library of games to start off with.

Later, I'm hoping, we'll be able to develop "real" applications for it, and probably lots of games too

The CP is quite powerfull compared with other calculators, which opens doors for some pretty nifty games (once we get info enough to start developing)

[CrimsonCasio]

dont forget that it has sound

I can tell you that Casio and Saltire are supporting user developement (but dont ask me to elaborate, I cant), I suspect to see some major developements with the classpad in less than a month so now is a good time to get one. I also would like to invite you to the ClassPad part of this forum, you can find out anything you want to know there, including all the bad stuff and stuff that we have found lacking (and the great things we have figgured out).

[AlephMobius]

As of now, if you really want games the TI is a good choice. So is a Game Boy, but you have to think about what you are gonna do with it. Also consider the fact that the ClassPad is a lot like a PDA and PDAs arent allowed in all tests and classes.

[BiTwhise]

If they're allowed to use TI89s, I see no reason for the CP to be banned..

[yuppi]

They even don't claim about using a PDA. But it must not have any Communication possibilites, like Bluetooth or WLAN.
Gaming is not one of my Major arguments for buying any device I had yet. But it proofed to be very nice last Saturday, when we had a very long and very boring Session.
I heard that there are even some Graph applications for Game Boys.

[CrimsonCasio]

really... thats just to strange...

[BiTwhise]

Strange.. not really..

In my uni we can use any device we want as long as it doesn't have any means of comunicating with the outside world

If you're working with applied mathematics, and not theory of mathematics, I see no reason you shouldn't be allowed to use the tools available out there.

[CrimsonCasio]

I agree, I carry my calc everywhere with me, therefore I sould be allowed to use it everywhere I go

Unfortunately the US is suffering under an out of date education system which badly needs reform (not just about calcs).

[genesis]

The Classpad has sounds??? Like beeping or actual speakers? There are some weird things you can get on a Game Boy but if your after every feature in the world, get a Pocket PC... it acts as a Game Boy, calculator, communication and anything else you can think of. Our education system REALLY needs updates, the 9850 GB+ has been the highest accepted calc for 5 years. Funny how half the Casio calculators came out in 1998 (and the other half in 1999).

[Andy.Davies]

mmm, but my college dont care, one teacher complains that i uses a graphic, of any sort. but the others are cool with is, including the head of year, which means the teacher who dosent like it cant do anything about it. therfore, i can use my AFX in my exams

[mastermage]

that's strange... in france you can use every casio (in fact we are limited in terms of size so the biggest that you can use is ti92 lol, and you can't have a printer )
afx is good at exams

[yuppi]

My teachers would have loved me for using a printer ;-)

[Bob Vila]

Unfortunately the US is suffering under an out of date education system which badly needs reform (not just about calcs).

yea, there are still a couple of math classes at my school that are still using ti-82's!!!

[BiTwhise]

There's nothing wrong with using "primitive" calculators, if the aim of the subject is to learn mathematical methods..
It's when applying these methods (taken that you know how to do them by hand) a good calculator comes in handy.

[yuppi]

I think that using a 2D-Plot function may increase the lear-effect even if you don't now what you're doing. Would you like to create a Valuelist, just to see what happens when you add 7 to x?
If you have a calculator you play with the values you get a much better feeling for graphs.
Or why not just try to integrate some functions to see what happens...
A teacher might say, hey, your Homework is to find a function that makes a smiley . I'm pretty sure that it would be more fun that saying, let's draw X^2+5 and X^2+7 and (X-3)^2+5.

But, back to topic, my Classpad is on its way ;-)
I'm a bit unsure about programming languages for it. Can I use assembly on it? Is there some documentation around it?
I know that I can program it in BASIC, but I'm proud that BASIC is one of these languages I was never able to program.

[CrimsonCasio]

yeah, I dont mind using primitive calculators, its no calculator I have a problem with... I've never been able to do mental math (I litterally cant keep track of numbers in my head without studying them for days), but if you give me even a simple calc with the most complex function being square root I'm fine... however many teachers have adopted an absolutly no calc policy, this crushes me on tests because I have to write out even the most simple steps (even addition with more than 4 numbers (ex 12345+12345) becomes a problem for me because I cant keep the numbers in my head). i'm pretty sure this is a math deficiency (probably not the right term) but there is no way for teachers to compensate (without putting you in the "special" classes) untill you get to college. :motz:

one thing of note, since I started programming math functions into my calc I've become slightly better at math, i find myself recalling my own programs on test (if not for the numbers thing I'd be unstoppable at cards ), an interesting way to learn math for sure, but to each his own


---------EDIT---------
yuppi: you may misunderstand, its Casio BASIC, not the computer programming language BASIC
ASM will be possible, but we are waiting for some software from casio.

[BiTwhise]

Basic is Basic..

Casio Basic is just a variation of basic.

Anyways, it's really simple. If you manage C/C++, ASM, Pascal or similar, you shouldn't have any problems with Casio Basic..
However, I have to agree with you.. Casio Basic is one of the languages I'm not particularly proud of knowing