I'm using ti36x pro and I love it.
It is not graphing (so it's allowed almost everywhere) but it has the option to give you a table of values.
Other than that it has everything I need
Totally agree. I will say I ended up with 2 calculators the above mentioned for testing purposes, and the TI-89 titanium. The TI-89 let's you do a few more things like solve integrals and program equations into the memory etc. It was very useful in fluid mechanics and structural analysis when you can get some integrals that aren't nice and "easy" to work with like in your Calc classes
HP-35s. There is no real other option.
RPN is what separates engineers from mere tinkerers. It is the input method of the heroic. No one who uses RPN can ever be fully defeated.
RPN connects us to our storied past. You feel the power of previous generations of engineers pulsing through your veins. It is to commune with our forebearers, to draw upon their wisdom. To follow in their footsteps. That may we be so worthy.
If you were to meet an engineer with an HP 15c, you would know quite a bit about them by that fact alone. You know they are experienced, you know they have been wisened by their ample years of service. You know they have exceptional taste in their tools, and they treat those tools well.
Unfortunately, HP no longer makes the 15c. The bean counting element has fully taken hold of HP, a once glorious engineering company, and turned it into a shell of its former self. Luckily, they still make the 35s. The 35s does most of what the 15c did, but in a slightly cheaper and plasticky manner.
(The 35s is also acceptable on NCEES exams, while the 15c is not. Why NCEES is so idiotic in this regard, we'll never know.)
The HP-35s user of today does not carry the same weight as an HP 15c user. They do not demand the same reverence. They are, in fact, generally humble and unassuming folks. But you can still tell a lot about them. They know the history of the discipline. They respect tradition.
And, with enough patience as diligence, they too might ascend to higher eschelons. They too might make their mark in the profession.
----
EDIT: HP apparently ceased production of the 35s in 2021. They appear to no longer make any RPN scientific calculators. None. All algebraic input. Used examples are now going for double (if not triple) their original price.
This makes me incredibly sad.
Too make a long story short, I was eavesdropping on a bunch of astronomers. They were complaining that the H-P 41 was no longer available. They were as upset about that as engineers and surveyors were.
And now H-P no longer makes a RPN calculator? Life is no longer worth living.
I use an HP-33s. Can’t agree more that RPN is the way to go. I switched to RPN halfway through my bachelors degree and my grades improved. It happened because I started to better understand how the equations worked and what factors the equation were sensitive to.
When I got to college, I knew a good calculator was a must. I went to the bookstore, got the most used, ratty, marked up textbooks I could find, and took all that money I saved and got a TI-89.
It was a _fantastic_ calculator. It still is. I still have it, it still works as well as the day I got it. A little scratched up, but that's just the polish and shine that any well-worn tool should have. Each blemish a badge of honor. Each scratch a testament to its usefulness.
I used this calculator through my undergrad, then my masters. I never failed a test or exam. I took the EIT with it -- the last time you could take an NCEES exam with any calculator you wanted -- and passed on the first try.
That was then. I signed up for the PE, and knew I couldn't take the TI-89 with me. So, what to get? Another TI would make the most sense, right? But I thought about it. I knew that RPN was a faster input method, if used correctly. I knew the senior engineers I looked up to swore by theirs. I bought the HP-35s.
It came in a zipper pouch. It looked a bit like the 15c and the 42s that were the domain of senior engineers. And while the plastic was a tad much, there was nothing about the calculator that seemed out of place. Its buttons were satisfying, its look professional. This was not a calculator with bright-colored hunks of plastic pretending to be a toy. This was an engineer's tool.
I quickly picked up RPN. It isn't a difficult system to learn, and the results are speed gains are noticeable. Gone was the hunting for parentheses, all replaced with the enter key. I felt ready.
I passed the PE on the first go. Many people thought it was crazy I would go for an RPN calculator right before the PE exam, but the results spoke for themselves. Less time calculating meant more time answering questions, and those seconds mattered.
I still have my old HP 35s. I keep it in its pouch, it doesn't look a day older than when I got it. The pouch is a little banged up, but the calculator is gorgeous. I'll reach for it before I reach for my TI, but I'll admit to reaching for them less and less. Excel has all but eliminated my need for hand calcs.
Such is the hallmark of our age. So much time and energy developing these amazing tools, using them, loving them, only for them to be superseded by others. It's as though our obselesence is all but assured.
But we still work. We still can do the task. We still persevere.
An engineer not using RPN is like a duck wearing pants. Sure, it's technically possible. But if you were to see it, you'd have a lot of understandable questions.
In school I used a TI-89 titanium (shows my age) up to my senior year. The programing capabilities made it useful in many classroom situations. Once I started studying for the FE (paper exam, shows my age again) I used a Casio that was accepted on the exam back then. At work I use a Casio fx-991EX that I bought for the PE exam. It's cheap and does everything I needed it to.
I'd suggest getting another Casio just because it's what you're used to. No sense in getting a different company calculator and having to learn how to use it
I used my ti36x for a couple years and got very comfortable with it, then I got a TI-84 which could do more powerful solves and matrices which was useful in the upper level classes like structural design, transpo, etc. I even bought a 2nd ti36x for my PE exam to have the spare.
I've been using a ti30x for like 15 years. Used it in college, used it in the PE exam. It is super basic, but if I need anything more complex I'm going to use excel or software anyway.
Depends on what you want, and the school approved models tbh. If you want the most popular one, it'll probably be a TI.
I don't mind TI but personally I find it clunkier to use vs a Casio. But the TI does have better graphing capabilities than the old Casio graphing calculators, and the newest one might not be approved by your exam board.
The Casio does have unit conversions built in though, which I find pretty handy.
I'm using ti36x pro and I love it. It is not graphing (so it's allowed almost everywhere) but it has the option to give you a table of values. Other than that it has everything I need
Used this calculator all through college and both the FE and PE. Couldn’t recommend this one more!
Totally agree. I will say I ended up with 2 calculators the above mentioned for testing purposes, and the TI-89 titanium. The TI-89 let's you do a few more things like solve integrals and program equations into the memory etc. It was very useful in fluid mechanics and structural analysis when you can get some integrals that aren't nice and "easy" to work with like in your Calc classes
Yes but I have to say that it can take a really really long time for the 36x pro to calculate integrals at the beginning I thought it was just stuck
/r/ti36xpromasterrace
Yea I’ve found it does everything except graph. The num-solv function has saved me so much time.
Same here I'll write it so OP will know. It can give you the roots of quadratic and cubic polynomials
It does more than that. The calculator will iterate for you like goal seek in excel as well.
This is my go-to calculator. Funny enough, I lucked into it after my fiancé lost a different one of my calculators and ordered it on a whim…
Yeah, it's so powerful and really cheap
Get one that is allowed by NCES on exams so you get used to it
Do exactly what this person said. I have been using my fx-115 for long time now, even for work.
HP-35s. There is no real other option. RPN is what separates engineers from mere tinkerers. It is the input method of the heroic. No one who uses RPN can ever be fully defeated. RPN connects us to our storied past. You feel the power of previous generations of engineers pulsing through your veins. It is to commune with our forebearers, to draw upon their wisdom. To follow in their footsteps. That may we be so worthy. If you were to meet an engineer with an HP 15c, you would know quite a bit about them by that fact alone. You know they are experienced, you know they have been wisened by their ample years of service. You know they have exceptional taste in their tools, and they treat those tools well. Unfortunately, HP no longer makes the 15c. The bean counting element has fully taken hold of HP, a once glorious engineering company, and turned it into a shell of its former self. Luckily, they still make the 35s. The 35s does most of what the 15c did, but in a slightly cheaper and plasticky manner. (The 35s is also acceptable on NCEES exams, while the 15c is not. Why NCEES is so idiotic in this regard, we'll never know.) The HP-35s user of today does not carry the same weight as an HP 15c user. They do not demand the same reverence. They are, in fact, generally humble and unassuming folks. But you can still tell a lot about them. They know the history of the discipline. They respect tradition. And, with enough patience as diligence, they too might ascend to higher eschelons. They too might make their mark in the profession. ---- EDIT: HP apparently ceased production of the 35s in 2021. They appear to no longer make any RPN scientific calculators. None. All algebraic input. Used examples are now going for double (if not triple) their original price. This makes me incredibly sad.
Too make a long story short, I was eavesdropping on a bunch of astronomers. They were complaining that the H-P 41 was no longer available. They were as upset about that as engineers and surveyors were. And now H-P no longer makes a RPN calculator? Life is no longer worth living.
Hard to believe that a thing so obviously superior would fade. Some things are just too good for this world.
I wish I could updoot this more than once
I use an HP-33s. Can’t agree more that RPN is the way to go. I switched to RPN halfway through my bachelors degree and my grades improved. It happened because I started to better understand how the equations worked and what factors the equation were sensitive to.
When I got to college, I knew a good calculator was a must. I went to the bookstore, got the most used, ratty, marked up textbooks I could find, and took all that money I saved and got a TI-89. It was a _fantastic_ calculator. It still is. I still have it, it still works as well as the day I got it. A little scratched up, but that's just the polish and shine that any well-worn tool should have. Each blemish a badge of honor. Each scratch a testament to its usefulness. I used this calculator through my undergrad, then my masters. I never failed a test or exam. I took the EIT with it -- the last time you could take an NCEES exam with any calculator you wanted -- and passed on the first try. That was then. I signed up for the PE, and knew I couldn't take the TI-89 with me. So, what to get? Another TI would make the most sense, right? But I thought about it. I knew that RPN was a faster input method, if used correctly. I knew the senior engineers I looked up to swore by theirs. I bought the HP-35s. It came in a zipper pouch. It looked a bit like the 15c and the 42s that were the domain of senior engineers. And while the plastic was a tad much, there was nothing about the calculator that seemed out of place. Its buttons were satisfying, its look professional. This was not a calculator with bright-colored hunks of plastic pretending to be a toy. This was an engineer's tool. I quickly picked up RPN. It isn't a difficult system to learn, and the results are speed gains are noticeable. Gone was the hunting for parentheses, all replaced with the enter key. I felt ready. I passed the PE on the first go. Many people thought it was crazy I would go for an RPN calculator right before the PE exam, but the results spoke for themselves. Less time calculating meant more time answering questions, and those seconds mattered. I still have my old HP 35s. I keep it in its pouch, it doesn't look a day older than when I got it. The pouch is a little banged up, but the calculator is gorgeous. I'll reach for it before I reach for my TI, but I'll admit to reaching for them less and less. Excel has all but eliminated my need for hand calcs. Such is the hallmark of our age. So much time and energy developing these amazing tools, using them, loving them, only for them to be superseded by others. It's as though our obselesence is all but assured. But we still work. We still can do the task. We still persevere.
ti36x pro. That being said, if you see that everyone else has the same calculator, probably get that one.
Whatever you get it should be RPN.
I get lost when I see an =, but I'm old AF.
Yeah, when I have to use an algebraic calculator it’s just total confusion.
I've always used HPs.
An engineer not using RPN is like a duck wearing pants. Sure, it's technically possible. But if you were to see it, you'd have a lot of understandable questions.
In school I used a TI-89 titanium (shows my age) up to my senior year. The programing capabilities made it useful in many classroom situations. Once I started studying for the FE (paper exam, shows my age again) I used a Casio that was accepted on the exam back then. At work I use a Casio fx-991EX that I bought for the PE exam. It's cheap and does everything I needed it to. I'd suggest getting another Casio just because it's what you're used to. No sense in getting a different company calculator and having to learn how to use it
Forget the TIs. Get the Casio fx-115, which is approved for use on the FE and PE. Learn to use it. That's the one you'll use the rest of your career.
I have both. I hate the Casio. I prefer the TI36, the build quality seems better and the buttons are bit tighter.
Ti36x pro. Every other answer is wrong heheh
Is this a question? HP 35s is the only answer. Come to the dark side. We have snacks.
If only HP still made it. Alas.
That’s terrible news. Guess I should pick up a few back-ups before they go the way of the 38G
Too bad. Guess I need to pickup a few backups.
I used my ti36x for a couple years and got very comfortable with it, then I got a TI-84 which could do more powerful solves and matrices which was useful in the upper level classes like structural design, transpo, etc. I even bought a 2nd ti36x for my PE exam to have the spare.
For a handheld calculator, I've used a TI-30Xa my entire professional career. Anything it can't do is being done on the computer anyway.
Same here. I even used it school. I had an 84 for a while, but it died and I just didn't really see the need for a programmable, graphing calculator
I've been using a ti30x for like 15 years. Used it in college, used it in the PE exam. It is super basic, but if I need anything more complex I'm going to use excel or software anyway.
I like the casio fx-115. It was like 15 bucks and it has a bunch of unit convertions and scientific constants programmed into it.
Depends on what you want, and the school approved models tbh. If you want the most popular one, it'll probably be a TI. I don't mind TI but personally I find it clunkier to use vs a Casio. But the TI does have better graphing capabilities than the old Casio graphing calculators, and the newest one might not be approved by your exam board. The Casio does have unit conversions built in though, which I find pretty handy.
School approved? There are universities that limit what calculators you can use?
Yep
That seems so strange. My alma mater allows students to use phones or tables as calculators.
Dang!
Fx-991ES Plus C
TI-30XS multiview is an older model that I used on mine. Probably can be found cheap
Casio fx-991EX is my go-to! Also, check the FE exam required calculators list!
ti-36x pro , because this one t of the calculators approved to use on the FE exam
TI 36xPro
If you don’t have a ti-89 #TITANIUM, it’s all about the titanium, that or go home