TI-89 Titanium Review by Kelly Williams

My Overall Rating:

Like many people I started off with a TI-83 and then later a TI-84 model in early high school. After taking calculus, and learning about differential equations, and multi-variable functions, I needed a calculator that could do symbolic computation. With the TI-89 I pleasantly ended up getting a lot more than I expected – its one sweet calculator with a hell of a lot of features and functions.

Besides the typical basic math, algebra, calculus, graphs, matrices, and statistical functions you can do some neat things like graphing 3-D, create animations and contour plotting. Graphing functions include function graphing, parametric graphing, polar graphing, sequence graphing, 3-D graphing, and differential-equation graphing.

This calculator is on sale on Amazon for nearly 35% off through this link right here.

The TI-89 Titanium also includes symbolic manipulation, constants and measurement units, statistics and data plots, a numeric solver, a text editor, programming capabilities, tables, a split-screen function, variable management, and the ability to link to other calculators or a computer.

You can create custom menus or use the default menu. Another interesting and useful feature is the Program Editor that lets you write custom applications.

The platinum version just looks plain cool. The large adjustable LCD screen is one of the most readable of the models and can be viewed clearly under a variety of lighting conditions. The calculator also comes with an input/output port and cable, letting you synch up with other TI-89s or TI-92s, as well as a USB port and cable.

You can buy the TI-89 at Amazon by clicking this link.

Pros of the TI-84 Calculator

• Extremely powerful
• 188 KB of RAM, combined with an impressive 2.7 MB of flash memory
• Nice “pretty print” feature which displays expressions as you would normally write them on paper. And it has copy and paste – so convenient.
• Share work with others and connect to any other TI device
• Get the TI-89 Titanium at Amazon here.

Cons of the TI-89 Calculator

• Is a little more expensive than other models, but has come down a lot in recent years
• The menus are different, the interface different, different buttons from the TI-83/TI-84 so it takes a while to get used to
• NOT meant for high school students who are taking algebra, geometry or trig classes (it’s too advanced for just using it for that).

Texas Instruments TI 89 Plus is useful for:

1. Students majoring in (or planning to major in) advanced math, engineering and certain advanced science classes like physics.
2. People looking for unbelievable features and power

Overall this is a great calculator – the price is higher than many other calculators but this is fully justified by the huge number of advanced features it provides. This is indeed a heavy duty calculator totally full of features – so much so you probably won’t get to use a vast majority of them. But once you get used to it the TI-89 is indispensable. You can get the cheapest price for the TI-89 at Amazon here.

Let me show you what current owners have to say about it:

This is the most powerful scientific calculator in its class. Engineering majors and others must get this or a regular Ti-89. If you buy a cheaper model you’ll have to spend $150 more to get this later anyway (like me). However if your Math class will end up in Calculus or Algebra (i.e. if you’re not going to learn Diff. equation or harder), you don’t really need this, you will just waste extra $70 for the features that you will never use (or features that aren’t allowed to use in exam)
But if one is going to use it for simple graphic or solving polynomial equations, then other calculators are fine…

Y. Shin.