I bought a $3 calculator at Walmart which I am using for college algebra... For most things I've found it practically useless and I noticed everyone else has really nice calculators. To do my online home work I've been using this site and have been scoring 100% on everything yet I've only scored 75-88 on my in class tests. Naturally I'm wondering if I could buy a calculator with the same ability to solve equations as the site I've been using?

To me this seems like cheating but my teacher has not placed any limits on the type of calculators we can use so not cheating is only putting me at a disadvantage to the other students who are...

You can buy a TI-8x calculator. I have one and it can do pretty much anything.

http://www.amazon.com/Texas-Instruments-TI-89-Titanium-Calculator/dp/B0001EMLZ2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308529643&sr=8-1

You should check your course guidelines. I know that a TI-8X pretty much renders any algebraic knowledge moot as it will literally do everything for you. Because of that a lot of teachers will ban them for tests, which makes it a waste of money for you.

For example, I've had a TI-89 since highschool and I couldn't use it for a couple of my college level classes because it could do the whole test perfectly without me needing to know anything.

You should check your course guidelines. [...]

In additional, there will often be a specific model or models of calculator specifically recommended (or sometimes even listed as "required") for certain college level courses; I'm surprised you weren't advised to get one before the course started.

I bought a $3 calculator at Walmart which I am using for college algebra... For most things I've found it practically useless and I noticed everyone else has really nice calculators. To do my online home work I've been using this site and have been scoring 100% on everything yet I've only scored 75-88 on my in class tests. Naturally I'm wondering if I could buy a calculator with the same ability to solve equations as the site I've been using?

To me this seems like cheating but my teacher has not placed any limits on the type of calculators we can use so not cheating is only putting me at a disadvantage to the other students who are...

If your scoring 75-88( assuming out of 100 ) then maybe the calculators isn't the problem, but rather you aren't getting the concept fully? Or did he just take points off out of algebraic mistake?

If your scoring 75-88( assuming out of 100 ) then maybe the calculators isn't the problem, but rather you aren't getting the concept fully? Or did he just take points off out of algebraic mistake?

It's possible that his WalMart calculator is limiting the results he can get as well. I know I love my TI-8x dearly because even when all the "cheat" programs are disabled, it can still function properly and get me the results I need when I have to work out the formulas. When i tried to bring my math homework home and use the ghetto calculator my mom used for bills, it just couldn't get the job done because of it's lack of functionality.

On the otherhand, I know a lot of people that have come to rely too much on their TIs and its programs so that when the programs are disabled or they must do the formulas with pen and paper, they can't do it.

[quote name='SteveDeFacto' timestamp='1308522895' post='4825250']
I bought a $3 calculator at Walmart which I am using for college algebra... For most things I've found it practically useless and I noticed everyone else has really nice calculators. To do my online home work I've been using this site and have been scoring 100% on everything yet I've only scored 75-88 on my in class tests. Naturally I'm wondering if I could buy a calculator with the same ability to solve equations as the site I've been using?

To me this seems like cheating but my teacher has not placed any limits on the type of calculators we can use so not cheating is only putting me at a disadvantage to the other students who are...

If your scoring 75-88( assuming out of 100 ) then maybe the calculators isn't the problem, but rather you aren't getting the concept fully? Or did he just take points off out of algebraic mistake?
[/quote]

She just marks the questions as wrong if I don't write it exactly how she wants me to or if I make any minor mistake. I'm still probably going to get an A because I'm scoring perfect scores on my home work and mastery quizzes.

[quote name='D.Chhetri' timestamp='1308541646' post='4825302']
[quote name='SteveDeFacto' timestamp='1308522895' post='4825250']
I bought a $3 calculator at Walmart which I am using for college algebra... For most things I've found it practically useless and I noticed everyone else has really nice calculators. To do my online home work I've been using this site and have been scoring 100% on everything yet I've only scored 75-88 on my in class tests. Naturally I'm wondering if I could buy a calculator with the same ability to solve equations as the site I've been using?

To me this seems like cheating but my teacher has not placed any limits on the type of calculators we can use so not cheating is only putting me at a disadvantage to the other students who are...

If your scoring 75-88( assuming out of 100 ) then maybe the calculators isn't the problem, but rather you aren't getting the concept fully? Or did he just take points off out of algebraic mistake?
[/quote]

She just marks the questions as wrong if I don't write it exactly how she wants me to or if I make any minor mistake. I'm still probably going to get an A because I'm scoring perfect scores on my home work and mastery quizzes.
[/quote]

Dude that's math. I took Calc 3 without a calculator and actually got bonus points because I wrote down variables for things we were supposed to calculate and then took them all the way down to the last step. I can't imagine an algebra class, which is basically all about solving equations, that would allow calculators to do the work. This is simplifying it but If you have an equation x+2=2x+4, the important thing is not that you know that x is -2 but how you get to that form.

The last time I had a math class where the right answer was important was in elementary school arithmetic. It's all about writing out your work and showing every step that you do and showing your process. The calculator won't do this for you.

What ChurchSkiz said. I haven't even touched a calculator in a math exam (aside from one statistics course) since high school because calculus and linear algebra courses don't allow them, and number theory and the like don't need them.

The HP 35s is pretty cool because it's not a graphical calculator, it looks like your standard basic scientific calculator, but it has keystroke programming and the ability to solve and integrate equations numerically. However this calculator has a bit of a learning curve to use this kind of features, especially if you don't know RPN.