Calculators

Update: Here is another good value—provided the listing’s bids are less than $15.  Check the shipping costs!  Five of the calculators are useful for high school students.

Update:  Here is a good example of a fair-priced listing.  There are four calculators in the lot priced at $18 including g shipping.  One calculator does not power on.  So, essentially, you are buying three Calc for $6 each.  That is a fair price for TI 30 models.  The TI 30 models are rugged.  I used these at a large public school for years.  The math and science students exposed these calcs to hard wear.

I scan Good Will and eBay frequently for deals on calculators.  My husband, Rob, uses graphing calculators for Stats; he will need them next year for Algebra II, also.  I use graphing Calc occasionally in Chem—generally as digital thermometers or Gas Law calculations.

I like to have a set of TI 30 calculators for Chem.  I try to buy these in lots for about $5 each.  They retail new for $12-$13.  The TI 30s are useful for scientific notation and pH calculations.  These calcs  are durable.  It is helpful to have the same types of calculators when instructing kids.  I have lost track of the number of times I have shown the kids how to enter scientific notation on a TI Calc.  I have a caddy with calculators for the kids to borrow or use in class.  It is SO much easier to teach if they all have similar calculators.

Rob and I use TI83/84 calculators.  Some of the newer TI 84 calculators operate a bit differently.  He and I do Stat exercises in advance with both calcs to make notes for the kids.  Most of the time, TI 83/84 operate in the same manner.

The Casio graphing calculators are easier to learn.  Do you want to teach kids how to use Casio, HP, AND TI calculators for each new exercise?  I do not.  When I was an adjunct for a local college, my students brought their own calculators for Chem class.  What a chore explaining pH scientific notation, or conversions to a large class using five or six types of calculators.  No thank you.  Keep an eye out for deals on TI 30 calcs.  Don’t forget to factor in shipping!