TI-92 in Algebra 2

Subject: TI-92 in Algebra 2
From: Mark R. Lindsey <mark@eskimo.com>
Date: Sat, 10 Aug 1996 08:58:27 -0400
In-Reply-To: <>
: Oh, nothing against education, but if I can have a calculator that will
: *help* me through Algebra 2... Why not?  The way I figure it is this:  If I
: _didn't_ have a TI-92, I'd use an 83, and have to write programs to solve
: everything, which would be much more of a hassle, so why not?


There is something to be gained by the `hassle' of writing programs to
solve mathematical problems: my philosophy is that if you know how to
solve a problem well enough to implement it as an algorithm, there's a
good chance you can solve the problem otherwise. I really don't see any
harm is programming in routine calculations once you've understood them,
because, in general, programming requires a thorough understanding of
the problem.


[Un]Fortunately, on the TI-92, that might not be the case. The TI-92 is
a tool specialized for mathematical programming. A vague notion of a
problem and a comprehension of the 92's features can yield a usable
program that gives the right answer, but this vague notion of the
principles behind the problem are not going to help further down the
road.


In summary, I can see that there could be great use of a TI-92 in the
first two courses in Algebra, but it will require IMMENSE personal
discipline to use it as it should.


In regard to the question of programs: the 92 comes equipped with most
of the functions a student of Algebra will need, and the type of
programs you might eventually want will depend on the curriculum you're
studying; with Saxon Algebra, for example, you'd probably want programs
to do ideal-gas and simple vector calculations.