Re: HP48 vs TI-92
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JUSTIN SMITH wrote:
>
> Here are a lot of my reasons why I like my Ti-92.
>
> *3d graphing
>
> *Geometry Sketchpad
>
> *Built in database
>
> *Built in Text editor
>
> *MANY advanced math functions for algebra,trig, and for calculas.
>
> *Very easy to program, even after switching from RPN.
>
> *Animation...
>
> *Also the dragdown menus and the function keys are a nice touch, (after
> using macs) :))
>
> Bottom line: For TOTAL useablilty, the Ti-92 easily creams the HP.If you
> want a powerful calculator that you can use fast, and easily, buy a Ti-92,
> well worth the 180$. :)
>
> -Justin
Bailif! Immediately test that boy for drugs!
Seriously, the Ti-92 does not "easily cream" the Hp-48. The ONLY things
the Ti-92 can do that the Hp-48 can't are:
1) Really good symbolic calculus (to include limits as well as
integration). Fortunately, I LEARNED calculus, so I don't miss this
feature not being on the Hp-48.
2) Split screen graphs, which outside of academia have no purpose.
3) Cutesy radical simplification so your teacher thinks you came up
with that "2 root 3" in the numerator all by yourself. Again, outside
of school, (i.e. the real world) you will not be seing too many square
root symbols in reports. You will see lots of decimal points, though,
and the Hp-48s higher internal precision comes in handy.
4) Geometry sketchpad.
Hmmm...those features (and maybe a few minor others that slipped my
mind) constitute "TOTAL useability"?! The Ti-92 may be fast,in some
cases, and easy to use (by design--targeting the pubescent crowd and
their "make life easy for me" teachers), but calling it "powerful" is a
stretch (if the Ti-92 had built in units like the years-old Hp-48, you
could easily do the mountain to molehill conversion to see how much of a
stretch it is;)
The Ti-92 may suit your limited needs, but I define useability a bit
differently. How easy is it to program in finite differentian methods
on the Ti-92? How about a quick Runge-Kutta solution to a first order
differential egquation? Oops, I'm sorry, I picked some of the literally
1900 plus functions the Hp-48 has that the Ti-92 doesn't. Basically,
when you bought the Ti-92, you bought a portable version of DERIVE.
Apperently, Ti didn't think anybody would need other functionality!
My definition of useability doesn't include what it can do to get my
homework or test done for me. What it does include is how much of my
work that I need to get done I can do on a calculator. Saddled with an
exceptionally poor programing language (Ti-BASIC), a lack of some
essential mathematical functions, and not consistently faster than the
Hp in common areas (i.e. where the Hp-48 and Ti-92 have the same
functionality), and in some notable cases MUCH slower, the Ti-92 is not
useable in my definition. It simply can't do everything I need.
Also note: all the items you listed above are available on the Hp-48,
either as a built-in function (*3d graphing, *Built in Text editor,
*MANY advanced math functions for algebra,trig, and for calculas,
*Animation...) or as enhancements to the built-in function (*Built in
Text editor, *MANY advanced math functions for algebra,trig, and for
calculas, *Animation...), or as new features that Hp didn't include
(*Also the dragdown menus and the function keys, built in Database).
>From your above statement about switching from RPN, your are familiar
with Hps (which kind?). Do you think that if the Ti-92 didn't have a
feature that you really wanted, that you could program it in Ti-Basic to
compensate? A great testimony to the power of the Hp-48 is that so many
people have been able to tweak it or develop software for it. the Ti-92
has been out for about a year now--look at the available software base
it has on the net compared to the first year of the Hp-48S/SX. Its a
pretty weak comparison--the Hp-48 software base developed in ANY year
since its introduction "easily creams" the Ti-92 (or any Ti-8X series)
software base. If you take games out of the Ti-XX software base, then I
think their are aout two Ti-85 programs left on the net, and maybe seven
or eight Ti-92 programs. On the Hp side, games conservatively comprise
only about a tenth or less of the software base.
Check out:
http://hpcvbbs.external.hp.com:80/software_archives/calc/ftp/hp48g/
and see just what Hp has--by no means the most complete resource (of
many) on the net for Hp-48 programs.
Again, those items (mainly the symbolic and numeric integration) the
Ti-92 does well, it really does "easily cream" the Hp-48. But there is
far more the Hp-48 does, and does exceptionally well, that the Ti-92
can't at all. Better yet, there is much more the Hp-48 can be made to
do (need to solve a system of NONLINEAR equations? How about the
stiffness matrices of a composite material?) that the Ti-92 will never
come close to. That is POWER and USEABILITY;)
All in all, Ti had about five years after the Hp-48S/SX came out to beat
it. The Ti-85 is a paper tiger in comparison to the Hp-48 (its much
more like a graphics capable Hp-41). The Ti-92 has incredible,
unfulfilled hardware promise, and overall, in my definition of
useability, falls far short of the five year old Hp.
Look at how far PCs evolved in five years--why couldn't Ti make the '92
just an absolute monster calc? What's their excuse?
<pre>
--
Mark Wilson
"You see me now a veteran
of a thousand psychic wars..."
</pre>
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