Re: 86 vs. 92
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Re: 86 vs. 92
The TI-92 is one step into the future of what a calculator will be
expected to be, like its predecessor of 8 years or so ago, the TI-81.
Just as the TI-81 changed expectations of what your calculator
should do for you (provide a large-screen working area, with a
recallable, editable command; graph functions simply and
conveniently, with trace and zoom; work with named lists and
matrices; provide a simple but real programming language; etc.)
the TI-92 provides a whole new revolutionary set of capabilities
at your fingertips. The inequities resulting from having such
power to apply to a task that, without it, would be a fair challenge
of knowledge and mastery of technique is one reason why it is
difficult to provide sound instruction to a students with a mix
of levels of calculator, and why the TI-92 (at present) doesn't work
well in a classroom or testing situation. Just as the curriculum
has evolved to make good use of the standard graphing calculator
(good modern instruction in mathematics really _depends_ on the
kind of exploration you can do with graphing calculators) we will
see good use made of symbolic manipulation, geometry software,
etc. But we are not there yet. The best reason for getting a TI-92
today is for personal exploration and learning, and getting a taste
of the future. Also, I think the programming language (though it
isn't ideal) is a real hoot. Lots of power...
The TI-81 had its flaws, including built-in limitations -- the
designers obviously did not dream that people would want to use
lists and matrices to such an extent. Most of all, the TI-81 did
not _communicate_. Every bit of input to the calculator (data
and programs both) had to be passed in through the keyboard,
and all outputs had to be captured by _looking_ at the screen
(you couldn't even lay your calculator down onto a copy machine
very well). The 81 was a stalking-horse, really, and TI soon moved,
in two directions, to market more usable calculators, with greatly
improved features. The TI-85 provided a great deal of additional
old-fashioned computer power (eg multi-character variable names,
"soft" menus that could be programmed, etc) while the TI-82
provided a host of user conveniences (eg deep recall) and further
instructional features (especially the built-in table) requested
by customers (especially those in the education business). Both
of these calculators incorporated the great idea of the _link_,
which let users pass data conveniently between calculators
and (with the aid of software) to computer platforms for backup,
documentation, and off-line editing. These two models have been
upgraded in recent years (to the TI-83 and TI-86) in order to
incorporate new conveniences and to overcome limitations that
users found irksome. But they are still both coming from the same
general territory. The TI-92 breaks entirely new ground in many ways.
Once it has been through the stalking-horse phase itself we may see
a truly awesome calculational device from TI.
This may take some time. The educational community is still
swallowing the wash of changes that resulted from introduction of
the graphing calculator 8 years ago, and I have seen little evidence
of widespread followup of the implications posed by the availability of,
say, the power of the TI-92 to simplify and transform algebraic and trig
expressions. Until people begin feeling the pinch of not being able to
do what they _really_ want to do, and complaining about it, there is
going to be little incentive to go through a massive development and
marketing effort for a new version. If anything, the largest factor that
is likely to drive TI toward release of an upgrade of the TI-92 is the
inadequacy of the screen display -- the one thing that I curse about
every single time I pick up my "box".
There is also the question of competition. TI was not the first to
market a graphing calculator (I believe Casio was). They just did it
better and listened very carefully to their users, and acted on what
they heard. Of course Casio and Sharp are still out there with their
graphing calculators (HP is really playing in another city), but as far
as I know there are no plans from those quarters to market anything
resembling the TI-92. As one consequence, we are not likely to soon see
any price breaks for this technology; a natural plateau of $150-200 is
what we should expect to pay for this kind of functionality for a while.
But, that's also the kind of money you paid in the mid-70's for simple
four-function capability with one or two memories for storing single
numbers, which capability now goes for $5-10 at your local supermarket!
So, the answer is to use the 92 for "cutting edge" applications.
Explore with it, if this is what you enjoy doing. This is what everyone
will consider "normal" in a couple of years, and it will be cheap. But
we are not there yet. It is still going to be necessary (for a while) to
learn how to work within the limitations of the "graphing" calculator
model. The TI-83 and TI-86 are both fine machines, and have a long
useful life ahead of them. No-one is urging students in general to
learn how to use an old-fashioned "scientific" calculator, with a
single-number display, however (at least at the high-school/college
level). We have moved beyond that, I think, even though such
calculators are still being sold. Of course, every now and then you
can spot a slide rule on sale somewhere, too, and the idea of a slide
rule is still useful in certain applications (conversions, for example).
The past 30 years have witnessed an amazing transformation in the
area of computational technology. What will the next 30 years bring?
RWW Taylor
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester NY 14623
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