First post! (Yes, I kind of cheated).

I actually got my calculator as a gift in 8th grade, well before I was required to have it, but I know a lot of people (probably most people I know) who bought their calculators only because they were required to. I'm curious to see if people who really love doing stuff with their calculators first got them because they were required to.

I bought my Ti 83+ in 7th grade, because it was "highly recommended" for the class. And now I log o nto TiCalc almost daily :)

>I'm curious to see if people who really love doing stuff with their calculators first got them because they were required to.

I'd fit into that category. I needed a calc for math in 8th grade, and it was around Christmas, so my parents got me an 86. I started writing assembly programs as soon as I found out how and still haven't stopped!

same goes for me, but im still in 8th grade

Uh oh... Did I just see a "first post"? ;)

Delete, delete! (I've had it happen to me...it's only fair...)

I had to poke fun at it just once...I won't do it again (until I forget that I wrote this).

yea, i got my ti-83P in 6th grade for middle school, but then i got a v200 for it programming cababilities

Yay, I got my 83+ and 89 T when I entered algebra and calculus, and I won an 84+, 84+SE, and Voyage 200 from math competitions.

i think nearly everybody bought their first TI because a requirement, then grew to love them and bought an upgrade because they wanted to.

at least thats wat i did (from 83+ to 84+se)

I got my first regular Ti-83+ by trading some pokemon cards...way back in 6th grade... wow that was a long time ago... I got my Ti-89 at first solely for gaming because i saw all the cool games on Ticalc, but then I realized that it actually helps alot with math... lol, and well i got my others, in various ways, I believe I had a previous post outlining how i got all 9 of my calculators... or was it 10? I've lost track.

I GET THE MINE ONE, INSTEAD OF A PS2, AND LET ME TELL YA THAT THERES NO REGRET IF I HAD ANOTHER CHANCE TO CHOOSE ONCE AGAIN I WON'T HESITATE TO GET MY TI-83+

I DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHY ALL CAPS. PLEASE LOWERCASE. NEXT TIME.

I'm being so mean....

No you're not, that's natural.

I got my 83+ for a class (not required), then spent a ton of my savings getting an 89Ti for fun.

Um, are you having problems with your Caps Lock key?

Wouldn't matter. Pressing shift while caps lock is on makes letters lowercase.

PUNCTUATION AND NO SHOUTING AND PROPER GRAMMAR ARE NICE.

stfu n00b.

STOP BEING SO HYPOCRITICAL.

CAPITALS ARE FUN!!!!
YAHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

I do have a life, I just was board. I had almost no homework for once!

You're a piece of a dead tree cut up? Or did you mean "bored?"

The second. I don't check my spelling usually.

The spelling was fine... :)

Oh come now... I think that he'd just really trying to express is feelings for the general wellfare of dead trees!

wait, WHAT??

If I interpret your acronym properly, then I believe you violated the intent of Ticalc's posting rules #3 and #5.

Wow, take your medications and try saying that again.

Ya, really.

STOP SHOUTING, YOU'RE HURTING MY EARS!

That's odd... I didn't know there was any sound here. All caps kind of hurts your eyes though.

Maybe if you're blind and use one of those programs that reads the contents of the screen...

ya, but i dont know how a blind man could be here - and find the caps - and programs a calculator whilst being blind - and has any interest in calculators. can anyone explain this to me???????????????

A calculator with Brail keys that says what you're typing?

Does TI make one of those?
It would also have to say what's on the screen or else it would be useless. (I can just imagine it: um, ok, there's this weird curved line thing graphed on the screen that look across between a sine wave and a demented snake. It would be really hard to play games on it.) I wonder if there are any brail symbols for the weird symbols you get in math (theta for example).

if there were braille in Greek, then there would be a theta. but you could just spell it out, couldn't you? of course, the graphs would still be an issue... what if you assigned a musical pitch to each pixel of the screen, and the calculator would play the pitches of all of the pixels that were on/black? i think that would work if you had 2 pitches for each pixel, like coordinates.

That has to be the dumbest comment posted here. Who would honestly choose a calculator over a PS2?

Obviously only the hardcore calculator enthusiasts :-)...

I would.

The PSP outperforms TI's most advanced calculator. PSP will always win when pitted against a calculator. I wouldn't choose a weaker machine.

Not my specially modified calc. 3.4Ghz processor, 60 Gig Ipod hardrive, 2 Gigs of ram, 15" touch screen monitor that you can attach to the USB port, wireless internet, and 7.1 surround sound system.

LOL!!! But seriously, I'd rather have something more hackable like a calc, where it's fun trying to push the limits of what it can do (and it's less expensive, so not as much of a loss if I screw something up trying to overclock it or add a new processor or something).

If you want something less expensive, try a GBA. Cheaper than an 83+ and more advanced than a 68k. There are also plenty of GBA emulators out there in case you make a GBA program and screw up.

I got a TI-86 in 6th? 7th? (not sure) grade just for fun. I knew I would need a graphing calculator later, but they never required a TI-86 (& the TI-83+-only-using teachers did not like my TI-86 all that much). I got a TI-92+ for Christmas 2 years ago, but it was just because I wanted it (for doing math, though I do occasionally play Tetris on it, & I once played all the way through Oblivion). My TI-83+ came from someone else who thought it was dead. My TI-83 Viewscreen came from a teacher, but it unfortunately really is dead. The rest all came from eBay mainly just for fun (though I used my TI-80 on the SAT test).

I read your bio... you are a good man. Me too (except for the programing. I am not that good yet :) )

*also read your bio because of the above comment*

Whoa! You can program a VCR! That is truely incredible. The last time I tried, it recorded a half an hour of "This old house" (I was going for "Modern Marvels").

Go TI-80 BASIC!

yay

AH YES, The holy, sin-less TI-80

I got a 84+ last year because I had to have one for my math class. Now I program in BASIC during geometry class because I have nothing better to do and do a bit of assembly programing at home. I think most people like me didn't know what they were missing until they were requried to get a graphing calculator.

Yeah, it seems like that's how most of us got here.

Precisely.

That was 6 posts all in the same day....

was?

Those were. If you really care that much.

amen.

My parents got my 83+SE in 8th grade for Algebra 2, becuase a graphing calculator was required, and I wanted extra memory for games (and the apps were nice). I started writing BASIC programs later in the class because a few of my classmates were writing BASIC programs, and I wanted tests to be easier.
Earlier this year, I met people on math team who all had Voyages, and I started noticing the limitations of my 83 (no solve function...). My dad loaned me his 92 because he never uses it anyway, but it couldn't support the coding I wanted to do, so for Christmas my grandparents got me a Vogage.