There are few products we own that do not have an integrated circuit (IC) within. Computers, televisions, video games, telephones are the obvious one’s. Even my car has IC to control its ignition and coordinate its various operations. It wasn't always this way. In the 1960's IC makers actually had trouble getting companies to use their products. The fact that integrated circuits really were just recently invented and were unproven technology had a lot to do with it. IC's very high cost versus the much cheaper and known-reliable discrete components like transistors, diodes, and resistors were another key factor.
In this era, when integrated circuit technology would take off, but Texas Instruments wasn't satisfied with waiting around. In 1965 Texas Instrument engineering team were on a project that was the turning point for electronic calculators. TI Lab members began work on a hand-held calculator that could add, subtract, multiply, and divide, yet still fit in the palm of your hand.
In 1972, TI-2500 also called “DataMath” was the first commercial calculator brought in to the market by Texas Instruments.
Next revolutionary step in the calculator history was SR-10 which was capable of performing reciprocals, squares and square roots more quickly and more accurately than classical slide rules calculators. Many other calculators came in the same timeline of 1970’s like SR-50, SR-52, SR-5040 and TI kept their promise of keeping up with the demanding technology changes. TI-59 was the first of the series of programmable calculators.
In 1987, TI-12 also called Math Explorer was introduced. The first TI calculator designed with the help of teachers. Especially for elementary and middle-school classroom use, the Math Explorer combines the utility of a four-function calculator with powerful fraction functionality.
Ti-68 was developed as an advanced scientific calculator for college students and professionals in math, science and engineering. It performs 254 functions including 40 complex-number functions; solves up to five simultaneous equations; calculates the real and complex roots of quadratic, cubic and quadratic equations. It was very powerful and easy-to-use calculator of late 1980’s.
In 1990, Ti – 81 was launched as first graphing calculator. It made all the functions easier to explore and conceptualize.
In this decade Texas Instrument launched many other revolutionary calculators.
· TI-82 was like the TI-81 but with network connections.
· TI-83 had all the features of TI-82 with the additional features of stats analysis procedures. TI-83 included many features, including function graphing, polar/parametric graphing modes, statistics, trigonometric, and algebraic functions. The TI-83 was the first calculator in the TI series to have built in assembly language support.
· In 1992, TI-85 was launched as second graphing calculator. The TI-85 was significantly more powerful than the TI-81, as it was designed as a calculator primarily for use in engineering and calculus courses.
· TI-86 was launched in 1997 and can be thought of as the tier among various Texas Instruments calculators directly above the TI-83 and TI-84 line. In addition to having a larger screen than the TI-83, the TI-86 also allowed the user to type in lower case and Greek letters and features five softkeys, which improved menu navigation and can be programmed by the user for quick access to common operations such as decimal-to-fraction conversion. The calculator also handles vectors, matrices and complex numbers better than the TI-83.
· TI replaced the TI-83 with the TI-83 Plus calculator in 1999, which included Flash ROM, enabling the device's operating system to be updated if needed, or for large new Flash Applications to be stored, accessible through a new Apps key. The Flash ROM can also be used to store user programs and data.
· In 2001 the TI-83 Plus Silver Edition was released, which featured approximately nine times the available Flash ROM and over twice the processing speed (15 MHz) of a standard TI-83 Plus.
· The TI-84 Plus series was introduced in April 2004 as a further update to the TI-83 series. Despite the new appearance, they are not vastly superior to the TI-83 Plus series. The main improvements of the TI-84 Edition were a fancier case, new built in functions, more speed and memory over the TI-83, a built-in clock, and built-in USB port connectivity. The TI-84 Plus has 3 times the memory of the TI-83 Plus, and the TI-84 Plus Silver Edition has 9 times the memory of the TI-83 Plus.
· TI-92 came with the capability of computer algebra based on computer geometry.
These new calculators were welcomed by students and teachers. They became the essential part of modern studies.
Now it was the time for a special calculator and indeed it was the time for TI-89. The TI-89 graphing calculators developed by Texas Instruments are differentiated from other graphing calculators by their powerful computer algebra system, which allows symbolic manipulation of algebraic expressions. For example, equations can be solved in terms of variables; most other calculators can only give a numeric result. TI-89 with Advanced Mathematics Software is a portable symbolic, numeric, and graphing solution for advanced mathematics and engineering coursework. TI-89 has animation, complex numbers, 3D diagrams with rotating viewpoint, limits and exact mode sequences. Enhanced features like upgrade of software and easy connectivity with computers and other calculators made this machine a revolution in the market.
TI-89 possesses a 160×100 pixel resolution LCD screen with advanced flash memory. There is a video buffer that stores all of the information that should be displayed on the screen, and every time the screen is refreshed the calculator accesses this buffer and flushes it to the display.
These days’ calculators have become a major part of study curriculum. It is a requirement and necessity at the same time. The calculator makers should make more user friendly calculators. Texas Instruments is leading the way through its revolutionary steps but still there are lots of drawbacks that need attention. The Ti-89 calculator, for example, is an extraordinary calculator with the power of graphing, animation, computer algebra system (CAS), partial fraction decomposition, easy connectivity and many other features but this powerful machine is not easy to use. If calculator makers pay attention to this particular aspect of their products then these machines will do wonders in the time to come.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Manual response to the problems with Ti-89
TI-89 is an amazing calculator. With TI-89, you can enter any formula you want and solve for any variable in the formula without rewriting the formula for each variable. That is even more powerful than a spreadsheet. I find this very helpful as I can solve for any variable at anytime. It provide us with basic graphing, differential graphing, sequence graphing, 3D graphing, data/matrix editor, statistics and data plots, numeric solver, split screen, standard zoom features, connectivity with computers and calculators. The CBL 2 (calculator based laboratory) and CBR (calculator based ranger) systems offers static and real world data collection. Using Ti-presenter video adapter we can connect the Ti – 89 to video display/recording devices, such as TVs, VCRs, video cameras, and computer projectors. I think it is one of the most powerful calculator ever built.
All this seems very neat and clean but there is one catch that makes these amazing features little foggy, “The use of these applications”. Yes, it is indeed true we can do wonders with this calculator but we have to learn the use of this special machine which is like climbing a mountain covered with snow. I was very astonished by the work of engineers who have designed this machine. It is really a master piece but the work they have done on manual, which will help all those will use it, is surprisingly disappointing. The problems are handled in this manual have only complicated the use of Ti-89.
The first problem with this calculator, that I faced, was solving algebraic equations. When I looked into the manual in order to find a solution to my problem I was astonished by work of manual writers. Everything in that manual looked like Arabic to me. I was looking for the solution and I ended up in another problem. This manual has been written in a way expecting that you will start reading from the start and then move forward. Incase you have to find a solution to a particular problem you are asking for trouble as it will be mentioning some things that it assumes that you already have read. In my case I have to go back and forth in the ion order to find solution for just a simple thing like solving an algebraic equation.
Secondly, I was not able to understand the multiple graph features on Ti-89. I was looking for some help in my manual and I was disappointed again as the manual was so elaborative in this particular area that I almost spent three hours just to figure out how to get a simple graph on my screen. But the problem was still persisting as I have spent three more hours to find out how to get the multiple graphs on the same screen.
Moreover there is answer to some problems in the manual but not a single word on how to deal with error messages. I was solving the matrix using the Ti-89 but it was giving me some weird errors. I tried consulting the manual but my experience was not so good again as there was nothing at all in the manual handling the errors. This was really an upset as the error message is prompted by the calculator so there must be something which was wrong with my usage of calculator. The help for the error message is must for any manual.
In the end, I will like to say that TI-89 is becoming the important ingredient of engineering and even non-engineering majors. If students start using this calculator from high school or starting of the college, they will be master till they become sophomore or junior year students and it will help them. It will do all kind of calculation on the students will and save time during the exam. The popularity of this amzing instrumeny is increasing by every passing day and support system for this that is the manual and online help both are not that competitive at this time. This machine can do wonders if it is properly used as I have mentioned in my introduction.
All this seems very neat and clean but there is one catch that makes these amazing features little foggy, “The use of these applications”. Yes, it is indeed true we can do wonders with this calculator but we have to learn the use of this special machine which is like climbing a mountain covered with snow. I was very astonished by the work of engineers who have designed this machine. It is really a master piece but the work they have done on manual, which will help all those will use it, is surprisingly disappointing. The problems are handled in this manual have only complicated the use of Ti-89.
The first problem with this calculator, that I faced, was solving algebraic equations. When I looked into the manual in order to find a solution to my problem I was astonished by work of manual writers. Everything in that manual looked like Arabic to me. I was looking for the solution and I ended up in another problem. This manual has been written in a way expecting that you will start reading from the start and then move forward. Incase you have to find a solution to a particular problem you are asking for trouble as it will be mentioning some things that it assumes that you already have read. In my case I have to go back and forth in the ion order to find solution for just a simple thing like solving an algebraic equation.
Secondly, I was not able to understand the multiple graph features on Ti-89. I was looking for some help in my manual and I was disappointed again as the manual was so elaborative in this particular area that I almost spent three hours just to figure out how to get a simple graph on my screen. But the problem was still persisting as I have spent three more hours to find out how to get the multiple graphs on the same screen.
Moreover there is answer to some problems in the manual but not a single word on how to deal with error messages. I was solving the matrix using the Ti-89 but it was giving me some weird errors. I tried consulting the manual but my experience was not so good again as there was nothing at all in the manual handling the errors. This was really an upset as the error message is prompted by the calculator so there must be something which was wrong with my usage of calculator. The help for the error message is must for any manual.
In the end, I will like to say that TI-89 is becoming the important ingredient of engineering and even non-engineering majors. If students start using this calculator from high school or starting of the college, they will be master till they become sophomore or junior year students and it will help them. It will do all kind of calculation on the students will and save time during the exam. The popularity of this amzing instrumeny is increasing by every passing day and support system for this that is the manual and online help both are not that competitive at this time. This machine can do wonders if it is properly used as I have mentioned in my introduction.
Problems with Ti-89
Ti-89 is one of the most talked about calculator made by Texas Instruments. When I was told that we will be using it in our engineering classes I was really excited to get my hands on one of them. The multifunctional keys, support for various types of mathematical calculations, support for the graphics and many other key features were included in this wonderful machine. All my excitement did not last longer when I found out that this wonderful calculator was not user friendly. This calculator was designed thinking that some kind of pre requisite course will be taken before putting it into real use in a course where calculator was required. The multifunctional features which I was hoping to be very useful proved me wrong as it increased the complexity of the calculator so much that even after practice I was not able to use it properly in the examination. It cost me my grade and also made me doubtful about the usage of the calculator. Now every time I used it I needed to recheck my solutions to prevent the mistakes. This rechecking again cost me time which I might have efficiently utilized to do better in other sections of my exam.
I will try to make my point clear by giving this simple example that will focus on the usage of calculator and the design of the calculator. Ti-89 is really a powerful tool but the way it is designed is really making it difficult for the uses to utilize it completely to its potential.
The simplest of the things that a student would like to do using the calculator is to be able to solve algebraic equations and my experience with TI-89 is not worth remembering. I was taking my basic engineering course in which we were supposed to use TI-89 for solving mathematical equations. I picked my calculator for the first time and there was white light in the whole room as I tried to turn it on but the room soon became darker and darker as I was not able to find the turn on button. There was no visual contrast between the buttons to enable to recognize them at the very first look and if there was some that was not distinguishable. I finally turned it on and now I was confused looking at the screen and the only question in my mind was how I am going to solve the equation? It was the so called “home page” on the screen saying nothing but showing me a lot of icons. I was supposed to find the one that I required but how? Then I found out that there were few scroll keys to go up and down the items and for selection there is enter button. I was happy that I knew that much about the calculator now.
The real problem started now. I selected some icon on the screen and found out that it was not the one that was going to help me solve equation. That’s fine; but how to go back on the “home page” now? There was nothing on the screen that was telling me to get out from this crisis. I had to struggle a lot to find a way to get back to the main page. It was one tiny button on the leftmost corner in fourth row that had ‘HOME’ written on it. I pressed the home key. I was hoping the magic will work. But no there was still little twist remaining. I was supposed to press the diamond key on top of it before hitting the home key. This was just the primary tasks but my problem was still standing tall on me “how to solve the equation”? Anyhow I was back on main page now.
It was time for me to get some help. I tried using the solution manual but I guess manual writer seems more confused than me. The complications were piling up for me one by one. But after spending almost half an hour I figured out that if I press F2 key it will take me to a screen where I can write my equation and then probably get them solved. I thought this might be the end of my misery. I was finally at a place where I can get my answer. Just write the equation and get the answer. But still struggle was waiting for me. I typed the equation and got the answer but I was surprised to know that my answers were different from rest of the class. This was because of the fact that if you write an equation for example “3x + 6 = 10” then it will not take 3x as multiplication of 3 and the variable x instead you have to put 3 * x to get the correct answer. There was no such written on the manual.
Another problem with TI-89 that I faced was when I was solving a trigonometric problem. The problem required me to calculate cos (π) value. There are two modes to calculate trigonometric values; one is radian mode and other one is degree mode. Both modes give different results which was why I ended up spending hours solving a problem. We were given a problem in Calculus 1 class which included calculating the values for these trigonometric functions. Our whole class was getting two types of answers and that was how we found out about this unique mistake which we were liable to make during examination.
TI-89 is called as graphing calculator as well. It was the basic purpose behind the invention of TI-89. The problem is that when you plot more than one function graph together; it is very difficult to distinguish between them because of lack of color screen. When you draw two or more graphs it will show two or more lines intersecting at different places without any indication of which line belongs to which equation. If it had the option of choosing different colors for different lines then life would have been much comfortable.
It is indeed true that “All that glitters is not gold”.
I will try to make my point clear by giving this simple example that will focus on the usage of calculator and the design of the calculator. Ti-89 is really a powerful tool but the way it is designed is really making it difficult for the uses to utilize it completely to its potential.
The simplest of the things that a student would like to do using the calculator is to be able to solve algebraic equations and my experience with TI-89 is not worth remembering. I was taking my basic engineering course in which we were supposed to use TI-89 for solving mathematical equations. I picked my calculator for the first time and there was white light in the whole room as I tried to turn it on but the room soon became darker and darker as I was not able to find the turn on button. There was no visual contrast between the buttons to enable to recognize them at the very first look and if there was some that was not distinguishable. I finally turned it on and now I was confused looking at the screen and the only question in my mind was how I am going to solve the equation? It was the so called “home page” on the screen saying nothing but showing me a lot of icons. I was supposed to find the one that I required but how? Then I found out that there were few scroll keys to go up and down the items and for selection there is enter button. I was happy that I knew that much about the calculator now.
The real problem started now. I selected some icon on the screen and found out that it was not the one that was going to help me solve equation. That’s fine; but how to go back on the “home page” now? There was nothing on the screen that was telling me to get out from this crisis. I had to struggle a lot to find a way to get back to the main page. It was one tiny button on the leftmost corner in fourth row that had ‘HOME’ written on it. I pressed the home key. I was hoping the magic will work. But no there was still little twist remaining. I was supposed to press the diamond key on top of it before hitting the home key. This was just the primary tasks but my problem was still standing tall on me “how to solve the equation”? Anyhow I was back on main page now.
It was time for me to get some help. I tried using the solution manual but I guess manual writer seems more confused than me. The complications were piling up for me one by one. But after spending almost half an hour I figured out that if I press F2 key it will take me to a screen where I can write my equation and then probably get them solved. I thought this might be the end of my misery. I was finally at a place where I can get my answer. Just write the equation and get the answer. But still struggle was waiting for me. I typed the equation and got the answer but I was surprised to know that my answers were different from rest of the class. This was because of the fact that if you write an equation for example “3x + 6 = 10” then it will not take 3x as multiplication of 3 and the variable x instead you have to put 3 * x to get the correct answer. There was no such written on the manual.
Another problem with TI-89 that I faced was when I was solving a trigonometric problem. The problem required me to calculate cos (π) value. There are two modes to calculate trigonometric values; one is radian mode and other one is degree mode. Both modes give different results which was why I ended up spending hours solving a problem. We were given a problem in Calculus 1 class which included calculating the values for these trigonometric functions. Our whole class was getting two types of answers and that was how we found out about this unique mistake which we were liable to make during examination.
TI-89 is called as graphing calculator as well. It was the basic purpose behind the invention of TI-89. The problem is that when you plot more than one function graph together; it is very difficult to distinguish between them because of lack of color screen. When you draw two or more graphs it will show two or more lines intersecting at different places without any indication of which line belongs to which equation. If it had the option of choosing different colors for different lines then life would have been much comfortable.
It is indeed true that “All that glitters is not gold”.
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