TI-89 Graphing Calculator Review

Both the TI-89 and the TI-89 Titanium are graphing calculators that were developed and marketed by Texas Intruments (TI). The reason why these are better than other graphing calculators is because they come equipped with a very easy to use computer algebra system (CAS) which gives you the ability to manipulate algebraic expressions. That means that equations that you enter into the TI-89 and TI-89 Titanium can be solved in terms of variables, a much more extensive form than the purely numerical result that you get from the TI-83 and the TI-84.

The TI-89 is also one of the few calculators that are allowed on the SAT, SAT Subject Tests, and the AP Calculus, AP Chemistry, AP Physics, and AP Statistics exams. The calculator, is however, barred from the ACT, the PLAN, and some general classroom activity. Some of the other models of calculators that contain QWERTY keyboards which are considered tiny computers, rather than calculators. Don't get me wrong, though, the TI-89 series is a very powerful device that includes a variety of functions never seen before.

The TI-89 and the TI-89 Titanium run on the Motorola 68000 32-bit microprocessor which generally operates at a pace of 10 - 16 MHz. While the device runs on a ram of 256 kb, 190 kb of that is left to the user to do whatever they want with. The calculator also has a 2 MB flash memory which, when combined with the RAM, allow the user to store expressions, variables, programs, tables, text files, lists, and all sorts of other data in the device.

Thousands of programs for not only math and science, but also for entertainment, have been released since the TI-89 series' conception in 1998. You can play Tetris, Minesweeper, and other classic games on your TI-89 calculator. You can also play chess, a Zx Spectrum emulator, and even Link's Awakening.

The TI-89 is programmed, and can be reprogrammed, in a languaged known as TI-BASIC, the BASIC equivalent for calculators. Two software kits for the programming language called C are available for purchase, one is a TI Flash Studio, which is the standard kit for service development and the other is called TIGCC, which is a third party SDK based on the language, GCC.

There are actually four separate versions of the TI-89, which are usually referred to as HW1, HW2, HW3, and HW4. You can find out which hardware version you have by typing in F1 and then A. Older calculators may not display information about the hardware version unless its HW2 or newer. Texas Instruments doesn't really tell us exactly what the differences are in each version but we know that the original TI-89 runs on HW1 and HW2, while the TI-89 Titanium run on HW3 and HW4.