Texas Instruments TI-36X Pro Engineering/Scientific Calculator

Excellent product. All what is needed for students. Would highly advise for university student. Made to survive for years.

I am a 3rd-year Engineering student, and this calculator has become my goto calculator for exams. I own at least 7 or 8 scientific calculators (lost count now), and 3 graphing calculators: these include the HP 50G Graphing calculator, the Sharp EL-516 and I have also used the Casio 115/991ES in the past (same calculator, just different branding between the US and Canada). The Sharp and Casio calculators are the most direct comparisons, while graphing calculators are obviously usually seen in a separate league. I won't compare this to TI's other scientific calculators, because this is simply the most powerful scientific calculator that TI makes. PROS compared to Sharp/Casio's most advanced scientific calculators: 1) Multiline display, and the interface actually uses the multi-lines. If you look at the Casios and Sharps, they use the mult-lines for displaying fractions and the last answer, but never display more than the last answer. In comparison, this TI-36X Pro uses all four lines, so that the last three answers/equations can all be displayed. It's much more like a graphing calculator in this respect. 2) One single mode for all functions; no need to switch between complex mode, normal mode, polynomial mode etc., like the Sharp and Casios do. It's merely for historic reasons that the Casios and Sharps still do this, and it makes so much more sense to have everything done in one mode (like a graphing calculator). 3) Solid, tactile buttons that have a slight "click" when you push them. I really like this, because I don't even need to be looking at the keys to know whether my keypress has registered or not. I find with the Casios and Sharps (particularly the Sharps) that they have keys that are really easily depressed, and don't give you great feedback on whether they've been clicked. 4) Really, really good interface. If you have ever used a graphing calculator from TI, you will feel right at home. The matrix equations, polynomial solver and and linear equation solver all have graphing calculator-like input, which should be both very familiar to many users, as well as intuitive for those new to TI UI design. For example, the polynomial solver is like a computer wizard, taking you through the steps for entering the coefficients of your equation. Really easy to use. 5) Cycling through functions with a single button is pretty innovative, and I think faster than using the 2nd function or (even worse) relying on entering another mode or menu. For example, in order to access ASIN, you just hit the SIN/ASIN button twice to cycle to ASIN. It's really easy and doesn't require you to use two separate buttons. 6) Really good definite integration and derivation. It works really well, and is faster than my Sharp (I performed a side-by-side comparison multiple times for speed). CONS 1) The intuitive interface comes at the expense of a few more button clicks in a few situations. For example, the polynomial solver is dummy-proof for entering your coefficients, but I generally feel that the Casio and Sharp calculators can accomplish the same thing with 1-2 less clicks occasionally. 2) Variables (other than 'x') are difficult to access. The variables are all stored under one button, which you cycle through. 'x' is easy to access since it is the first variable, but to access 'z', you need three button clicks. To access 'b' requires 6 button clicks. I would have preferred an alpha key for access keyboard variables, or a menu with number shortcuts. 3) The silver buttons and silver rocker colour are poor. I know that many other reviews have complained about this too, and it is a bit annoying. It definitely doesn't make the calculator unusable or anything, but they are a bit hard to read, and I personally also feel that they look out-of-place on a calculator that otherwise has rather dull (and more professional) colours. 4) This is a personal pet peeve, but above the "enter" button on the button-right, the TI-36X Pro has a Decimal/Fraction conversion button instead of the "multiplication" operator button; instead, the operator buttons have all been shifted up by one. TI has many other calculators, and most of them have the operator buttons right above the Enter key... which makes sense to me, since they are frequently used. I would have preferred to have the Decimal/Fraction conversion button above the operator keys, to make this keyboard more standard in comparison to other TI and HP calculator layouts. I sometimes hit the conversion key instead of the "addition" operator key as I am used to from other calculators (as a side-note, TI and HP prefer the single-column 1x4 layout of operator keys, whereas Casio and Sharp prefer the 2x2 layout of operator keys. You can easily adjust to either, although I personally prefer the TI/HP layout, as it's easier to access single-handed I think). PROS to graphing calculators What really pushes this calculator over-the-edge for me is that it feels like a graphing calculator in many respects; the interface is intuitive, the line display maximizes all your command history... and it does this while focussing on the main features you might need, such as matrix calculations or solving polynomial expressions. Obviously this can't do graphing, since it isn't a graphing calculator, but it does have a "function table" where you can enter a function and it automatically gives you the y values for an interval of x. That allows you to quickly plot a function's general curve on paper using the provided xy points. Very useful, and for this I have been able to stop needing a graphing calculator. Not only are graphing calculators not allowed on many exams, but some of the more advanced functions on graphing calculators (ie. matrixes) actually require fewer button presses to do on the TI-36X Pro. And I'm tired of changing batteries on a graphing calculator. In other words, I can actually accomplish stuff faster and more reliably on the TI-36X Pro. Honestly, this is a fabulous calculator. The Casio and Sharp calculators have been around far longer, so that's why you may hear some older users advocating for them, but the TI-36X Pro embraces a more intuitive UI with single-mode operation, and packs a few graphing calculator features which cover 99% of everything I do on a calculator in Engineering. I highly recommend this calculator for anyone in need of the most powerful scientific calculator on the market, or a graphing calculator user who finds that they don't need all that functionality and just want something a bit lighter to carry with them.

Elle fait très bien le boulot

Esta es la primera calculadora de Texas Instruments que pruebo después de toda la vida utilizar Casio y tenía algo de miedo de que no me fuera a acostumbrar a la distribución de las teclas o funciones pero la verdad fue una transición muy sencilla y estoy mucho más a gusto con ella. Este modelo es perfecto desde prepa hasta universidad, resuelve ecuaciones, derivadas, integrales, matrices y cálculos estadísticos, es muy completa, equivalente a una 991 de Casio. Comparación Casio Vs TI Ventajas • Historial, tanto resultados como operaciones que se guarda incluso después de apagarla, esto es la cosa más útil que he visto para problemas en los que tienes que hacer varios pasos, es muy cómodo tenerlos anotados en la misma calcu y volver a escribirlos con una tecla, para mí esto fue lo más decisivo para probarla • Teclas muy intuitivas: la distribución se ve rara al inicio pero sólo es agarrarle, por ejemplo la tecla que tiene Pi le das una vez y poner Pi, otra vez y es e, una vez más y es i, se me hace más rápido y menos complicado que el shift + tecla de las Casio. Contras: • El menos no funciona como signo negativo, son 2 teclas diferentes, al inicio se te puede ir y que no salga una operación por lo mismo • Si quieres notación científica tienes que ponerlo en la configuración, no hay una opción intermedia de que a partir de tantos decimales se ponga en automático, entonces me ha pasado algunas operaciones que el resultado es por ejemplo 1.6393627x10^-8 y si no activo notación científica me lo muestra como 0.000000001, entonces esto es un poquito molesto, pero es rápido cambiar la configuración y ya que la operación se guarda en el historial no es algo tan malo.

There are some great reviews for this product, but I have seen the lack of mention of one outstanding thing about this calculator. I haven't owned many calculators, but I have used a Ti84 Plus and a Ti84 Plus CE for many years through high-school and college. Albeit this calculator is not a graphing calculator it performs very well and meets my expectations for engineering courses. In fact something stands out. This calculator by default does EXACT math! One thing I have never encountered (and long stopped expecting) was putting the square root of 8 in a calculator and getting back a simplified radical (2) X (the square root of 2). The TI Graphing calculators will always give, an irrational number (2.828427.....) If you want to get a simplified exact answer, you better know how to program or download from the internet an app for it. With the TI-36X Pro, you put it in and it churns out your simplified radical (even rationalizing the denominator of a fraction), every time, not only this, it does the same with pi, opting to display the pi symbol with the most simplified fractional form of your answer. Even if you don't want an exact answer, there is an operator key that will give you the decimal approximation if you desire. This would have been very convenient in classes I took, such as Calculus 2 and 3. Where during a test or on homework, you are often left with very long strings of numbers you have to use add/subtract - multiply/divide. Most teachers want you to give an exact answer so you can't just throw it all into a Graphing calculator, it will give you an approximated number. The TI-36X Pro, will take all of this math and give you a perfectly simplified and exact answer. A $30 dollar calculator capable of something my $150 dollar calculators don't do.

Good