Re: My first TI-(TI-89)
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Re: My first TI-(TI-89)
Mick Campbell writes:
> G'Day,
> Well, my ol' faithful casio that I have had since starting
> high school finally died and I found myself in the need of a new
> calculator. A bloke at work has an old HP that he feeds program tapes
> into and it does all this wonderful time saving engineering
> calculations, so I thought I would go out and invest in a decent
> calculator. I have heard all this good stuff about the TI-89 that I
> decided to get "the best". Don't get me wrong, I think it is great,
> but why are they so bloody complicated? I can't even make sense of
> the "bible" that it shipped with.
> Anyway, I suppose what I am asking, is anyone able to give me
> a "leg up" and get me started? Is there any good books about
> programming TI's for engineering? Is there a users group I could
> join? How would I know which programs I can download into my TI-89?
> I feel like I am not getting any use of all this "calculating power"
> at my finger tips and it is all operator error!
>
> Where do I start?
This really gets at the question of how steep the learning curve should be for
a calculator like the TI-89. Make it too steep and you will discourage new
users, make it too shallow and you will slow down those with more experience.
Actually, I think TI has set it obout right for the TI-89. The algebraic
computation is almost self-evident (enter x+x and you get 2x). The programming
is generic enough so that anyone with experience with a modern computing
language ought to be able to pick up on it pretty fast.
There are two questions for the new learner. First, what do I want the
calculator to do for me? Second, what _ought_ I want the calculator to do for
me? And, in both cases, how do I make the calculator do it? Most of the
initial frustration is in answering the first question, due to unfamiliarity
with the operating logic, etc. But once you catch on to the basic operations,
the built-in conveniences ought to start making more sense, and the user ought
to be able to "put two and two together" and move on.
The second question is the one that is not usually given enough attention, and
users often do not learn how to get the truly marvelous performance they should
out of their calculator. This is another source of frustration, with people
telling you how to do things in what seem like super-fancy ways when all you
want is a simple calculation. Partly because they have found these ways so neat
for their own work and want to share them, partly because the old ways are
really somewhat inefficient and _should_ be dropped. The manual is filled with
hints of things that you could do, if only you could figure out _why_ you would
want to do that. You have to allow time for this, that's all, and just maintain
an attitude that there are probably ways to "work smarter", and that you will
get to them by and by. I'm sure people on this list will be glad to provide
some startup advice...
RWW Taylor
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester NY 14623
>>>> The plural of mongoose begins with p. <<<<
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