19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
Innovative, powerful, handy, and smart
I recently got this exact calculator as I started up my Electronics college course. It's been nothing but amazing for me. Viewing multiple problems and answers at a time is good, but browsing your entire history with the arrow pad is great.
It intuitive too. While brosing through my previous entries, I found a few different answers that I wanted to plug in...
36 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
Fails in comparison to other scientific non-graphing calculators
Update: I wanted to add that the Casio FX-115ES is a SCIENTIFIC AND NON-GRAPHING CALCULATOR (same class as the TI-30XS MultiView) that handles everything the TI-30XS Multiview fails to cover such as integrals, derivatives, complex numbers, phasors, different log bases AND matrices.
I had been researching calculators for use on standardized exams now that many...
This review is from: TI-30XS Multiview Calculator (Electronics)
I recently got this exact calculator as I started up my Electronics college course. It's been nothing but amazing for me. Viewing multiple problems and answers at a time is good, but browsing your entire history with the arrow pad is great.
It intuitive too. While brosing through my previous entries, I found a few different answers that I wanted to plug in together and get the sum. I browsed my way up to one, and on a guess, hit ENTER. It placed that number in my new problem at the bottom. Okay, lets see if it will do it again... I hit PLUS, then browsed up and got another old answer. It not only remembered what I'd input so far on the new problem, but put my next selection exactly where I hoped! All this is probably in the manual, but this is so well designed, there are many cases like this example where things just work out the way I think they should.
One negative on this calculator is the CLEAR button and the DELETE button. I'm glad they spaced them apart, but they put the CLEAR button where I would think they'd put DELETE. And vice versa. I've looked at other Texas Instrument calculators, and this seems to be the convention... maybe it's just me.
I appreciate their use of the button "x10^n" instead of the "EE" button. I had no idea what EE would be without finding it in the manual, but I knew right away what to expect when I hit x10^n.
Lastly, this calculator's design and wording have been a great stepping stone for me, to get past the gap between dinky little arithmatic calculators and heavy-duty graphing calculators.
Highly recommended. Incredible buy.
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This review is from: TI-30XS Multiview Calculator (Electronics)
Update: I wanted to add that the Casio FX-115ES is a SCIENTIFIC AND NON-GRAPHING CALCULATOR (same class as the TI-30XS MultiView) that handles everything the TI-30XS Multiview fails to cover such as integrals, derivatives, complex numbers, phasors, different log bases AND matrices.
I had been researching calculators for use on standardized exams now that many of the graphing calculators are banned.
The HP 33/35 calculators are too expensive and too "antiquated" to be of any use to me. I liked the TI-30XS MultiView because of the large display, but I later found out the 30XS MV lacked many features found on the Casio FX-115ES scientific non-graphing calculator and even other TI graphing calculators. After evaluating the FX-115ES scientific non-graphing calculator and TI-30XS MV, I came to the conclusion that the FX-115ES scientific non-graphing calculator is by FAR the superior calculator.
The TI-30XS MV is too basic of a calculator. I'd recommend it for elementary school use, perhaps even for algebra. For example it is unable to evaluate integrals or differentials and there is no direct option to select different logarithm bases using the 30XS (every second counts on a timed exam and I'd rather buy a scientific non-graphing calculator that handles different logarithmic bases directly). The 30XS also lacks the ability to process matrices which the Casio FX-115ES scientific non-graphing calculator does process. The 30XS does not recognize the imaginary domain, hence the lack of "i" or "j" (try to do square root of -1). This makes the 30XS useless for engineers that have to deal with the imaginary domain for vectors, polar math, etc... especially on timed exams. That reminds me, the 30XS cannot handle phasor angles intuitively. There's a whole menu system for angles that I have yet to figure out. One would imagine the creator of the TI-8x graphing calculators would make a half-way decent scientific calculator, but instead we end up with a children's calculator. In case you haven't noticed, the Casio FX-115ES scientific non-graphing calculator is clearly superior and performs many functions that are omitted on the TI-30XS.
Pros: Affordable scientific calculator, dual-power supply (Solar and battery), TI interface (intuitive for existing TI users), nice display
Cons: Funky hard-cover (doesn't slide in place like all other TI calculators), lack of a large number of important features. There's also a limit to how many characters or instructions you can put into a single line. I was adding up my grocery list and it ran out of memory.
Bottom line: I recommend looking at the Casio FX-115ES scientific non-graphing calculator instead of the TI-30XS MultiView, although the TI-30XS MV isn't physically a bad calculator. I just felt it was a child's toy compared to the Casio FX-115ES scientific non-graphing calculator.
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This review is from: TI-30XS Multiview Calculator (Electronics)
I really love this calculator. The screen is larger than normal-sized scientific calculators and Texas Instruments is a very good brand. It definitely allows me to do my work much faster, which is especially helpful on tests.
PROS:
Ability to see other variations of the same answer
Solar and battery powered
Worked out of the pkg, no batteries needed
Nice size buttons for big thumbs
Comes with a small manual that shows you some basics
Ability to see previous calculations (up to 14, I think)
Lightweight
Seems very durable, come with a cover
"Mathprint" view of inputted calculations [LOVE THIS!]
Contrast control of screen
CONS:
No other color options offered, only blue
A little big, about 6.5" tall and 3.5" wide
It is definitely a bargain at the price being offered if you do not need graphing capabilities! I have been very pleased.
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This review is from: TI-30XS Multiview Calculator (Electronics)
I picked this up halfway through the semester of a University level Descriptive Chemistry course. More intuitive than other TI calcs. I wish I had this 2 months ago, I can arrange problems as they appear on my paper. Wrong answers due to forgotten parenthesis, are one less thing to worry about.
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This review is from: TI-30XS Multiview Calculator (Electronics)
I gave my sister my TI-84 graphing calculator after switching out of college engineering...I had been using a TI-84 for three years and the TI-30XS has exactly the same feel as a graphing calculator. The font is the same and very readable and it has almost every function of the TI-84 including sin, cos, tan, e^x, ln, etc. This $14 calculator even has some features the TI84 lacks--MultiView the most useful. On the TI-84, an expression might appear as (2-3x^2)/(4-1/(2x)), but this bargain calculator formats it like you'd write in on paper, exponents, fractions and all.
The calculator has probability functions, including nCr, factorial!, and log/ln. It can do roots bigger than 2 without having to write ^(1/3) for the third root for example--it writes a small three, and puts the number/expression UNDER THE ROOT LINE, which is extremely helpful. You can also input an expression like y=sqrt(x+2) and the calculator outputs a table with coordinates, starting with x=1,2,3, etc. You can change the "steps" between x-values, as well as just put in any x-value and see the corresponding y-value. This feature is very powerful and quite useful.
Just a word of caution: the T1-34 (a similar product) is more expensive, uglier, and has a horrendous button layout--for example, to compute the sine, cosine or tangent you must go into the trig menu, scroll to the function you want (inverse tangent is sixth on the list) then press enter, then type in the angle. On the TI-30XS you press sin/cos/tan, or for the inverse trig functions, 2nd and sin/cos/tan, just like on the TI-84. The natural log is also hidden like that.
In summary this TI-30XS has almost every feature of the TI-84 (except graphing) and is an incredible bargain.
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This review is from: TI-30XS Multiview Calculator (Electronics)
My daughter's college chemistry class banned the graphing calculators (TI-83+) so students couldn't cheat. We had to purchase another calculator, however, and this one was perfect. My daughter learned to use it very quickly and loved it. Recommend.
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This review is from: TI-30XS Multiview Calculator (Electronics)
I love this calculator... you can view multiple lines at once and you can scroll up and see a lot of previous history and select previous answers which is great if you're doing multiple equations. This calculator is perfect for use in my chemistry classes where they do not allow graphing calculators but i still want a very functional calculator.
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This review is from: TI-30XS Multiview Calculator (Electronics)
I absolutely love this calculator. I have the TI-84 plus and my teacher recommended this cheap-o calc for a college course. I bought it just to see since it was so inexpensive. OMG I LOVE IT!!!!!! It does everything but graph and it processes equations faster and easier than the big expensive calcs. I would recommend this anyone taking college algebra, or anything with fractions, etc.
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This review is from: TI-30XS Multiview Calculator (Electronics)
Having taught math in urban school setting for over 5 years where funding and student buying power is limited, I've recently discovered this calculator as a cheaper alternative. Integrated math textbooks use graphing calculators extensively. The problems rely on students being able to generate tables, statistics and graphs quickly on the calculator. While the 30XS can not do graphs it can do tables (which is rare in calculators, particularly under $20) from which students can plot their own graphs. The statistics features are also fantastic featuring the mean, standard deviation,5 number summary and more. While this calculator is not as feature loaded as a TI-84, its has most of the features my High School students needs. As a bonus its mostly solar powered so I don't need to buy AAA batteries!
I have been a TI sales person in my classroom telling students if they can not afford a graphing calculator ($80 and up) this is a good choice. I do wish TI had some sort of teaching tool like TI-Smartview for this calculator, however its features are not so dissimilar to a TI-84 which makes teaching features easier. If you are fortunate enough to have a document camera, problem solved.
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This review is from: TI-30XS Multiview Calculator (Electronics)
After using CAS calculators for 10 years (hp48g,hp50g,ti92p), I couldn't use any scientific calculator, they were too simplistic (even if they had a lot of features) - UNTIL THIS CALCULATOR CAME ALONG. The calculation history is implemented just like on ti92plus. You need a number from the previous calculations? Just "up" to it, and paste it into your new calculation you're typing. And you can do this as many times as needed. Just grab the numbers from previous calculations and assemble new calculations. This works REALLY well for any involved problems (chemistry, physics, etc.)
Now here come the gripes. The scientific notation is HORRIBLY implemented. Instead of "E" button to represent "x10^", it has an actual "x10^" button, which types "x10^" for you (you can do it without the button, by typing X 1 0 ^). So what's the problem?
Here's an example: what's 8Mega/3kilo?. On most scientific calculator this would look like this "8e6/3e3". On the ti30, however, this has to look like this "8x10^6/(3x10^3)". Maybe it's more proper, but it's a lot messier, and you also MUST use parenthesis for the denominator (in order to make sure that the exponents are kept in the denominator as well), or you can use fractions (which are just as many keystrokes). The only way to make sure that the exponent part stays with the value is to put parenthesis around each scientific value. What I end up doing when doing calculations with any scientific notation is putting parenthesis around EVERY number. It's dumb.
I'm not sure why TI did this. It looks much more cumbersome and much more difficult to interpret and review. "8e6/3e3" is right to the point, but TI engineers thought that "8x10^6/(3x10^3)" is much clearer.
To compare it to other calculators
I still like this calculator much more than the casio es115 or sharp w516. They're all great calculators though (that have more features, like numeric integration, instant differentials, matricies and imaginary - I argue against those features in scientific calculators, because they're so poorly implemented in comparison to how they're implemented on true CAS calculators like HP50g or tiVoyage). HP35 (hp33 is very similar) is a very specialized machine, I'd only recommend it to people that are used to HP machines, and need programming capability; to most other normal people it's as unintuitive as it gets (even RPN implementation is pretty strange in comparison to HP-28S,48,50 series).
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