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Free Ti-89 Titanium Calculator to a good home

17 points by PStamatiou ↗ HN
I've been cleaning through some of my stuff/junk today, similar to that old PG essay about having too much stuff. Now I sit at my desk typing this with a mint condition Ti-89 Titanium calculator by my side. I've finished all the math courses for my degree so I haven't touched it in years.

I was going to sell it but I'd rather not go through the hassle of posting to CL and having to meetup with someone.

Tell me why this calculator would come in handy for you and I'll gladly send it to you, complete with manual. If you're overseas, I might ask for a bit of paypal $ to help with shipping.

32 comments

[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 105 ms ] thread
disavian
I'd be happy to take it off your hands. I've got a few more math classes to go, and the higher-level CS stuff. I don't know how much that requires an 89, but symbolic integration/differentiation never hurt anyone. AFAIK it would be useful for crypto stuff, which I've been thinking about getting into. (Andrew Guyton, 5th year CS @ GT)
JulianMontez
I'm in Pre-Cal AP at my high school, money's tight and I would love to accept your calculator. The ones they provide at school for free don't have good graphing utilities :/.

Anyway, thanks for the consideration, it's nice enough to see someone offer such thing for free. :D

Edit: Money's tight at my house, but indraneel24 sounds like he needs it more. Please exclude me from this for his benefit. Thanks!

indraneel24
Thanks man, that really means a lot to me. Its selfless things like this that make me really happy to be alive sometimes :]
JulianMontez
No problem! I hope things work out for the best in your road to going to MIT and getting a degree. :)
jasondenis
pstam! i'm starting my second year at UCLA, studying chem engineering. i have a couple more linear algebra courses and an upper div diffy eqn class to go. i currently have to go to the computer labs and pray there are computers with the right software available. with the TI I could get my work done in my appt and not have to pull allnighters in the computer lab.

I remember last summer going through your back to school lists before I left, and the only essential item I couldn't afford was the calculator. Take care man.

Oompa
I'm a out of state Georgia Tech student double majoring in CS and Math and don't have any calculator at this point.
aston
You should get a bonus for being conveniently close to Paul.
Oompa
I believe we're both from Texas too. Oh I guess I should mention I'm paying my way through college myself too.
indraneel24
I'm in Pre-Calc H in high school, an my father has been out of work fo a few months, so money is tight. So while everybody has fancy 84s and 89s, I'm stuck with a school issue, really old and slow TI-83. Also, I want to get a computer science/ business degree when I go I college in 2.5 years; both math intensive degrees. Oh and my dream school is MIT haha. So yup I'd love an 89 - besides, I've been reading pstam.com for two years now ;)
zacharye
Shoot me an email if the OP doesn't set you up. I'm pretty sure I can dig up a sturdy old 89 (I think I had another one as well, 85 maybe?) for you.
orib
Interesting; Many of my calculus classes -- university especially, but also high school -- didn't (don't) allow using a calculator at all on the tests. My university specifically mandates one model of calculator for all students. This model can't do symbolic manipulation/graphing and is not programmable at all. My high school had any sort of graphing calculator banned on tests.

I'm surprised that high schools are allowing students to use this sort of calculator (or for that matter, setting tests where it makes a difference what calculator you have.)

rms
In my high school, a TI-83 was the only graphic calculator allowed on tests, though it was never an issue because very few people had TI-89s.

The AP calculus test is split into a calculator section and a no calculator section, and it definitely helps to have a TI-89.

In college calculus we were only allowed to use a scientific calculator.

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fgimenez
you realize by doing this, hacker news will be doing yearly checkups on your grades to make sure their investment is performing well. We won't accept anything less than a top 10 school from US news reports on CS and Business. On the upside, now there's thousands of people who can help you get there.
PStamatiou
indraneel, what's your email address? or, you can email me at the addy in my profile.
PStamatiou
sending out the calculator to Indraneel this week!
wheels
As a funny sidenote -- I still hang onto my TI-89 as it's something that I can cary off with me to a location that's not my desk when I'm holed up with a pile of scientific papers and a spiral notebook. It doesn't have nearly the same distraction factor as a laptop. (The TI-85, on the other hand, could probably go. ;-) )
rbanffy
I learned to program on a TI-55... Upgraded then to a 59. Lots of fun.

Good times.

rms
My little brother is taking Precalc at a community college and a TI-89 and it's magical symbolic manipulation would probably help him get a B instead of a C.

If anyone has an extra used one for the right price I'd probably buy it for him.

PieSquared
Seeing this type of thread here warms my heart. It's really great to see this type of stuff.
ntba
As a financially challenged high school senior I would need one for my three math classes (Calc, Adv Functs, and Data Mgmt.) and physics in the same semester. Suffice it to say, it will help immensely. With university admissions coming up soon I will definitely use it for my future CS degree, so I can guarantee it a good and productive home.

Thanks.

travisjeffery
I'm majoring in Math and Computer Science at the University of Toronto. The only reason why I can go here is because I busted my ass off to get a scholarship. And a new TI-89 would really help. :)
maxklein
I don't need it, but I think you should send it to me all the same, just to send a message to all the kids that they really don't need a calculator to do any mathematical stuff. When I worked through my university, I could not afford a calculator, and I dreamed about owning an 89, because all my friends had one. Well, I didn't get one.

And as a result, I can do pretty complex math in my head, and I know how to triple check my calculations to make sure that they not only are correct, but also make sense.

I never owned any calculator, and I came out just fine. The young ones should learn the lesson. And I should finally get the calculator now that I don't need it anymore.

Because that's how life is.

cinkler
I am collecting calculators. I own HP-28S, HP-48G, TI-74 and TI-92. In the past I owned an Atari ST and I still remember some M68000 assembly. With me your calculator will never be forgotten - I use all of them periodically and keep fresh batteries in them.
mattmaroon
Today I was trying to smash open a walnut and had nothing hard to do it with. I would appreciate it if you would send me your calculator, as I think it might easily be able to accomplish this.
PieSquared
Aww, come on, what was the point of that? ;)
mattmaroon
Just thought it would be nice to have something other than "I'm a working-class high school student."
eru
Thanks for your offer. One comment: I never needed a calculator for any university math classes. But in physics it was very handy.
C_Coffie
I'm in 10th Grade now and I'm taking geometry. I don't have a graphing calculator and we are having to do difficult equations and my calculator cant handle it. in 9th grade they used to provide one but my school is low on them so i couldn't get one this year. My dad lost his job so there no money to buy one. I was wondering if anyone had one they could donate
Mikeo5
I'm a calculus student, both my mother and father have been laid - off from work and currently I'm under loans, which god knows how am i going to pay off, i would really appreciate if you can help a needy student like me. Thanks for your consideration.