Why Are Texas Instruments Calculators So Expensive? [LGR Tech Tales Addendum]

What makes TI graphing calculators cost so much? Mostly, it's because they can. But let's dive into the details in the video!
This is an addendum to LGR Tech Tales - The Calculator Wars:
• LGR Tech Tales - The P...
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[@thegeth4293]

1. get government to standardize your product 2. charge whatever you want

[@EricToTheScionti]

@@mattwells5347 haha

[@tonyb2271]

Regulatory capture

[@hastyscorpion]

That is how most monopolies are created sadly.

[@thndr_5468]

Just get one on Craigslist or Goodwill

[@TomJacobW]

Lobbyism. That was the answer I expected, that was the answer I got.

[@GeneralNickles]

So in other words, they cost so much "because they can." That's literally it. No other reason.

[@horseshoe_nc]

Exactly!

[@jimstanley_49]

If you consider that the price of a TI-83/-83 Plus has remained mostly unchanged since the late '90s (when I bought mine), their cost has actually _dropped_ due to inflation. A quick check at Best Buy lists the 83+ at $98.99US. Barely changed from the $89.99 for the TI-83 that was common for years.

[@GeneralNickles]

@@jimstanley_49 but if also consider that the cost of manufacturing the technology inside said devices has dropped 100 fold in those years, then you realize they are even more of a rip off now than they were back then. And let's not forget they were already horribly overpriced back then. They were likely making something in the realm of 2,000% profit from them. And it's probably like 20,000% now.

[@jimstanley_49]

@@GeneralNickles seems like you should be more upset at the educators who perpetuate the _requirement_ for specific hardware. These people hold massive collective bargaining power, but they seem content to roll over and let their students take it up the wallet.

[@GeneralNickles]

@@jimstanley_49 that's exactly who I'm upset with. I never said otherwise. The education system that more or less requires these specific calculators are exactly why they are so expensive, and exactly why Texas instruments can get away with making them so expensive. And that's also why they basically haven't changed in 30 years as well. There's plenty of innovation that can be done, but that's never going to happen with the system we currently have.

[@maeganmonster]

As someone born and raised in texas, I always assumed that every state had their own state brand of calculators, like there was probably a California Instruments, Florida Instruments, etc. When someone I knew who lived outside of Texas mentioned having a TI I was so confused and asked "how'd you get them outside of texas?"

[@aztro.99]

dude literally me as a kid lol

[@Quiselott]

That's some funny shit

[@SSJGengar]

Same lol

[@Randoplants]

Makes sense to me! As a kid I thought white geese must be ‘American geese,’ because Canadian geese implies the existence of other national geese.

[@Fl0xtpvnk]

This is wholesome

[@lilmac20II]

I remember recreating the memory cleared screen on a sheet of graph paper then recreating the screen with the image function of the graphics calculator. I then went through the math course syllabus and created a program complete with categories and menus that had all the formulas, notes, etc for all of my math and science classes. For tests and exams we had to clear the RAM on the calculator and then show the RAM cleared screen to the teacher before using the calculators for the tests...well that was menu option #1 in my notes and formulas program...it would display the image of my RAM cleared screen fooling the teacher/proctor into thinking I cleared the memory then going on and using all my formulas, notes, etc on my science/math tests and exams. The best part was that in taking all the time to gather the information on the notes, formulas, etc I learned and memorized them to the point I pretty much didn't need the cheat program and notes. Miss those old days not to mention the games we put on them like drug wars and BASIC ports of Mario, Tetris, etc. Good times...

[@jazzvoltz2855]

hahaha love ur attitude bro!

[@Malcar]

I made a similar program in highschool. I sold it to classmates, and then made sure not to have it on my own, so I could deny any involvement if it came back to me.

[@BooneLuebchow]

r/iamverysmart

[@salt5605]

Lights theme from deathnote starts playing*

[@classicnosh]

You're lucky because my math teachers were really into tech and erased it themselves. They even gave instruction sheets on how to backup your data. There was no excuse for us.

[@dudumegafixe]

5:35 Wtf is that image?! Did they seriously make a fucking hole in the package completly ignoring the proper one??? WHYYYYYYY????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@homerotreto9391]

Duarte Marques It's called TDT, the Duarte Test

[@partytentfm544]

Well it's worth it for an incognito gameboy

[@thejummyjum6207]

Or a gameboy itself for that matter

[@Satsuki1000]

Back when I was in school only the teachers got the models that were capable of running Pokemon. I could only get stuff like snake (I think it was written in lua). But I sold that damn thing years ago and I'm very very happy about not needing to use it anymore.

[@schiefawindustries1619]

They removed ASM support!

[@funnyperson8467]

For this price I should be able to watch this video on my ti calculator

[@no_4259]

Absolute Clown my phone (iPhone 5S, refurbished) costed me less than my calculator (used)

[@franciscosoares2440]

@@no_4259 lol

[@thecoolestkyle]

I know this is an old video, but I just came across it recently. My girlfriend's grandfather is Bert Waits, one of the original people involved in the creation of the TI graphing calculators and his name is seen in this video on some of the pictured papers. Although he passed away in 2014, it was really cool to see that and to be able to show her that such a popular channel and video featured him, albeit not explicitly by name. Thank you for this video!

[@ash7386]

That's great!

[@keeleye7225]

KZbin's been around since 2005. A video from 2016 is not what I'd call an old video.

[@richardsinclair7661]

@@keeleye7225 Old in a relative context, smart ass.

[@onlypuppy7]

Bullshit

[@thiagogregory1]

That is so cool!

[@erikthegodeatingpenguin2335]

You know something's wrong when your $100 "graphing" calculator takes 5+ seconds to graph a line.

[@BavarianM]

Erik the God Eating Penguin Most are Z80

[@firstsurname8931]

Geez, an arduino uno would be faster than that

[@aidanmco]

Erik the God Eating Penguin I like spamming a bunch of random but complicated equations and seeing how long it takes to load 😶

[@NoorquackerInd]

"an arduino uno would be faster than that" Throw a real-time kernel in the background and then try graphing a line. Hmmm, maybe if I pull some Snapdragon or cheap ARM clone and a gigabyte or two of DDR2 RAM, I could have a 480p calculator capable of playing back video and instantly graphing. None of that Nspire junk.

[@vanessavlogs3185]

My TI84 PLUS CE takes like 10 second to graph! They start grid graphing all over whenever I press graph. Is this normal

[@FyberOptic]

When you can buy cheapo Android tablets and phones at half the price of some of these TI calculators, you know someone's getting scammed.

[@Furral]

+FyberOptic Especially considering the graphing calculators haven't changed that drastically. Same basic parts and functions for the last 10+ years. Though, on the other hand, I don't follow calculator trends, so I might be wrong.

[@Gpalmer16]

+FyberOptic Don't let them know you're becoming self-aware...

[@antwanarmstrong5987]

you can't use them on ACT or SAT

[@MaximillianRobesphere]

+Antwan Armatrong So? tests should be about how much you understood the curricula. Not about the skill of you pushing buttons.

[@antwanarmstrong5987]

+Maximillian Robesphere well said

[@tacticaloof6407]

I will never give up my TI-nSpire CX CAS for two reasons: I have become way too dependent on the CAS for virtually all of my math, and I have over 20 hours racked up in Pokémon Emerald in that thing

[@justanotheruser6744]

I think you can copy your save file, convert it to an original save file, and add it onto a cartridge and transfer your stuff to the latest game. Im not sure if its the same thing for ds/gba hacking software, but on my 3ds powersave, I could back up my game with saves on my computer. If ds/gba hacks have this feature, you add your converted save file to the folder and move it to a cartridge.

[@TheDangerousOrganism]

Okie dokie you do you man

[@SparkingEX]

Quick question: How do you even play Pokemon Emerald on a calculator?

[@nono-dy4sc]

@@SparkingEX download it

[@Fl0xtpvnk]

The nSpire is the one with the huge colour screen right? I have some off brand Taiwanese calc.

[@The_Cozy_Couch]

I just bought a TI-84 plus silver for $1.50 new in a garage sale

[@Angultra]

Nice score

[@jeffw1267]

They do turn up at thrift stores, too. Maybe you'll have to pay $5 for it there.

[@baileyharrison1030]

William Thurmer A good way to make money is buying Ti calculators off of eBay from people who have absolutely no idea how much they’re worth and selling them way higher.

[@ancientgeek3834]

Got my TI-83 Plus silver for $0.75 at a yard sale, kept it for school, but I also resell stuff like that too.

[@AmigaA-or2hj]

I’ve bought a black TI-83 for £0.50p from a charity shop.

[@simonro9168]

So basically they copied the design from Casio, cheated them into the first classrooms and then just got a hell lot of money from obsolete devices?

[@HearMeLearn]

Simon Ro that's the best way to do it. Take someone's idea, improve it slightly, beat them to the punch, and watch the money roll in

[@stevenreyna3437]

They don't make a ton off calculators. It is one of their least profitable businesses

[@PandemicGameplay]

Welcome to crony capitalism. And their stocks jumped from the 1960s-2000s.

[@darmok3171]

Granted, I went to school before smartphones became popular, but my TI-89 was super useful for a lot of my courses. They did develop a hell of a lot of software for it, and I'm still impressed by the computer algebra system.

[@Oshyrath]

Simon Ro how much money do you think TI makes off of these? It's 5% of their market. TI is not a calculator industry.

[@BeFlightFilms]

320×240 pixel screen, 128 kilobytes RAM and 4 megabytes ROM... for 100$!! WTF! If anything, the calculator should cost like 20$ or less. Any smartphone will outperform a TI calculator.

[@themaritimegirl]

Actually it's 96x64 pixels, 32k of RAM and 512k of ROM. :P I have read that it costs TI $15 - 20 to make a TI-83 Plus.

[@vwestlife]

+themaritimeman And an 8-bit Z80 CPU! You can run Z80 assembly language programs on them.

[@AdmiralCreideiki]

+vwestlife Yeah, a TI-83/TI-84 is basically a 1970s S-100 bus computer (think the MITS Altair 8800 or IMSAI 8080); except without the ability to do whatever the shit you want with the hardware or expand it in any way. TI-89 is basically an original 128K Macintosh with a shittier screen (but more RAM and more "disk" space).

[@HeadsFullOfEyeballs]

+BeFlight It's kind of weird -- in Germany it was 100% Casio calculators when I was in school, and IIRC they also recommended specific models and stuff. But they still only cost like 15-20€. I wonder what the difference is, I find it hard to believe that Casio are just being nice and not exploiting their de facto monopoly like TI do over there.

[@vwestlife]

Tom Gray At least in my high school, every student was given a TI graphing calculator to use, and you turned it in at the end of the school year. You only had to pay if you lost or broke it. But when I got to college, students had to provide their own calculator -- and if you want to talk about overpriced, the price of college textbooks is *insane!*

In my school almost everyone had a TI, I was one of the few to have the Casio that could draw the graphs in colour. Btw, after more than 20 years it still works just fine.

[@gate9595]

What Casio do you have?

[@MrMarcec85]

@@gate9595 I guess the one with 3 colours.

[@alex_irl6732]

@@gate9595 he’s probably talking about the cfx-9850

[@mafiousbj]

Thanks for telling me why i had to spend over a hundred dollars for one of those for some international math tests!! So basically it's lobbying and an almost monopoly!!

[@changer_of_ways_999]

Which basically sums up the entire education system

[@imwastedenough]

i like how you mentioned that the cost of this calculator shuts out lower income students. very good to mention this.

[@StealthNinja4577]

C H not really. Low income families receive cash assistance. The 100 dollars investment on something that if taken care of can last over a decade and functionally get you through a PhD in the physical sciences is really nothing. There are two types of low income. The kind that can manage money and started with nothing and the kind that is terrible with money regardless of how much they get. The second group even if the calculator was free couldn't afford it.

[@mannotwiththeplan]

Where in the US do you live that you get cash assistance? I was poor once and there is no cash. Getting a calculator for school was very hard -- my parent basically have to save a couple months for $100.

[@yemo34]

@@StealthNinja4577 Some poor people don't want assistance. Some people live in gentrified areas of the country that were cheaper to live in, and became more expensive to live in overnight because rich white people decide to set up a kraft brewery in the local crack house. Also not everyone can afford a calculater in high-school, never the less a PHD. Have you ever known want?

[@cool3865]

@@mannotwiththeplan now days you can find those calculators at garage sales and thrift stores

[@WatchHeadsRoll]

I'm so confused. To me, a calculator is a calculator, regardless of whether it's £1 or £100.

[@HaphestusGaming]

TI Calculators are the Beats by Dre of calculators

[@RomanM803]

Jorzza Clarkie beats aren't like any headphones brand.

[@ToastyDaEngi]

Jorzza Clarkie expensive as hell, useless as shit. If shit wasn't used for fertilizer.

[@jet69399]

HP is better

[@subscriber6181]

NumWorks is best xD

[@chrisresendiz7172]

EXPENSIVE TRASH

[@SteveVi0lence]

Growing up in the 90s in Texas, I thought it was just a Texas thing lol

[@hattrickster33]

I love how schools are finally catching on and letting students use apps which do the same thing. I wish they had this when I was in school. Would have saved me $95 because the app from the MS store is only like $5.

[@wy477x]

wait people pay for a calculator app?

[@dosnostalgic]

I had to get one when I just moved to the States and didn't have any money. It was expensive. And then all I ended up using it for is playing games between classes.

[@JohnSmith-wx9wj]

@@ghost-jesus I'm guessing that since you figured that out, you had no problem passing tests anyway.

[@TheLuismaBeaTle]

ghost jesus when cheating requires a lot more creativity, problem solving capabilities and raw brain power than actual tests.

[@thkarape]

@@nykal1510 I have a suspicion that the program was probably written by /g/

[@iiWNMii]

I fondly but vaguely remember a text based GTA type game.

[@glass4600]

I may have a ti 84, but I think it was a rip off. The school forced us to buy that specific model...

[@trychan959]

Gregory Smith what a school marketing ti products ...

[@glass4600]

TryChan oh definitely

[@adrianborinsky2989]

I borrowed one from my highschool library, never gave it back. still using it in university

[@adrianborinsky2989]

HillMeister's HQ Try using your phone's "free app" for a University exam.. You'll get a sweet 0 for cheating.

[@ryzyooritzz]

Of course i will. Thats the problem. Techology has moved forward while education has been standing still. In my school every one had a laptop that we got from the school and they only took it back when we graduated. Still we were going to pay 100 dollars for 30 year old technogoly in the form of a fucking calculator. Its not like the graphing calculator has some sort of magic chip in it to do what it does. It's just a primitive computer, the markup on them ought to be crazy.

[@namjanamja747]

I remember when I was in college in trig and calculus classes I loved how the textbooks had graphing calculator sections and it kinda motivated me to work harder and made it more exciting

[@Crazytesseract]

But are you a corangle duntrie? Hah then!

[@trcon]

It's crazy how different the spheres of influence are for calculators across the pond. In Europe its all Casio calculators from what I can see, but in my secondary school you'd see the ocassional Sharp calc, even the calc I used was a 10 year old Canon. Now, for the UK A-Level at least, there is a certain calculator (Casio fx-991EX) that we almost need for the exams - Casio calcs are even referenced multiple times in the official couse textbooks, for stuff like graphing polar coordinates and inverting 3x3 matrices. At least the differnece is that my calculator new cost me £22 ($28.79). Charging $100 for a calculator would seem unimaginable over here, considering that's the cost of a week's household shop.

[@ericohman]

Moved from TI82 to a Casio fx9860, don't miss a thing, even has backlight for late night calculus ;)

[@glokta1]

So true! Ditch that TI and get the Casio. Has so much more features and is much cheaper

[@rinhato8453]

Eric Öhman Its funny that cause I'm in the UK, I've never even used a TI calculator. Always the ugly blue Casio :b

[@ericohman]

In Sweden TI has been the recommended (by schools) calculator. Had a TI82 in my teenage years and now that I've started studying again I went out to try a Casio :D I've seen those blue ones 9750 IIRC, the input is not as nice when it comes to entering fractions etc. The 9860 is twice the price but worth every penny :)

[@NotApplicable2874]

I don't know if I could switch. I know the TIs like the back of my hand. Even taught myself how to code in them.

[@glokta1]

Chris Varghese It takes some time to get used to the Casio but once you learn it, trust me, you're not gonna wanna go back

[@dansparce]

I totally can understand why schools would all want a uniform device that only provides the functionality that is required for the courses, but the fact that the prices are still so high is so absurd. Its also amazing to me that even tho much is said about how ridiculous the cost of textbooks are, that for some reason when it comes to a old piece of technology people just accept it.

[@austinfox4130]

I have found that my TI-89 Titanium has given me a massive advantage over my peers in my engineering math courses. The commonly used and accepted model throughout my college is the TI-84, and I think that it's interesting that a simple difference in choice, and $40 has made such a difference.

[@spearmintlatios9047]

I found one, in pretty good condition, at a pawn shop for 4 dollars. The TI 83 and 84s were 40 dollars, so this must have been a mistake. I realized it has algebraic manipulations as well and I’m excited to integrate it into my comp sci classes..

[@CoolGobyFish]

I bought this damn thing twice, kept it for two weeks each time and returned it back to Walmart after my Calculus class no longer required it)))))) i beat the system!!!!!!

[@NormanRafferty]

Thank you for doing this addendum! I can't heap enough praise on your quality of your voice delivery, on the visual quality of your images and edits, and on your choices of subject matter in the first place. Stay awesome!

[@LGR]

Thanks very much the kind words!

[@GenaTrius]

TI really needs to be hit with some antitrust suits for this whole thing. In a perfect world, they'd be charged to open source the hardware and software and let anyone produce TI-8x compliant stuff. We don't even need innovation at this point, we just need hordes of these exact same devices for cheap.

[@Yodagamer1]

+Gena Trius I've always been surprised they've gotten away with it for so long. The only reason they probably get away with is the government doesn't want to interrupt a company that schools are pretty much depending on for their graphing calculators for testing, homework, etc.

[@322tor]

+yodagamer1 Maybe the politian's are getting a bit of cash from Ti. I'm wondering if they are using a Ti calculator to estimate the sum they want from them, possibly making a graph ?

[@MortimerZabi]

+Gena Trius Add Pearson to your hit list. They own the Standardized Testing Market and it's severely limiting what can be taught in schools and how.

[@Yodagamer1]

X3C Yeah they certainly don't complain when they over charge for the same technology from years ago because of it...

[@skyhop]

+yodagamer1 Don't give them your money then. If the school requires it, bring it up at the next meeting, and bring up TI's history here and how they're monopolizing with $100 devices in a market where a $10 device does the same thing.

[@trugath]

We didn't use graphing calculators just scientific calculators in my high-school. If they had dictated a make/model they would have had to supply them due to the rules at the time so you were allowed any scientific calculator (and they had loaners for the poor kids, like me). I have a fx-7000GA now though. It's my favourite calculator.

[@leftyeh6495]

Silly thing is the ti-86 that was discontinued, was the only one allowed in my college electrical theory classes. The instructors had to tell us to just hit up eBay because they didn't want to actually teach, just instruct us on how to use their choice calculator. They did do one thing my 84+ silver didn't, but I'll be damned if I can remember as neither has been used in 10 years.

[@Olivia-W]

Meanwhile I went from high school in the US to college in Europe, and boy did that TI 84 plus help with basically everything. While my fellow students struggled to plot something, I tapped a few buttons and voila. Every calculator allowed test also allowed this, and no one checked if I cleared memory. I never cheat, but it'd be sadly too easy. Now I got myself an 89 Titanium, and am selling the TI 84 plus for a nice price after _7 years of using it._ I'd say a big part of the price is just being able to chuck the thing at a wall and not break it.

[@jessehill9993]

Lower case typing and less memory/slower Z80 CPU 😂

[@statuesquepineapple4387]

Interestingly in the UK it's Casio who dominate, or at least it was back when I went through school. You'd see maybe one or two kids per class use a TI model with everyone else using a Casio fx type or other Casio line.

[@kelvinwills2394]

Yblad I am year 8 and we still use casio

[@MissDatherinePierce]

In Germany both are present. I used a simple Casio in 7th and 8th grade and then we had to upgrade to a CAS by Texas Instrument

[@ansora8619]

It seems that TI's influences are restricted to America only, I'm living in a random Asian country where almost every student uses a Casio fx

[@ZILOGz80VIDEOS]

Thats interesting, even in upper level college courses I basically never see any models but TI.

[@cryptiidcrow4967]

yeah, casio still dominates the uk, i still use the same casio calculator my sisters used ~10 years ago when they were in secondary school

[@jhendkap.2340]

ah yes the calculator wars of the 70s. brother against brother. I remember tales of war chiefs who would take the teeth of their victims and use them as the buttons on their "magic numbers square" that's what we called them before someone started calling them calculators.

[@BrianHuynhPersonal]

Jhendka P. remember the fx=9/11 bombing when someone flew a airplane into the math room of mrs.trade and her twin?

[@jhendkap.2340]

Brian Huynh do I remember? I was a first responder. all the blood and half finished linear equations still haunt my dreams.

[@qwertykeyboard5901]

Jhendka P. Lol magic number squares

[@MinutemanOutdoors]

*ceremonial drums and beeping starts* To war my brothers! Make them divide by zerooooooooo!!!!

[@R3TURNZ3R0]

LMAO!! *This is how to internet*

[@JainaKeria]

I always wondered this. Literally everyone one of us in the UK use like $10 Casio calculators with the same functionality and when my US friend showed her texas instruments one to us the difference was negligible outside of some bespoke rarely used functions.

[@mario022594]

The best cientific and graphic calculators I've owned have been casio the fx92ms fx991es/la and a fx cp400, also owned an hp 50g and ti 30 scientific.

[@stacia6678]

Casio fam! I still have my Prizm

[@BungieStudios]

They cost $100~ because they're the only electronic devices most professors allow in the classroom, especially during tests. lol

[@cool3865]

except the ti-92, it is still banned

[@leozendo3500]

@@cool3865 I know. Such a joke. Now practice tying on a abcde rather than a qwerty

[@deepbluereason]

This will vary by school, of course. I was surprised when I went to university that graphing calculators were not allowed in any of my math or physics courses. Not a single one. I ended up using a Casio fx-300MS scientific calculator throughout school which cost me all of about $10 iirc.

[@noelpineiro4640]

Yup

[@PlaystationMasterPS3]

@@deepbluereason at my college, the math classes from calc on don't allow calculators on exams, but they're written in a way that it wouldn't even be helpful to have one even if you could, which actually made them easier than if you had all the calculations but a calculator to help. the physics department does allow calculators in exams, which makes sense

[@tbb033]

I remember choosing Casio's graphing calculator back in the day because the TI looked more like a Fisher Price.

[@JamesKirk1988]

At least they last. I bought my TI-83+ at a Garage Sale in 2001 for $10. It still works to this day.

[@marcberm]

I remember using school issued Texas Instruments four function calculators in elementary school.They were priming us even back then! Although my first scientific calculator was a Casio, my eventual graphing calculator was back to good old TI.

[@snowzZzZz]

AMD, don't let this happen with the CPU and GPU market. lol

[@louislu1067]

hey

[@0bloodshot0]

nope, amd's problem is everything exept the pricing structure. intel is more efficent (at least was better for laptops bc of less heat and better battery life), is better at more demanding tasks ("gaming", cad, movie rendering) and has more big third-party service provider (m$, dell, lenovo,hp). for everything else (so small companies and "the average users") amd is better suited. intel did advertising very well at the time amd had the lead :/

[@ThatsPety]

+silverbackflyer no Idea of what? Now I must know!

[@denissandu2138]

umm, the ryzen will hit you so hard :))

[@JigglyJuice-sl4mx]

Denis Sandu umm, what if it doesn't :))

[@SamSpain]

What I got from this is just a great guide in how to establish a monopoly.

[@flagshipbuilds]

Love your work! Thanks for the tech history lessons.

[@cratecruncher6687]

I absolutely love your calculator videos. You might consider doing a video on RPN vs. algebraic data entry.

[@NavidIsANoob]

This is the kind of information I never asked for, yet I'm very glad I'm informed. Thanks, LGR!

[@LGR]

You are welcome!

[@NovaFrederick]

Well duh. Everything is bigger in Texas, and so are the prices

[@chevyfan7930]

[*Cries in Texan*]

[@no_4259]

Chevy fan Sad Yeehaw

[@aorusaki]

Hahaha

[@Byrnzi360]

When I went to school for business, one of our required purchases was a TI BAii+ Financial Calculator. All our textbooks had step by step instructions tailored specifically for this particular calculator. In fact - we were not allowed to use any alternative. Not that there were many alternatives. The HP12c is the only stand out option, and that requires understanding RPN - which most people my age aren’t super familiar with. I later learned that the BAii+ and the HP12c are essentially the only two acceptable financial calculators that can be used during accounting examinations. Fortunately, putting the monopoly aside, the BAii+ actually is a really good calculator.

[@lwvmobile]

It seemed like a majority of my calculus classes in college wasn't so much on theory or anything like that, but more or less "HOW TO USE THE TI-83 TO GET AREAS UNDERNEATH CURVES" and other things. I swear we spent more time learning how to do it on a calculator than we did learning the underlying principles of things like differentiation and so on. On a side note though, I was given a Casio Algebra FX 2.0 when I was in high school for competing in some math thingy at the local community college and I still have it today, not that I use it though, but I think it was easier to use than a TI, except for when you were learning how to do something new and all the college math classes taught "TI-83" and "TI-84" and the manual wasn't always clear on how to do some advanced things like integration and area under a curve and so on.

[@Larry]

They must be a bit more sophisticated now? There's a video on KZbin of someone running DOOM on one.

[@TheHordeQ]

+Hellbent It's to continue making the same profit without having to make any investment. You can buy a cheap tablet for less than a graphing calculator and it has just as much chance to cheat as a TI only it's not slow as dogshit and you can actually read the screen without destroying your eyes. People need to stop making excuses for not updating the technology and curriculum and just move the fuck on already.

[@Marjuuu]

+Hellbent are you the real hellbent if so I love your voice keep up the good work

[@SianaGearz]

+Larry Bundy Jr Standard models still use ultra low power, current production versions of Z80 that the very first models used. Zero cost pretty much. It will run you for example a simple raycaster, like a wireframe (untextured) Wolfenstein3D like-game. They don't have to rewrite software and they can clock it much faster these days without much battery impact. They are in wide production, that's for example what some of those $7 digital keychain picture frames used that were popular a couple years back, and it's also used in numerous MP3 players as input and display processor. Higher end model TI-89 became available with Motorola 68k series processor in 98. The choice was made for a reason, the same processor was used by Palm in the Pilot a year prior, because a power-optimized, high-volume, cheap version worth a handful dollars was abundant. The processor was already on its way out: higher-end devices like PSION 5 were already using ARM7TDMI. What the 68k will give you is a textured Wolfenstein3D like game, and there was indeed a game called Doom for the TI-89 styled after the PC classic, but running on a Wolfenstein-like engine. Then when supply of 68k started to dry up a few years ago, they switched to an ARM9, which by then also reached the $4 mark. Those could actually run Doom and more fanciful things. Details are sketchy, but chances are, it doesn't have an FPU, a floating point co-processor. Higher end Casio nowadays uses a modified Renesas SH-4 running at around 30-50 MHz, with an FPU but without multimedia instructions. That might not sound like much, but this processor is a force to be reckoned with, it will easily run circles around an FPU-less ARM and at 50Mhz would just about match approx. 80-120Mhz ARM9 and ARM11 on integer workloads too. Original SH-4 running 200Mhz was a dedicated multimedia processor, and with the multimedia instructions (single cycle vector multiply, 4-cycle vector-matrix multiply) that the calculator version lacks, was responsible both for game logic, and geometry processing (transformation and lighting) on the SEGA Naomi arcade machine (1997) and the revolutionary SEGA Dreamcast home game console (1998). Fell short of performance of Playstation 2 vaguely by the factor of 2.

[@LordArikado]

+Larry Bundy Jr Do you just comment on every video on KZbin? Seriously, I find you commenting on the most random videos, even on the DSP Christmas one on my other channel.

[@Satakarnak]

Tjhay are slow as hell i wold say that Thir profit is extrem the parts får Them cant cost more Then 3$

[@tlinrin887]

the best part was coding a cheat sheet into an "program" and well, so much for not cheating.

[@ETXAlienRobot201]

I find it funny they overlook this, you can use those to cheat quite a lot. (not to mention, load games, which is a distraction)

[@zokalyx]

well it's not supposed to make games. Programs are supposed to make custom calculations (interactive) like I made quite a few for surface area and volume of shapes just entering a bunch of values and the answer is spit up nice :) I know you can make WAY better stuff i just don't use my calc much

[@ETXAlienRobot201]

My point isn't that they were designed to do it, or are supposed to, my point is they're capable of doing it at all. and that sounds neat! There's a video here of a raytracer, check that out!

[@oldtwinsna8347]

As I recall, pecking the characters in actually made me memorize the formulas just by doing that.

[@MrHatoi]

Our teachers are a little smarter, they make us clear the memory before tests. Just a little though, since they only clear the RAM, not the flash memory, so you can still "Archive" all of your stuff so it doesn't get cleared.

[@MontroseChloe]

the programming community was built right into the TI website, which was awesome. Great modding community.

[@newtom80]

My more than 15-years-old TI-89 is still working and looking good. I used to program it in C with TIGCC. And I also played games like Super Mario and Galaga on it with very high frame rates. These are great devices, I am glad LGR reviewed them.

[@LGR]

This video is a follow-up to *LGR Tech Tales - The Calculator Wars*: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWfNgomnoNWdmZo If you found this video interesting, do check it out! If not, well, I'll just go have a long cry.

[@gfs5551]

You could do another addendum about financial calculators, like the HP 12C. If there are other models...

[@radicalbacon]

+Lazy Game Reviews When I went to Nuke school, we weren't allowed to use graphing calculators because of the programmable nature. I once heard of -- so this may be completely false -- of someone programming a graphing calculator to do an estimated critical position calculation, who then got his calculator taken from him because it had "classified" information on it. (You could teach yourself how to do an ECP on the internet, but whatevs.)

[@MalarkeyTVdotcom]

+Lazy Game Reviews This was definitely the most informative vid you've done so far! Freakin' fantastic. You could be a journalist, for sure. Can't wait to see the Graphing Calc games vid... Make sure you do Drug Dealer! :D

[@stephonovich88]

+radicalbacon Sub Nuke ET - you can absolutely input points from OI 2.1 graphs and have the calculator return polynomials. From there, it's just a matter of writing a program. Not that this was ever used, of course.

[@krisreddish3066]

+Lazy Game Reviews I did find it interesting, I enjoy most of your work, but this one pissed me off. Not at you though, but I hate when things like education systems are taken advantage of by commercial interests in ways like that. Not that you cannot make a buck of education. However, a monopoly used to jack up the price to students that have no choice is just in bad from, as are 100$ plus text books and other things. I knew about this, having been made to purchase one in the past, just never really thought about it before. I also did not know it was that deep into public education policy.

[@bartz0rt928]

Better question: why doesn't everyone buy these things second hand?

[@LGR]

+Andrew Ballard Even second-hand they go for quite a bit. This used one sold recently for $80. www.ebay.com/itm/Texas-Instruments-TI-89-Titanium-Graphing-Calculator-With-Case-Great-Condition-/231807905046 Schools often sell them right on campus at a discount, so you get a new one at about the same price as a used one. This is yet another incentive TI has in place so that schools push them continually.

[@YuukitheMighty1]

+Bart Stikkers I would love to buy these things second hand because I need one in about a week for college :(

[@Yohfay]

+Bart Stikkers If my experiences with them are any indication, it's because they don't last long tossed around in booksacks. I had to get three separate ones starting in high school and ending in college simply because they stopped working.

[@JuggleAddict]

+YuukitheMighty1 I've never heard of someone needing one in college. That's ridiculous.

[@ziginox]

+Yohfay You must have been really rough on yours, I have a variety of 8x series units and have never had issues. o.O

[@austinharding9734]

you know what i remember doing with these calculators before gettin serious with them in college? 58008

[@lol-nc3tz]

Everyone does

[@starliner2498]

I did 5318008 on my Casio

[@MidnightThunderYT]

What does that do?

[@wta1518]

I’m having flashbacks to my 8th grade math class.

[@lucasgasparino6141]

Always had HP ones, RPN FTW.

[@vwestlife]

Who else remembers the "drug wars" game on the TI-8x series? In the late '90s, Casio made a big push to try to break TI's molopoly with their introduction of the first graphing calculator with a color display. But the LCD was non-backlit and only had three colors (blue, green, and orange). It was difficult to read in dim lighting and the contrast between the colors wasn't very good, so it was not a success.

[@afrosheenix]

Killed alot of hours playing a Java port of drug wars on my old sidekick.

[@compu85]

+vwestlife I have one of those calculators. It was slower to graph things than a TI, but it has better keys and had built in formulas. It also cost a lot less than a TI.

[@themaritimegirl]

+vwestlife I would have considered the color screen units a success. Casio made them for 12 years, and there are many of them on eBay today.

[@CGQuarterly]

+vwestlife I remember playing that game on my PC back in like 1990.

[@karakuroraka3172]

+vwestlife They were a popular alternative for a lot of people who needed a calculator for statistics. From what I remember, it was about half the price of the TI model that had built in stats functions, and it was extremely easy to use. I also don't think the screens on the 90s TIs were any easier to see, either.

[@CrazyRiverOtter]

"It was time for TI to take action!" Don't you mean "Take Initiative?"

[@davidt791]

What?

[@jenathent4840]

David T take initiative “TI”

[@DansuB4nsu03]

Ah, I see what you did there.

[@1d10tcannotmakeusername]

*puts sunglasses on*

[@grimhunter42]

Not funny

[@azazellon]

I spent $145 on a TI-84 CE ...with fafsa money. I needed it for a class in college. Now it's just used for games. :/

[@davidcartagena1272]

Azuel Zorro ti83 cost $120 at my college

[@jradicals87]

We were encouraged (forced?) to buy Casio ones at my school in Australia the early 2000s but they were still expensive. I've had mine since 2002 and it still runs today with all the games on it. I look at games I programmed myself and have no idea how I did it, the knowledge has faded completely over 18 years haha. The worst part was when the teacher wanted to transfer you a new program for graphing - through the link cable of course - and you had to delete a game to make room for it :(

[@Bobvanksy]

An idea. 1.Buy calculators and raspberry pi in bulk. 2. Replace mainboard with raspberry with custom software installed. 3. Sell to desperate college/university students. 4. Profit. Functions: emulated calculator that looks the same as the original unit, Internet connection, cheat sheets.

[@raafmaat]

+BobvanKay just look at images of the raspberry pi, it is too thick to fit inside calculator casing ;)

[@MarcoZ1ITA1]

+raafmaat Not the Pi Zero.

[@hene193]

+BobvanKay Too slow to boot. Bad battery life. Expensive. (screen+keyboard+raspi+battery+other stuff needed) Also it would never be okay for tests since you can cheat so easy. (tbh you can run linux on Ti nspire)

[@zubirhusein]

+BobvanKay The Arduino (the upper level models at least) would be at least as powerful as the Z80 in the TI-8x series and would be a better choice than raspberry pi

[@hene193]

2chws Too old. Why use 8 bit when you could use ARM? Like the nspire models use.

[@spcyakima1077]

I bought a TI-83 at Goodwill for $4.

[@brianjohnston8789]

I can beat that, I just bought one for $2.88 at Goodwill.

[@cybermonkey9334]

Garage sale 1 dollar

[@xboys_archive]

SPCyakima107 1$

[@newagederpderp]

:P he got one for $5

[@JoseDiaz-er4ww]

i bought in second hand used website for just......$15.00 !!!! After a good check at my room discovered it was a theft hahaha, now I use regularly and its a very reliable device.

[@kospencer1]

In an era of needing a new phone because you dropped the old one, the TI is built like a tank, I have accidentally dropped mine countless times, therefore the $100 price tag is well deserved.

[@waffleten9750]

Yeah no if you want a phone that can take that stuff than look for a phone that can you can millions of phones that can outdo any calculator in all aspects

[@MrSirFluffy]

We usually get them on ebay or something, but they are still pretty expensive. I bought mine for like 28 bucks. The TI-nspire CAS const me 39, and that Calculator is a heaven machine. It is the most awesome thing I have ever bought.

[@Bloxy123]

LGR just made me interested on the history of graphing calculators...

[@TheChipmunk2008]

casio fx series were the only approved calculators in my school (UK) TI crap was 'programmable' and thus banned

[@bskull3232]

Some fx can be programmed. My 5700 is. I used it to smuggle formula sheets to exam.

[@El_ACG]

Exactly. I live in germany and we all had casios and sharps since programmable calculators weren't allowed. Also the prices weren't nearly high as TI's, I remember my Casio calculator was priced around 30-40 Euros ten years ago. You can see that big companies basically still rule the US. TI was the major sponsor of these teacher associations. That's why all schools had to use their devices, which led them to determine any price they wanted

[@dysonspreybar4903]

you can make fxcg50 programs in python lol.

[@illford6921]

@@bskull3232 those were usually for Uni students, the people who wouldn't have time for games on their calculators

[@illford6921]

@@dysonspreybar4903 no one wants tos learn python just to make pacman, also why would uni students care, in the UK most uni students have Laptops so the need for something like that is pointless, why are playing games in an exam in the first place

[@spike007980]

This was more of a company man, style video the bigger than you know and explanation of the monopoly, really good.

[@addiefanlow7253]

Thanks TI. I used the TI-82 in school and all I learned to do was memorize button sequences to get the right answer.

[@AlexanderHarris]

I always assumed they cost so much because it takes a lot of resources to teach math to the little gnomes that do the calculations in the device.

[@sausagewizard6975]

I got a TI-84 plus C as a freshman in college. Most of the classes require non graphing calculators and any classes that expect you to make graphs expect you to do so on computer programs that they specify. I’m a senior now and still haven’t turned on my TI once, maybe it will make a good desk calculator for when I get a job.

[@etenivity9703]

If you need to get a TI-83/84 calculator soon, just download one of the free mobile-app emulators! (The full versions are like $5, but you should be fine with the free ones) And guess what? There are TI-83/84 apps for _both_ Android & iOS! (Sadly tho, you prolly won't be able to go this route in a high-school math class, for obvious reasons lol)

[@jennifercezar6903]

There are no android or ios Apps for the 83 or 84. and you would not be able to use an APP on the SAT or the ACT, while you can use either of the models you mentioned.

[@jonasthemovie]

No mobile in exams silly.

[@illford6921]

@@jennifercezar6903 then just buy a casio, wasting 145 on s calculator, if 45 for s calculator at least in the UK is already semi pricey why would anyone want a TI, "u can play games on it!" I came to learn not have fun so I don't see the point in that

[@MrMattumbo]

@@illford6921 Or buy them used, the one redeaming aspect of TI series calculators is that they're pretty durable and since they never truly change even old models will work fine.

[@wayyllon]

Its extremely annoying, in school they encouraged us all to purchase calculators, thankfully we had the option to loan one from under the condition it was lost or broken that we would reimburse the full price of *130 dollars*??! I was pretty pissed off about this and complained about it to my friends who should have a decent knowledge of computers and specs and their prices, but apparently DONT?? My one friend kept arguing to me that they were worth the price since they had "more features" that "you need to use them on the SATs". He was pretty much summarizing their monopoly but refusing to admit it. SO annoying to pay 120 dollars for an entire 150 KILOBYTES of RAM.

[@mrkattm]

Very interesting, I often wondered how TI became so dominant especially when compared to the superior HP calculators that utilized RPN notation. RPN took some time to get use to but once you got the hang of it switching back to an algebraic calculator was and is very difficult. I love HP and RPN so much that I have HP 48GX app for my iPhone.

[@vitalnutrients744]

How about programming?

[@mrkattm]

VitalNutrients - What about programming? All the HP scientific calculators are fully programmable, you can even program arcade games like Galaga, breakout, tetris etc on them.

[@AZ-if2mj]

HP calculators have been programmable since 1979 (HP-41C). HP RPN calculators are popular in professional communities from scientific and engineering to statistics and finance (and outside the US). The latest RPN is the HP-50G. I got an original HP-48GX on ebay and use the DROID48 app on my phone almost daily, app is identical to the HP-48GX. RPN is my favorite, intuitive and fast.

[@mattb6001]

As now a senior studying electrical engineering, the only calculator you really will ever need is the TI-36X Pro which is less than $20. However i do see how the visualization of graphs in high school can be extremely important. But back then i was writing my own programs in the TI and then using the archive and unarchive feature to prevent the program from being deleted during a reset :P. the TI 36X Pro is a non programmable non graphing calculator that is allowed in most testing environments and has pretty much has every feature the the ti 83's have minus being programmable and graphing.

[@smartyyoung7319]

I love my 36X!

[@user-ij7er2uu1e]

Very interesting channel! Nostalgia for the 1980-90s.

[@firegamer6325]

You can draw, play games on calculators in class without ur teacher knowing.

[@TCPixels]

LGR I just wanted to say you are my favorite youtube entertainer; I am on a spree watching everything you have made lol

[@LGR]

Thank you, enjoy!

[@thaGkillah]

I had a ti-84 plus and put doom and pokemon on it xD

[@douglasbarr2636]

I play Pacman on my TI 84 plus ce.

[@yosefmacgruber1920]

How do you turn up the video game volume so that you can hear it?

[@cherry6654]

@@yosefmacgruber1920 You've gotta be joking right?

[@yosefmacgruber1920]

@@cherry6654 Well yeah. At least a smart-phone has volume. A graphing calculator should be quite capable of playing some simple video games. But with no sound is a bit of a bummer. The lack of color also presents a problem for some video games. How do you play a marble game, when all the colors of marbles all look the same? Make them different shapes? But if they are already the most tiny blobs on the screen, that isn't hardly going to work. I wish I knew now, and had the time, back decades ago before computers became so powerful. How cool would it have been, to try to write 3-D rendered video games, for those old computers that supposedly could not do 3-D graphics? I think actually they could, if the graphics were sufficiently simplified. Calculate a few vectors, and then fill in with simple colors. And then work on the algorithm to minimize redrawing flickering. Try to balance detail with frame rate. Maybe detail could improve whenever the 3-D movement is more stationary. Maybe I could have made some money at it. I have estimated that my old Apple //e computer at its highest resolution of double hires graphics, should be capable of a maximum frame rate of 5 frames a second, and that is just block copying memory from an off-screen buffer in any available memory. Of course, if the entire screen does not have to be rewritten, then frames can occur much faster, which would be useful for 2-D games.

[@-Burb]

Yosef MacGruber Of course calculators don’t have sound... they’re calculators. Do you want them to read out 2+2=4 every time you type it in or something?

[@vansmith1738]

This video unfairly does not discuss the merits of the TI graphing calculators during the 90's. As a physics student, I became very interested in scientific and, particularly, graphing calculators during the 80's and 90's. I owned nearly all of the graphing calculators that came out during that time including the HP 28S, and 48S, the Casio fx-7000G, the TI-81, and TI-85. While in graduate school at Ole Miss around 1992, it was obvious by then that TI graphing calculators were easily the best available, offering the most logical and intuitive interfaces, speed, and functionality, along with very good documentation and excellent support, particularly for education. As an aside, the TI-85 was my favorite graphing calculator at that time, so I decided to write Texas Instruments a letter expressing that, as well as listing detailed suggestions for their next graphing calculator. Among those suggestions were to upgrade the processor from the Z80 to the Motorola 68000, which offered 32-bit flat memory space and much higher performance giving it the capacity to run more sophisticated software with WYSIWYG capabilities like Mathcad -- and I pointed out the existence of Derive, with similar capabilities in a very small memory footprint -- and offer expansive symbolic math support for calculus and algebra. I also suggested implementing a QWERTY keyboard, a d-pad, a larger, higher resolution display, pull down menus, 3d graphing, and more. I went into a lot of detail. I didn't expect a response from TI, but a few weeks later I got a letter from them enthusiastically thanking me for my suggestions and that my input will be taken seriously for upcoming calculator designs. Imagine my surprise when the groundbreaking TI-92 was released a few years later, incorporating ALL of my suggestions.

[@BlueTrane2028]

I was one of those kids who was coming through elementary school when the calculators were first pushed in schools. I was 8 years old in 1991. Right around then, the teachers started handing out basic Ti brand calculators. Next, my parents were required to buy a "Math Explorer" calculator for I think 5th grade, and then later we were issued Ti-89s. I remember my dad lamenting "the kids won't know how to do math in their head." Honestly, I think he was right in that, but I figured out how to do that on my own anyways. I remember having my school issued Ti-89 stolen and then having to replace it, thankfully I was able to save a buck by hitting eBay (even back then in the late 90's). Obviously, I had to turn the one I paid for in to the school when I left, and that was it for me and graphing calculators for a while. I used that 89 for my SAT, and being not a math major, I didn't need a graphing calculator in college. Flash forward a few years. I got nostalgic for the time when all the kids had whiz bang calculators and no cell phone. I found a Ti-92 Plus on eBay for $30 shipped to my house, works just fine, it's like my old 89 but with a full keyboard that wasn't legal for the SAT. I was later given, as in for free, a Ti-84 Plus Silver Edition, and then a few days ago I snagged a Ti-89 Platinum off of Facebook marketplace for the princely sum of $10. Anyone who needs a calculator, especially on a budget, DO NOT BUY NEW. They sell for under $50 in working order all the time. Also, check out www.ezgraphing.com/, for aftermarket covers for the 84/89 series, includes straight edges for helping make clean and accurate graphs in homework. A flashy blue cover and a close enough matching blue face plate for that Ti-84 has it looking quite smart indeed in my book. I also ordered one for my 89, because the original cover is in rough shape, while the calculator itself is fine. I have no ties to ezgraphing, just think their product is neat and could help a student.

[@kingsnake545]

Man, the hp 48 was so satisfying to use. It still holds up today.

[@mediocrefunkybeat]

Interesting. Very different over here in the UK. We were recommended a Casio FX series calculator when I started secondary school, I got the FX-83 and my brother (a year older) got the FX-82 as the predecessor model. I guess over here Ti were nowhere near as powerful commercially. I still have my FX-83 nearly 17 years later...

+Duncan Taylor FX-Anything Master Race.

[@Jonathan-zj6to]

+Duncan Taylor are those calculators decently priced or kinda expensive?

[@carmarcam98]

Yeah, here in Spain it sort of happens similarly to in the US but with Casio instead of TI. (not to that extreme though) In fact, I have never seen a TI calculator yet! XD (99% Casios, with very rarely an HP thrown in). Still, Casio graphing calculators are rather expensive too, but not as much as TI's. I reciently bought an FX-9700GII or so and it was around 70 euros, not 100!

[@morpheusdreamer]

+Duncan Taylor Yea I remember at my school most people used some variant of the fx7000. And I've still got my school fx7400g 18 years later!

[@BenderRodriguz]

+Duncan Taylor I still have my fx-82 from over 20 years ago still works just fine.

[@eddiehimself]

Interesting. Here in the UK even when I was doing my mechanical engineering degree you weren't allowed to have a programmable calculator in exams. In fact we all got given a CASIO FX-85 GT Plus scientific calculator which retailed at like £7 or thereabouts back then (about 10 years ago). And that wasn't even because it was mandated by the university; it was literally the maths lecturer who convinced the Engineering Department to buy them because he was sick of having to go around the class of over 100 students trying to help them figure out how their calculators worked lol.

[@gsxerwhite]

I found one on the "damaged packaging" shelf in Giant marked down to $25.

[@Olivia-W]

Whoa. That's a good catch.

[@IisKryptic]

you make the most uninteresting things, interesting.

[@LGR]

Glad you think so :)

[@tjja7321]

i thought you meant he made the most uninteresting videos and then i realized he made uninteresting objects into interesting videos

[@user-kq8ok4qy6t]

This is an interesting sentence !

[@fyto2418]

180,000 views in 2 days. Bet you're glad you made this follow up!

[@LGR]

Heh, I am indeed! Listening to my viewers pays off :)

[@testohtoby]

I've just bought a TI Nspire Cx for my math test...this calc gotta bring me to the moon and back for its cost and power...

[@Machtyn]

My school evaluated the TI-83 and the HP-48G. They allowed 4 students to test drive the devices. I got the HP-48G to play with. Boy did I enjoy that thing! It even allowed me to do calculations in a weird way, which stood out (and which was its eventual downfall). Essentially, the HP-48G and its more powerful sibling, the HP-48GX, relied on Polish notation - which makes sense on a push/pop stack of values. So, instead of 1+2 [Enter] gives you 3. 1 [Enter] 2 [Enter] + results in a 3. I still refer to Sweet Child of Mine as SCOM because that was the name of the file that played that song in beeps and blips on the HP-48.

[@logicone5667]

i love lgr tech tales.. please keep up the quality and the lgr tech tales series!

[@LGR]

Thank you! I've got another one on the way soon :)

[@derpinbird1180]

Other companies have stayed alive marketing to other countries i think. I havent heard of TI calculators over here, most of the graphing calculators i have ever seen have been HP

[@sallovic5890]

Derpin Bird where i live there are quite many ti calculators, we also use one of the newer models in school

[@RagPunker]

TI doesn't rely on calculators for the majority of their income, being only 3% of their sales. Chances are good that you have used some devices or driven some cars that have their chips in them though.

[@derpinbird1180]

Most makers don't, im just saying over here in aus its nothing but HP

[@AntiChangeling]

Derpin Bird I live in QLD, we used TI in the mid 2000s over here. Some Casios, I don't remember any HPs though.

[@derpinbird1180]

Im a bit younger so i only used graphs 05 onward, ive only seen hps but i haven't done super high math. Maybe its level or curriculum but ive never seen a ti

[@jeffw1267]

You can buy some old TIs for almost nothing. I bought the first-generation TI graphing calculator (c.1990) this year for just $7, including shipping. No box or manual but it works great.

[@ytgadfly]

One problem I noticed in the 90s with textbooks and as you mentioned the T1, is that the publishers made it super simple to adopt their system for professors including things like powerpoints for lectures and even tests. Lousy and lazy professors just required their students use those texts so they didnt have to create lesson plans themselves and just used the provided ones from these companies instead of picking the best book education wise. This also allowed the publishers to way overprice their books as you as a student had no choice but to buy the required text. BTW there is a TI clone for android, so really its insane they are still charging so much money for these calculators. I still have mine packed away and never touched it since university, showing how useful (or not) these calculators are in the real world.

[@jss302]

I still have my ti-82 from 1997 I used in highschool. I love it.. it's weird how a calculator can have sentimental value. it was the coolest when fellow classmates would share programs they created for it to easily solve multiple step math problems we would have to do.. it helped us all to do them quicker but at the same time we were unintentionally also learning cool dos-like programming skills. :) the ti-82 will always have a place in my heart lol

[@ThomasPlaysTheGames]

Well, my TI-84 has a periodic table, and polynomial root solvers, colour, and pacman/tetris.

[@iPelaaja1]

GG64du02 and dont even get me started on my TI-NSPIRE CX CAS :)

[@goeiecool9999]

CG64du02 You must be the coolest kid in class!

[@beybladeguru101]

iPelaaja1 I can't get the GBA emulator working on my CX. I REALLY want to play Pokemon Emerald, but sadly it does not work, because they haven't updated it in 5 years.

[@qwertykeyboard5901]

dj51401 colour/color

[@no_4259]

Wiz hey, they called the PSP the PlayStation Pornable... still cheaper than a TI-84 Plus CE.

[@rolandkatsuragi]

5:21 Which is certainly the type of reaction Texas Instruments gladly anticipated

[@paftaf]

In the 90s in France, Casio was dominant, cheaper. Ti was not common. HP was the best, most coveted. Games were only on HP. I had a Ti 85. Loved it but I was dreaming of an HP 48

[@infinitworld7106]

Learning the fucking keystrokes are much harder than actually learning the equations

[@RomainSandt]

93% that's scary. When I was in High School (in France) we mostly had Casio, for only one reason, they looked more serious. One year Casio calculators became all round with bright colors, people started tu buy more Ti. But at the end, They were all pretty expensive machines that mostly were used for very simple tasks.

[@davidguinn5355]

After I had finished using it, my TI-83 was grabbed by our dog and buried under a bush in our yard. I found it sticking out of the dirt presumably months later, and it still worked! My sister later used it when she went to college.

[@KerbalLauncher]

Fun Fact, I spoke to someone who works at TI in their analog OP Amp department, 2% of their revenue comes from selling calculators. Most of the their revenue comes from selling analog ICs (signal processing and power management) to industrial customers. They are the industry leader in analog ICs; their largest competitor, Analog Devices Inc. has slightly more than half of the market share that TI has.