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Zero ZGC4: A Better Graphing Calculator for School and Beyond

12 points

by uticus

5 days ago

| past

| 10 comments

| zerocalculators.com

| HN

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skywal_l

1 hour ago

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> USB-C charging—no more scrambling for AAA batteries

Bear with me if you’ve already seen this comment, but I dug out my old TI-89 a while ago for some reason, and all I had to do was plug in four AAA batteries and it worked.

If it had been fitted with a rechargeable battery, 30 years ago, even assuming it was still functional, I would have needed to recharge it... but with what?

Now we have USB-C rechargeable AA/AAA batteries, so there’s really no excuse.

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EvanAnderson

20 minutes ago

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I haven't seen that comment, but please keep making it every time it's relevant.

Non-user-replaceable batteries are terrible. It turns devices into e-waste. I wish device manufacturers would understand that. I wish consumers would understand that.

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fn-mote

1 minute ago

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> I wish device manufacturers would understand that.

Device manufacturers want you to buy another one. They understand. Consumers, not so much.

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fasterik

9 minutes ago

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Is there actually a use case for graphing calculators anymore? Desmos provides a great graphing program for free in a web browser. In any professional capacity you would be using MATLAB or Mathematica.

I mostly remember playing games on my TI-84 in high school. We used it in class maybe once or twice. None of my college classes allowed graphing calculators on tests, so ironically I had to buy a "dumb" calculator even though I owned the fancy one.

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exmadscientist

1 hour ago

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It doesn't look like it has a CAS (so it's not for mathematicians), and the scientific notation key isn't prominent (so it's not for scientists or engineers), so... who is it for? Part of the thing with the older TI calculators is that they were good for professionals, too, not just students. (My TI-89 is still in intermittently-very-heavy use 30 years later!)

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mayoff

1 hour ago

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When my daughter finally needed one of those godawful monopoly-priced calculators for school, we went to the nearest pawn shop and found a TI 84 Plus, opened, for $40, and a TI 84 Plus CE in its unopened (but roughed up) original packaging for $65.

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t-3

1 hour ago

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It's the same price as a "standard" TI graphing calculator, has ugly buttons, and doesn't appear to have any special features in the software to distinguish it from competitors. What exactly is supposed to be better about this?

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jgon

1 hour ago

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The standard TI graphing calculator offered to schools is the TI-84 Plus CE, which is generally 140USD and up. This calculator is currently offered for 89USD so you're already immediately incorrect on the pricing. The battery in this one is roughly 50% larger but that doesn't translate to better battery life necessarily. They both allow for programming with Python but this calculator would have to try incredibly hard to be worse at Python that the TI calculator, so I'd probably say it has an edge there too.

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glimshe

15 minutes ago

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I got my kid's on eBay for $50 during summer break... Looked almost brand new

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t-3

41 minutes ago

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I've always seen TI-84s being advertised for $90-$100 new and often being given away for free as hand-me-downs. Amazon also shows me many models from 90-110.

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natas

40 minutes ago

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Take a look at Swissmicros' DM42n + DB48x.

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jared0x90

1 hour ago

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try page's pre-order link at the top goes to a 404

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soumyaskartha

1 hour ago

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Graphing calculators are one of those markets that barely moved for 30 years because TI had schools locked in. Anything that breaks that is worth paying attention to.

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speedgoose

1 hour ago

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How does it compares to the NumWorks?

Does it have a CAS?

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andyfilms1

1 hour ago

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Another calculator with no backlit keypad. Am I the only one that wants to use a calculator after the sun goes down?