Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Mathematics/2008 September 4

= September 4 =

Plot request
Can someone plot an excel line graph for me and send it to me by e-mail or attach a rapidshare link ? I am an absolute wally when it comes to computers so please help me. Here is the table of data. It is a distance-time graph. Here it is: distance (km) time (min) 0.2       0.5 0.2        1 1.2       3 1.2       3.5 2.5       5 2.5       5.5 4.4       7 7.3      11 7.3      11.5 8.3      13 9.2      13.5 9.5      16 Please send it to me at [email address redacted to prevent spam] or upload it and give me a link. Thank you in advance.
 * Saintrain (talk) 20:52, 4 September 2008 (UTC)


 * You would be far better off learning to use Excel (or some other spreadsheet program). There are plenty of courses and online tutorials out there. We're not going to do it for you, that's not the purpose of this desk. We're here to help you learn and doing your work for you won't help that at all. --Tango (talk) 22:05, 4 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Is this some kind of zig-zag thingy with all the vertical lines? &#x2013; b_jonas 20:29, 6 September 2008 (UTC)

Calculator for student in college
Hello, I need to buy a graphing calculator for a student in college. I understand he is using a TI-89 (not titanium) now. He is a Math major and will most likely go to do graduate study in Math. What graphing calculator should I get for him? The TI-83 plus is significantly cheaper than a TI-89 Titanium (and there is a newer model already). However, TI-89 has CAS which earlier models don't. Is the TI-89 accepted in major tests like the GRE (general, Physics, Math, Chemistry) and so on?

Do you think the additional cost of the TI-89 is justified? How about a TI-89 Titanium? I also wonder if he is going to end up doing most of his work on a notebook computer or something. Thanks a lot. You guys are awesome! Kushal (talk) 23:18, 4 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I'm studying maths at Uni and have never needed a graphing calculator. They are banned from all exams offered by my department (few exams allow a calculator at all and those that do only allow a basic scientific calculator) and outside exams a computer is usually much better. Are you sure he really needs it? If it's for a particular course, whoever is taking the course will be able to recommend one, or at least give you a list of features he'll need. --Tango (talk) 00:20, 5 September 2008 (UTC)


 * He is taking a bunch of math classes with different professors. I don't want to overkill (or get a calculator so sophisticated that he cannot use in tests) but I want to buy him a decent graphing calculator so that it does not become worthless in his advanced graduate work. I am in the US, if it helps any. Kushal (talk) 00:41, 5 September 2008 (UTC)
 * He'll need to find out what the rules are if he wants to use it in exams. What area of Maths does he expect to do graduate study in? Unless its stats, I can't see him needing a graphics calculator for that any more than he needs one for undergrad work, and even then it's unlikely. --Tango (talk) 00:50, 5 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I don't know if this will help, but I'm studying Maths + Physics at a Uni in the UK. I bought a graphical calculator when I started at College (which is 16-18 here) and found it very useful, I was also allowed to use it in all of my exams.  At university, I have very rarely had any use for it, and I am not allowed to use it in any exams (the university has a ban on some of its features, such as being able to store text).  Another thing to consider is that his university might well have some  CAS software like Matlab or  Maple on its computers, which can do anything a graphing calculator can, plus much more (and a lot faster).84.12.252.210 (talk) 10:31, 5 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, 84, we do have Maple in all departmentally owned computers. He could get Maple for his Macbook too. However, I am not sure any teacher in the department would allow using a MacBook in finals. This brings me to another question. Is the USB thingy for the titanium even compatible with macs? We have Intel Macbook with Tiger on it. Thanks. Kushal (talk) 12:32, 5 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I am a graduate student in math at Nebraska, and I use my TI-89 all the time for various things. On the other hand, in "advanced graduate work" any calculator is fairly useless, since most advanced math classes focus much more on logical reasoning and proof-writing rather than numerical calculation. At this point in my studies an advanced graphing calculator with a CAS like the TI-89 is mostly just a convenient luxury, but since I use it primarily for its CAS capabilities it's much more useful to me than a TI-83 or TI-84. —Bkell (talk) 10:47, 5 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Bkell, do you ever use custom apps or use your TI-89 with a computer? How useful has the USB thingy been to you? Kushal (talk) 12:32, 5 September 2008 (UTC)


 * This might be too late to be helpful, but personally I don't ever use that stuff, mostly because I haven't really ever tried it and haven't felt that I'm lacking anything. When I used to write programs on my TI-86 I would use the computer link to save them so they wouldn't be lost if my calculator died or something, and I transferred games like Tetris the other way, but that was high school and Tetris is the primary reason to have a graphing calculator in high school ;-) —Bkell (talk) 13:37, 6 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Calculators never helped me in math classes (and we were rarely able to use them anyway). Where I did find the 89 very helpful though was in science classes. For instance I had physics tests which involved solving systems of sometimes three or four linear equations. They weren’t testing that skill, but you had to know how to do it. Thus I gained a significant time advantage to anyone with a lesser calculator by merely plugging it into the calculator and moving on with the physics. GromXXVII (talk) 22:13, 5 September 2008 (UTC)


 * When I was studying for my Math and Computer Science degree, I had a TI-86. It wasn't much use in math, but I found it quite handy in physics (among other things, I learned the hard way about numerical instability while writing a simulation program), and absolutely essential during humanities classes (writing a Minesweeper clone saved my sanity during some of the more boring lectures). --Carnildo (talk) 22:29, 5 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Thanks. I am getting him a TI-89 Titanium after all. Kushal (talk) 03:31, 6 September 2008 (UTC)