Best Scientific Calculators

The Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus CE is the company's sleekest, most attractive calculator yet. Its body is 30% more lightweight and less bulky than the previous models. The rechargeable battery that this device is using lets you forget about replacing batteries. You'll be working with pre-loaded apps as well as images. But the biggest change is the MathPrint™ feature. With this feature, you can input and view math symbols, formulas, and stacked fractions as they look in textbooks.

Apart from that, the model enables importing photos from computers and pairing them with graphs so that you can create a more engaging learning experience. Including grid lines, you can also make these graphs (as well as separate graphs) easily readable.

Color-coding the equations, plots, and objects, the calculator makes sure you can always distinguish between multiple graphs and plots. The screen even displays date and time, meaning that you can study without worrying about losing the track of time.

The product's downsides are only limited to the prints on the keys that start wearing out with time. Besides that, the Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus CE is not just the most attractive and practical but also the most capable scientific and engineering calculator from Texas Instruments.

The HP 35s model is one of the few graphing calculators which enables you to choose between two popular data entry systems, namely the reverse Polish notation (RPN) and the algebraic logic. The reverse Polish notation (RPN) is a notation of mathematical and logical expressions, in which operands are placed before operator symbols. This representation type known as reverse Polish notation is also called a reverse bracket-free notation (RBN), postfix notation, Lukasiewicz’s bracket-free notation.

As for the algebraic logic, it is simpler to implement as it requires only two operation registers for two last operands and saving the last entered operation. This kind of notation is quite convenient for performing simple calculations, for example in instances when a user hasn't prepared the whole calculations sequence beforehand but performs all calculations on the fly instead; with that, a user is interested only in the current operation and its results.

This functionality shows that this versatile HP 35s graphing calculator that supports the reverse Polish notations and programming functionality provides comfort and ease of use. This model is one of the best graphing calculations for engineers, surveyors, students, research assistants and health professionals.

Did you know that the Texas Instruments company, aside from producing graphing calculators, is engaged in the manufacturing of semiconductor devices, microcircuits, electronic components and related products? The company itself was founded on December 6, 1941, and is headquartered in Dallas city, Texas, USA. Worth mentioning is the Texas Instruments’ geography and scale that makes it the fourth largest manufacturer of semiconductor devices having ceded the leadership only to Intel, Samsung, and Toshiba. The company holds a leading position in the manufacture of mobile device microcircuits as well as in the digital signal processors (DSP) and analog semiconductors. TI also produces microchips for wideband modems and PC peripherals, electronic consumer devices, and RFID tags. Remarkably, in 2009 the company occupied the 215th position in Fortune 500 top list.

Back to this device though, despite its comparatively low price the reviewed calculator offers the feature list that makes it distinguishable among competing graphing calculators. The Texas Instruments TI-36X Pro device, notwithstanding its monochrome screen, offers some advantages in terms of data display. The MultiView ™ LCD display, with which the manufacturer equips the graphing calculators of this line accommodates up to 4 alphanumeric lines with 16 symbols in each. Thus you will be able to view several calculation results simultaneously, which is extremely convenient in terms of their comparison. The display menu is organized in a rational and intuitive way; this simplicity enables you to quickly access frequently used functions and offers a special hint mode, which greatly facilitates the numerical solution of equations, polynomial equations, and linear equation systems.

The Casio FX-115ES Plus will work for high school students, college students, as well as people whose work revolves around or entails calculus, statistics, physics, and engineering. The latter group can even use the calculator on construction sites since the protective hard case should usually be able to provide sufficient impact and shock resistance.

Of course, this is Casio we're talking about, which means that the model also does not disappoint functionality-wise. You'll be able to utilize 40 scientific constants. The calculator will enable numeric integration and differentiation. You'll be able to solve both simultaneous and polynomial equations. Matrix and vector calculations is something that this device is also quite good at. While its predecessors sometimes struggled with prime factorization, this one decomposes prime numbers without breaking a sweat. Needless to say, the model handles complex number calculations like nobody's business.

But the font is the calculator's biggest enemy. While the screen imposes certain limitations, the people behind this product could have made the font less tiny anyway. As long as that's not an issue, the Casio FX-115ES Plus will let you streamline any line of work or study that involves numbers.

The Sharp EL501XBWH is the cheapest product within this lineup and it's not even close. Nevertheless, even when you start nitpicking, there's nothing necessarily upsetting about this device except that the keys are not quite as tactile as they could have been, so you cannot always tell when you've clicked one without looking at the screen. What you can do is perform above 130 scientific and math functions, meaning that the model can pretty easily handle general math, pre-algebra, algebra, trigonometry, entry-level statistics, and more. There's even one memory slot, which's not bad considering the price.

Appearance-wise, the model looks polished and almost elegant with its glossy black case and subtle but noticeable white accents. You can also replace them with green accents but we like the white ones more. What we also like is the protective case that will protect this device from scratches, preserving its polished appearance. The 10-digit, 1-line LCD screen is something we do not necessarily like but fine with, all things considered.

Bottom line, as long as you don't need fraction calculation, matrices, regression models, and physical constants, the Sharp EL501XBWH can handle pretty much everything else.