Which Calculator?

Professional Engineer & PE Exam Forum

Help Support Professional Engineer & PE Exam Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
My advice - get the cheapest possible calculator that NCEES approves - I had the HP 35s and the TI-36x for backup. While the HP 35s was more powerful (cause you can program equations really easy and use statistical regresssion, etc.) the TI-36x would still help me solve 98 % of the problems just as quick. Not to mention the TI was $12 and the HP $ 50. BIG price difference!

 
Has anyone tried the TI-36X II? I see it listed on the TI webpage, and Im liking the fact that it has a multi-line display. I was thinking of getting that and using my TI-36X Solar as a backup...

 
Has anyone tried the TI-36X II? I see it listed on the TI webpage, and Im liking the fact that it has a multi-line display. I was thinking of getting that and using my TI-36X Solar as a backup...
I had it first, but the button quality sucks (sometimes it misses inputs), and some of the features are not intuitive to use. I was a long time TI Graphing Calculator user, but I made the switch to the Casio rather easily. The Casio is a much better calculator.

 
I bought two fx-115 ES calculators at Wal-Mart and use one at the office and one at home. They work fine for me and I like the replay function for equations. The manual is crap though.

I guess it depends on what your using it for but for the ME PE it is a good choice.

 
I used a TI for my first two tries and bought the Casio on a whim for the third try and the Casio kicks the TI options ass. I chose TI because I worked with a TI-89, but the TI-30 is like a bank calculator. Casio is closer to the TI-89 than the TI is and that one it for me.

 
I bought the Casio fx-115ES (2 of them just in case). I like it so far but the user manual sucks! It's a poster size piece of paper folded into the size of a deck of cards. It's not a normal users manual....you basically have to throw it away. Also if you leave something on the screen and the auto-shutoff kicks it off you'll lose what's on the screen and the history. Other than that I do like it!

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I used the Casio fx-115ES for the FE exam and it is now my primary calculator at work (supplanting my TI-89 graphing calculator). The Casio's ability to handle matrix and vector operations allowed me to answer a number of the FE questions very quickly. I also made good use of the stats capabilities as well as several of the other functions.

Now I use it for routine arithmetic and unit conversions at work - I don't need the TI-89 for that, and 95% of the math that I do on a daily basis is no more than simple arithmetic.

I hope like heck it's still on the approved list when the time comes for me to take the PE in another year or two. I'll be ticked if I have to learn a new calculator...

I agree, the user manual is junk. I had better luck from downloading a PDF of the user manual and searching it for what I was looking for.

 
I bought the Casio fx-115ES (2 of them just in case). I like it so far but the user manual sucks! It's a poster size piece of paper folded into the size of a deck of cards. It's not a normal users manual....you basically have to throw it away.
Casio official website has manual available for download, i printed it out 4 pages to one side of 8.5x11 sheet of paper. A lot more convenient.

 
Or to let someone else borrow...as ridiculous as it is, there is inevitably at least one person who shows up without a calculator or with one that isn't allowed
YKW don't need no calculator.

Has anyone tried the TI-36X II? I see it listed on the TI webpage, and Im liking the fact that it has a multi-line display. I was thinking of getting that and using my TI-36X Solar as a backup...
I used it. you might want to get one ahead of time and practice with it, because the II means you input information differently. I was used to an 30Xa and hated the 30XSII. Matter of fact, I entombed one in the Worley exhibit and traded my backup to a guy in the office who took the exam the next cycle.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I used it. you might want to get one ahead of time and practice with it, because the II means you input information differently. I was used to an 30Xa and hated the 30XSII. Matter of fact, I entombed one in the Worley exhibit and traded my backup to a guy in the office who took the exam the next cycle.
??? I used a 30XSII when I took the exam...how is info entered any differently on that one?

 
I hope no one switches their calculator at this point (T minus 1 day). Use whatever (NCEES-approved) calculator you studied with!

 
I used a TI-30XIIS for the exam, but only because it was given to me and I didn't think the FX-115 was allowed. I've used the Casio FX-115 in the past, and it is a far superior calculator. The buttons are more responsive, and it has a much better "feel" than the TI-30X did. You really have to mash the buttons on the TI to make them respond (at least a lot more than you do with the Casio).

I still went with the TI for the exam even after finding out that I could have used the Casio because I had studied with it. Go with what you know.

 
I enjoyed my HP 33s. My first HP and RPN was easy to pick up. I saved time on the water res. and transportation questions by programming some of the equations into the HP.

 
Casio 115 Es = The best and only $18 at Target or Walmart. It does more than you will need it to and uses solar and battery. 2 line display as well.

 
Casio for me. I used it for the longest time without realizing the many neat features. For example, in solver mode, you can specify variables with letters A, B, C etc, then plug values in. I used this to plug in the 4 multiple choice answers or values from tables in the question to see with came out. You can do something similar with the table function. Its too bad they don't publish a better instruction guide that explains better what you can do.

 
??? I used a 30XSII when I took the exam...how is info entered any differently on that one?
XSII you have to hit enter to get the answer; the Xa gives an answer per operation. Hard to expain.

Let's say the equation is 4*(3-1). With the Xa you'd hit 3 - 1 = * 4 to get the answer. With the XSII, you'd hit 4 * ( 3 - 1 ) = to get the answer. To me, the Xa is faster to use, but the XSII is better for iterative stuff.

 
All right! Glad to see we've got some fellow Casio lovers in the house.
Too many wacky RPN folks around here.
RPN RPN RPN

I forced myself to learn RPN for the test... yes I know I will be the butt of a joke or two for that... but I wanted to do every little thing I could to shave every second (or fraction of a second in this case) off each problem I had to do...

Now I don't really have a preference, I use both daily, it just really sucks switching between the two

 
I used a Casio, and had a TI36 solar for backup. Somebody at my test brought a TI-91. When the proctor took it away he asked, "what am I supposed to use?"

the proctor replied, "not this" and walked away. LOL

 
Back
Top