
The official stance by the college board is that you won’t gain an advantage on the SAT or AP test by having a CAS-enabled calculator like the TI-89, but in my experience, you will. Of the “big 3,” you can use it on the SAT and AP Calculus test but not the ACT. The TI-89 is legal on most standardized tests. It’s also a great calculator for most standardized test takers.

This means it can solve equations both for a numerical solution like x=4, but also for an answer that involves x (say “x+x=2x.” Of course, that’s just the tiniest tip of the iceberg, as a CAS can be used to simply algebraic and trigonometric expressions, solve equations, integrate and differentiate and much more. This is a really powerful ability to be able to carry around with you. It has a computer algebra system, or CAS. This calculator is great for those in late high school and college, particularly those taking calculus or above.

Texas Instruments still supports this calculator, so you can always go to their website to update the operating system and add free apps as they are released. The Titanium version has more memory, a sleeker appearance than the original, and an OS that can be updated. Since 2004, the most recent version of this calculator has been the TI-89 Titanium. By contrast, the TI-89, which has almost identical menu system and features, is the size of a normal graphing calculator and has is legal on most tests, including the SAT (but not the ACT). The TI-92 was a great calculator, but it was huge and because it had a QWERTY keyboard, it was banned from almost every standardized test (because for some reason the College Board feels that allowing calculator manufacturers to place keys in QWERTY format gives students an insurmountable advantage on the SAT).

The original TI-89, a smaller version of the old TI-92, was released in 1998 after Texas Instruments realized people didn’t want to have to pack a suitcase to bring their calculator to class. It’s been almost 2 years since I first reviewed one of my favorite graphing calculators with a computer algebra system, the TI-89 Titanium.

To check the TI-89 Titanium Price on Amazon.
