For science students and professionals, finding the best graphing calculator for their specific needs can be a daunting task. Manufacturers don't really advertise what they can't do, and sometimes a missing feature can make a $100/$80 investment worth as much as turning your money on. Fortunately, we're here to help you find the right graphing calculator for back-to-school students taking standardized tests, general lab work, and even business use. While we haven't gone through any of these papers officially, some of us have made it through college-level trig and calculus using them, so if it's good enough for us to integrate into parts, they're good enough to address almost anything you can throw at it that doesn't require a graduate degree to be tested.
The best graphing calculators at a glance
1. Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus CE
School Staple Gets Color UpdateDisplay: high resolution backlit color | Battery: rechargeable lithium-ion | Memory: 154KB RAM | Passed exams: PSAT, SAT, ACT, NMBST, AP, IB | Dimensions (H x W x D): 7.5 x 3.42 x 0.62 inches (190.5 x 86.86 x 15.74mm) | Weight: 12 ounces (340 grams) Lightweight Backlit display Rechargeable battery Expensive When it comes to the best graphing calculators for high school and college students, you can't beat the TI-84 series calculators. The latest model, the TI-84 Plus CE, has all the features you'd expect from a classy graphing calculator, but with a modern backlit color display and comes preloaded with several useful math apps. It has a rechargeable battery that should give you about two weeks on a single charge, saving you extra money on batteries for several years of high school, college, and cycle math classes. superiors
2. Casio FX-9750GII
The perfect pocket graphing calculatorDisplay: monochrome LCD | Battery: 4 AAA alkaline batteries | Memory: 62KB RAM | Passed exams: PSAT, SAT, ACT, NMBST, AP, IB | Dimensions (H x W x D): 7.5 x 3.42 x 0.62 inches (190.5 x 86.86 x 15.74mm) | Weight: 7.6 ounces (215.45 grams) Very portable Very affordable No built-in battery A graphing calculator can be an expensive piece of equipment, with some mid- to high-end units costing north of $100 / £80 / AU$140. If you'll need it after the semester ends, the Casio FX-9750GII is probably the best graphing calculator. It's powerful enough to handle everything from math to finance to statistics, without any of the cost-increasing bells and whistles of other graphing calculators. Unfortunately, one of those missing features is a rechargeable battery, but the four included AAA batteries should get you around 200 hours of use, which might be enough to get you through your final exam. If you need them beyond that, expect to spend new batteries at the start of the next semester.
3. HP Prime
One touch touch screen on graphing calculatorDisplay: high resolution color touch screen | Battery: rechargeable lithium-ion | Memory: 256MB Flash | Passed exams: PSAT, SAT, ACT, NMBST, AP, IB | Dimensions (H x W x D): 7.13 x 3.38 x 0.55 inches (182.3 x 85.8 x 13.9mm) | Weight: 8.04 ounces (228 grams) 16-bit color touch screen Large memory Expensive The HP Prime definitely updates the standard graphing calculator design to offer a more modern form factor and 16-bit multi-touch screen. It also has 256MB of flash memory, which is far more than you'll find on many other graphing calculators. However, all this glare comes at a price, making the Prime one of the most expensive consumer graphing calculators on the market, and it should be noted that it's not quite as good as some of its competitors. A bit cheaper.
4. Texas Instruments TI-83 Plus
The Cadillac of pre-calculus graphing calculatorsDisplay: monochrome LCD | Battery: 4xAAA alkaline | Memory: 24KB RAM | Passed exams: PSAT, SAT, ACT, NMBST, AP, IB | Dimensions (H x W x D): 11.3 x 7.5 x 1.4 inches (287 x 190.5 x 35.5mm) | Weight: 7.2 ounces (204.1 grams) Perfect for pre-calculation work. Limited display Bulky Graphing calculators really fall into two different categories, those that can do math and those that can't. If you don't need to do any differentiation or integration, the Texas Instruments TI-83 Plus is definitely the best graphing calculator you can buy. It has been a mainstay of algebra, geometry, and trigonometry classes around the world. It's not the flashiest or most powerful calculator on the market, but it's perfect for looking at quadratic and exponential functions. While it's not the cheapest calculator on the market, it's been around for so long that you can find great deals online without much effort.
5. Desmos web and mobile application
Because everything is free on the internet < p class="specs__container">Display: N/A | Battery: N/A | Memory: N/A | Passed exams: none | Dimensions (H x W x D): N/A | Weight: N/A Powerful functionality Looks great Free Did we mention it's free? Can't be used on standardized tests Probably can't use it on other tests either Why pay for a graphing calculator when you can use the free Desmos web or mobile app? Well, if you want to use it for the SAT or AP calculus I guess, but if you just need homework help, Desmos has you covered. The simple, elegant design lets you do everything from graphing algebraic equations to differentiating and integrating with ease. While portable graphing calculator displays are small things, Desmos allows you to graph as many interactive functions as you want on a full screen, resulting in highly dynamic visualizations. The mobile version isn't quite as rugged as some of the expensive, exam-approved graphing calculators, but it's certainly the best graphing calculator you'll find without spending any real money.- Back to School 2020 will definitely be different and we are here to guide you through what you will need. Whether you're actually going back to school or taking distance online courses, we've developed a series of step-by-step guides for students, teachers, and parents to make sure you're buying the right technology and accessories.