Hi, I want to self-study some pure math. I have a TI-84 CE from high school. But that thing is like 8-bit and it graphs quite slow. Even the python editions are 8-bit. When i think of 8-bit, i think of the old atari game consoles from the 80’s.

Are graphing calculators obsolete in this day and age?

There are only 2 good 32-bit calculators that are not ancient dinosaurs and those are the hp prime g2 and the TI-Inspire cas editions.

Should i buy one of those or skip them all together for R / Julia programming languages?

Apart from quick and one-off calculations, they don’t seem very usefull.

  • While smartphones and computers have become serious competition for graphing calcs, academia’s slow to adjust, so they’ll be your only option for a good while if that’s part of your path. Because of this, it’s definitely worth getting comfy on one and there’s countless videos online. As far as the specific one, that’s totally your choice. The more obscure it is though, the harder it gets to find help with the more intricate applications. TI-8X’s are nice as even classmates or friends can lend a hand. But graphing calcs have been and will be the only way to take a math course, the choice is yours when it comes to which one you want to though, but it helps to choose wisely!