TI 89 Graphing Calculator For Dummies For Dummies Math & Science

Customer Reviews

It's ok

2008-07-12
This book is of course much better than the horrible manual that comes w/the 89 (who were they kidding)...however, it could be MUCH better at showing how to imput expressions or equations. I am a math idiot...the TI89 has saved my butt (I just need to take Algebra even though I am a history major) but if you do not know EXACTLY how to enter say a radical then you are left hanging. The examples that are shown are good, but for much less complicated problems...not dealing w/indexes and exponents at the same time. Unless I've missed something. I've had to call TI tech support to teach me how to input various problems...and they were very helpful....now if they would only rewrite THEIR manual and not assume everyone is a math wizard.

Title says it all

2008-05-31
This is a good book, I do wish it talked more about the other apps that come with or are available for free, and i would of liked to have seen more information on computer to calc interface, and programming. but all in all, the book assumes you know nothing about anything, and is good to get you started. The programing can come later(also, one might imagine that someone who is ready to program is not typically a "Dummy"). What is nice about this book though is that you dont have to read it front to back, you can jump around to find something that you are specifically looking for. the price at a book store or anywhere else is kinda high so amazon.com is probably the cheapest your gonna find it.

TI-89 for dummies

2008-04-06
The book was helpful explaining the basics and also gave me a little confidence to read the textbook.

TI-89 For Dummies

2008-03-08
The TI-89 for Dummies book is an excellent supplement to the TI-89 owner's manual. The book is logically organizaed by subject area and is easy to follow. I highly recommend it if you're "new" to the TI-89.

JML

Wonderful book - perfect for the first-timeTI-89 owner!

2008-02-29
This book (like all books I've read in the "For Dummies" series) is wonderful. The book assumes you've just purchased a TI-89 and starts off acquainting you with the basic info you need to operate the TI-89; then delves into subject-specific (trig, calculus, matrices, etc) chapters. Each chapter past the intro chapter stands alone, so you don't have to read the book cover-to-cover to take advantage of the TI-89. When a chapter refers to a step that is covered in another chapter, the text clearly explains where to quickly find the preliminary information.

Another good point in the book is that when describing button press sequences on the calculator, the name of the key is called out, and not the name of the function it performs (e.g. when describing the use of the inverse tangent function, the book tells you to press "2nd T" (the names of the keys as they appear on buttons), instead of telling you to press tan^-1, and leaving it up to you to figure out which sequence of keystrokes will give this fn.

TI-89 Calculator guide

2008-02-22
Do you own a TI-89, TI-89 Titanium, TI-92 Plus, or a Voyage 200 graphing calculator? If you do, or if you need to get one for school or your job, then you need to know how it works and how to make the most of its functions.

TI-89 For Dummies is the plain-English nuts-and-bolts guide that gets you up and running on all the things your TI-89 can do, quickly and easily. This hands-on reference guides you step by step through various tasks and even shows you how to add applications to your calculator. Soon you’ll have the tools you need to:

Solve equations and systems of equations
Factor polynomials
Evaluate derivatives and integrals
Graph functions, parametric equations, polar equations, and sequences
Create Stat Plots and analyze statistical data
Multiply matrices
Solve differential equations and systems of differential equations
Transfer files between two or more calculators
Save calculator files on your computer

Packed with exciting and valuable applications that you can download from the Internet and install through your computer, as well as common errors and messages with explanations and solutions, TI-89 For Dummies is the one-stop reference for all your graphing calculator questions!

Great TI-89 starter book 2008-02-15
It's great at showing how to do work with the most used Math-oriented functions and problems. It's also has *very* good chapters on Probability and Statistics which explain the most basic things in an easy to learn way (so easy that I was seamlessly doing my Probability homework on the *first* day I received my TI-89 calculator and this book!). Those looking for a hand at how to work with Physics with the TI, look elsewhere. I'd recommend it to any TI-89/92 user.

A simple instruction manual 2008-01-11
A good book to complement the TI-89 instruction manual. Not a replacement, but a good supplement that anyone can understand.

Could be better 2007-10-27
This book was helpful. I expected a little more from this book I expected an easy and helpful read but it read like the calculators manual a lot of the more important functions of the calculator were hard to find. I needed the calculator for Statistics yet the book covered very little if any of the statistical functions of the calculator.

Could have been so much better 2007-05-27
I debated if to give this two or three stars, and I'm giving it two simply because I expect better from the For Dummies series of book.

First for the good stuff. I'm not sure you can get another book for the TI-89 for this price that will help you get started with the calculator. And I did learn stuff from the book. So if you just spent $150 to buy the calculator, and you need an inexpensive book to help you get started, this is the book.

But the bad is this. This book seems to me to have been a rushed job. I don't believe it was fully edited and critiqued before it was published. A lot of words were wasted repeating the same information over and over. In part three of the books it seemed like each chapter had a section on analyzing that was just like the section in the other chapters. Also, it seemed like the Zooming functions were re-explained a lot. In chapter seven, pictures are shown of graphs that where graphed on the calculator, but we are not give the formulas so we can graph it on our calculator (I used the formulas .5x-sin(x) and 1/3+x, but not exactly the same as what's used in the book), making it hard to follow alone with the instructions the book is giving. Much the same thing is done in chapter 20. I never did figure out chapter nine, but maybe I don't know enough about sequences.

Although the book was helpful, almost everything in it could have been explained better. And I wish more time would have been taken explaining the calculator itself, such as the differences between it and the other TI graphing calculators, some basics about how the applications that come with it work, and the meaning of the stuff you see when you use the 2nd & MEM keys. It's an okay starter book, but with a little more effort it could have much, much better.