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What is the best calculator for Software Engineering or Engineering Physics majors?

My son needs a new calculator. He is going to the University of Wisconsin Platteville to major in Software Engineering or Engineering Physics? What is the best calculator to buy him for these majors? He currently owns a TI 84+ and loves it, but the keys are beginning to stick and it is having some other problems. What calculator should I buy for him as a surprise for Christmas?

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1. It's been a while since I graduated with an Electrical Engineering degree from the US Coast Guard Academy, but any good scientific calculator can work. I would call the department and ask them what they recommend. One thing to be aware of is that we were not allowed calculators that could store programs. That may not be an issue now with PDA phones, but you may want to ask the department that question. Congrats to you and your son and good luck!
2. when u go to university, a calculator is out of date. u use compiler like visual basic, visual fortran, visual c++...etc. i forget matlab. matlab is a mathematical symbolic language. try visual fortran for scientist and engineer that can adapt into u pc. now u're really talking. if u insist on calculator, try texas instrument but my friend uses hp. texas instrument uses input like elementary school where hp uses input like assembler language. the odd thing is now i have a hp with intel chips which still uses 1+1=2 and not 1 enter 1 +? u can use matlab if u buy books from wiley. they let u use it online.
3. I would buy a TI-89 because it can do symbolic operations, which can save a lot of time (and frustration) in a lot of classes like fluid dynamics and vector calc. Once your son gets in, he will probably realize that software such MATLAB is the way to go though. I would still definitely have a TI-89!
4. Texas Instruments TI-89 Titanium Graphing Calculator or Texas Instruments TI-89 Advanced Graphing Calculator http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26rs%3D%26ref_%3Dsr%255Fnr%255Fi%255F0%26keywords%3Dcalculator%2520%2520TI-89%2520%26qid%3D1260087902%26rh%3Di%253Aaps%252Ck%253Acalculator%2520%2520TI-89%2520%252Ci%253Aoffice-products&tag=digitsy-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957