!8: Ti Scientific Calculator Buy Now: December 2011

Monday, December 26, 2011

The Top 6 Calculator Apps For the iPhone

!±8± The Top 6 Calculator Apps For the iPhone

Our recent article on the top 6 calculator apps for Android was a big hit, and since then we've been getting search inquiries about iOS. You asked for it, and we are delivering. We've searched out Apple's app store for our favorite 6 calculator apps for the iPhone and iPod touch. Since there was a wide disparity in cost of apps, we set the ground rule that we were searching for apps that cost less than . In fact, this list turned out to be our favorite 6 iPhone calculator apps for under .

#1 Graphing Calculator+ by xNeat.com

Graphing Calculator+ is our pick for the best all around iPhone calculator app. It greatest strength is that it does so many different things well. A switch button takes you easily between the calculators different modes. Those modes are graphing, scientific, handwriting, a polynomial calculator, and linear equations calculator. There's still room for improvement. In particular, we wish the scientific calculator had fractions, and that the grapher had trace. But the app is simple and powerful, and the fact that it automatically finds max, min, intercepts, and intersection points pretty much makes up for the lack of trace.

Pros: Handwriting support, graphing scientific, quadratic and cubic solver, systems of linear equations

Cons: Handwriting mode not always accurate, decimals only

Cost: .99

#2 Graphicus by Serafim Chekalkin

We are huge fans of Graphicus. If only every graphing calculator were this easy to use. No need to read the user manual here, just jump right in. Graphicus brings you almost all the information you could want about Cartesian, polar, and parametrics graphs in an incredibly elegant interface. Trace, extrema, inflection points, tangent lines are all readily available with a few taps of your finger. On the downside, there is no simple scientific calculator. It's also a minor bummer that there's no 3D in an app that's 100% focused on graphing, but there's only one app on this list that has 3D.

Pros: Offers everything graphical, intercepts, trace, inflection points, max/min, complete

Cons: Just a grapher

Cost: .99

#3 Symbolic Calculator by Janos Barkai

If you need a CAS for your iPhone, this is the app for you. For those who have used a TI-89, you'll feel right at home with with Symbolic Calculator. The focus of this app is it's computer algebra system, and the interface is pretty easy to use for those familiar with Texas Instrument's CAS calculators. If you're new to CAS's, just tap the question mark next to a given command, and an example will pop up demonstrating how to use the syntax appropriately. You can also use this app to graph, although it feels a little counter-intuitive until you get the hang of it, and the graphing features are simplistic compared to some of the other apps on this list.

Pros: For a CAS, simple to use, offers example input for each

Cons: Graphing could be nicer, mathprint only after inputting

Cost: $.99

#4 Graph It by Tezmo

Another excellent grapher is Graph It. This is also full featured grapher, which offers the ability to trace, find intercepts, and roots, as well as graph derivatives and integrals. It also offers a full scientific calculator with two-line display. The user interface is ok, but might take some getting used to for some users, particularly for the scientific calculator mode.

Pros: Full featured grapher, also a full scientific calculator

Cons: UI takes a little getting used to

Cost: $.99

#5 Quick graph by Columbiamug

For those in need of a 3D graphing app, Quick Graph is the way to go. There are other positives here too such as a strong user interface, simple to use polar coordinates,and a good 2D graphing interface. Screen caps are another built in feature. The real selling point, though, is the 3D, which is well rendered and even accepts cylindrical and spherical coordinates. It is possible to use this app as a scientific calculator, but the interface feels a little strange.

Pros: Polar and 3D, screen caps of graphs

Cons: No trace features, don't feel designed for non-graphing calculation

Cost: Free

#6 Powerone LE by Infinity Softworks

Not everyone is looking for a fancy grapher. For those looking for a more standard scientific calculator, Powerone LE fits the bill. It's got a very intuitive interface that you'll pick up right away. Powereone also features unit conversion and a currency converter that stays current to international currency exchange rates. Additionally, its got a simple statistics calculator that finds the mean of a series of numbers. It could be better if the scientific features used a two-line interface.

Pros: Easy to use, nice UI, currency/unit converter, stays current, simple statistical analysis

Cons: One line calculation, no graphing

Cost: Free with option to upgrade to more powerful version for .99

The Top 6 Calculator Apps For the iPhone

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Sunday, December 11, 2011

SMART Board - Pros and Cons of Using a Digital, Interactive Whiteboard (In the Classroom)

!±8± SMART Board - Pros and Cons of Using a Digital, Interactive Whiteboard (In the Classroom)

We used a smart board to teach with in the computer lab at school. Essentially, a SMART board turns your digital projector / LCD Projector image into an interactive whiteboard that you can write on.

The SMART Board itself is a touch-sensitive giant screen that is connected to your computer. You use your digital projector to display your computer screen onto the SMART board and the software allows you to touch and interact with your computer.
As more and more school boards and teachers are investing in data projectors, it begs the question whether SMART Boards are a good investment. After all, an intuitive touch interface plus the ability to write on digital documents (with digital ink) would help us to move beyond blackboards, flip chart paper, and overhead projectors.

Pros

With the SMART Board, you can control any application through the touch board. So instead of working from behind the computer keyboard, you (or your students) can be at the front of the classroom physically interacting with the display. You can use any of the 4 colours of markers or the eraser to write in digital ink over applications, web pages, or moving video. The SMART board still works if you lose the pens. (There are 4 coloured pen holders and one eraser. When you lift the pen out of the slot, it selects the colour or the eraser. When you touch the screen, it uses the selected color or the eraser.) Like other digital ink software applications, you can save your work into a notebook file, and you can convert handwriting into text. Cons

Hard to write. The biggest disappointment with the digital ink comes from the fact that a SMART Board is a front-mounted projection screen. This means that your data projector is set up in front of the screen (like an overhead projector). Which means that when you stand in between the projector and the screen, you cast a shadow on the screen... right where you are trying to write. Sure, it was cool to interact with programs by touching the screen, but, it was hard to write notes because you were constantly blocking the image. Hard to write neatly. To be perfectly honest, it was a little disappointing how our handwriting turned out on the SMART Board. Better than our experiences with the other digital pens (i.e. the i-pen), but the handwriting was still large, blocky, and messy. One of the things you have to train yourself to do is to not lean up against the SMART Board. When you write on a blackboard or white board, you typically rest the edge of your palm on the board. If you do that on a touch screen, the cursor jumps to your palm and it doesn't work out. You have to train yourself to just write using the tip of the pen. The marker worked fine if we wanted to underline or circle key ideas, but if you wanted to edit or revise a 12 point, double-spaced Word Document, you'd have a hard time getting the control required. You still have to move back and forth from the keyboard to the screen. We could start up our web browser by touching the SMART board, but when it came time to enter in the website address, we had to go back to the desk to type in the URL. Expensive. The Total Cost of Ownership of a SMART Board can be prohibitive for the classroom teacher. Retail cost of a 77? (195.6cm) front-projection SMART Board Interactive whiteboard is 99 (USD) with a grant from the SMARTer Kids Foundation of Canada. (www.SmarterKids.org) You need to supply your own data projector. A new, decent projector will cost around 0 - 00. The SMART Board is just a giant touch pad. Your need to provide your own projector to display the image onto the smart board. (Software, connection cables, and stand are included.) You may want to upgrade to a wireless connection (9 USD) to eliminate the cables and the tripping hazards in the classroom. The screen image and the SMART Board touch screen may get knocked out of alignment. This means that when you try to click a button, the mouse pointer appears a few inches to the side. You'll have to realign your hardware which would interrupt the lesson.