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1st year: Graphical Digital Calculators for exam ??

UglyDuckling

I'm an IB student and I'm using a GDC ...

Is GDC allowed during the university examination ?? Or do I need to buy another scientific calculator ??

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Reply 1

Christo

What course are you doing?

In Maths you were only allowed normal calculators for Discrete and Statistics and that was only because they didn't expect you to work out things like 10! and such. They're not really necessary for the rest of the modules anyway.

Durham University

Durham

i'm doing physics ..

Wait up for our resident physicists to arrive then. :smile:

Reply 4

cobra

no you won't, basically you can use a basic scientific calculator, no algebra, no graphs and no programming, they may ( they do in chemistry) give you a list of approved calculators. Having said that the only check is that you have to write what model of calculator you used on the front of the exam paper. + I can't see how a graphic calculator would help much

Reply 5

UglyDuckling

how come the ex-IB students in Durham never ask whether the GDC is allowed ??

Reply 6

cobra

psycho

how come the ex-IB students in Durham never ask whether the GDC is allowed ??

is it really a big issue what calculator you can use in an exam?

Reply 7

Aceofspades2345

cobra

is it really a big issue what calculator you can use in an exam?

It can be. You don't want to go spending 90 quid on a Texas TI-89 when yoiu can only use crap ones fron tesco. Also you don't want to be disqualified froim the exam for using "illegal" eqiupment. So it's reasonably important really.

Reply 8

cobra

Aceofspades2345

if you alredy have a graphical calculator its too late not to buy one, and when you're only doin IB then being disqualified from university exams probably shouldn't worry you at all

Reply 9

Aceofspades2345

cobra

if you alredy have a graphical calculator its too late not to buy one, and when you're only doin IB then being disqualified from university exams probably shouldn't worry you at all

Oh yeah, missed the fact that he already had one. Some people are just worriers, you can't blame them for that.

Reply 10

Christo

Besides. Expensive calculators are a waste of money, really. They may be handy in an exam if they're allowed, but otherwise there are many programs which are more useful.

Reply 11

Mattmoy_2000

Alternatively you could just learn what basic graph shapes look like and how they transform. Graphical calculators aren't allowed in exams, and probably wouldnt be much extra help anyway. They might be useful for homeworks, but there's nothing a free, easily downloaded graph plotting app can't handle (and they're probably easier to use and have more functions).

Reply 12

UglyDuckling

so .. in conclusion .. can GDC be used ? otherwise, i would need to buy another scientific calculator ..

Reply 13

Christophicus

Mattmoy_2000

Answers your query psycho.

I have a graphical calculator (TI83+) and I'll bring it to Durham cos it might be useful for practicals/homeworks etc

Reply 14

Itchynscratchy

psycho

so .. in conclusion .. can GDC be used ? otherwise, i would need to buy another scientific calculator ..

Nope, not in physics. regular scientific only

Reply 15

ssmoose

I'll bring my Ti82 and use it as Widowmaker plans to, and get some kind of standard casio 2 line display standard scientific thing for exams if I need it.

Reply 16

Itchynscratchy

I have a graphical and haven't found it all that useful to be honest. Good if your bored in a lecture though.

Reply 17

Mattmoy_2000

Then you can program it to do stuff in BASIC.
10 GOTO 20
20 SLEEP
30 PRINT "Tick here if you're bored"
nhur nhur nhur!
EDIT: No, I'm not sad enough to write a basic program that works for a joke...I save that for Fortran.