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A Level Maths, Graphics Calculator?

I have tried to buy a Graphics Calculator off of eBay for my maths A-Level (not Further), but the seller was unreliable and the purchase has been cancelled. I'm now debating whether to get another one or not.

Is it necessary to have one, rather than just using my scientific calculator? What are the benefits of using it? Will it make the work a lot easier or can you manage just as well without?

Reply 1

Liamnut

Original post by snikutsmullac

....

You don't need a graphical calculator for any of the modules you'll take in A-level maths, although it can be of help. Personally, I really don't think graphical calculators should be allowed, but that's not the point of this thread :P

You can use them for graph transformations and to find the standard deviation and variance, but honestly, once you know how, the former is easy and the latter is easy with a normal calc.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 2

Timikji

I never used one in A-level Maths and my friends doing Further Maths never used one either. It never caused us any problems as far as getting good grades.

Reply 3

Helloworld_95

You don't need one, and if you want to use one you might be able to borrow one from school

Reply 4

Lord Frieza

Hmm I'm not sure if you're even allowed one in the exam. But personally, no I wouldn't. For C1 and C3 mainly it involves a lot of graphs and you should make sure you understand why a certain graph appears the way it does and you should experiment with it too so when a killer exam question appears you can apply your graphical knowledge to check answers/unravel the question.

Besides graphical calcs defeat the fun in graph drawing :P

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Reply 5

Bloxorus

I used one for my AS maths and further maths and I found it was really helpful. I just used it as a check mainly, just for integration, sketching graphs etc. I would recommend getting one.