Engineering students will naturally require more computing power and functionality in a calculator than many other majors on campus. Some years ago, some sections of Calculus required a specific calculator, but that is past, and many sections of calculus may now even teach without calculators. You will definitely need a good graphing calculator for chemistry, physics, and engineering courses, but no single model is preferred. In actuality, you probably should have two calculators:

 1. A good graphing calculator with trig, logs, powers, statistical, and other functions. Typically, this will be in the range $80 to $120, programmable, and be made by TI, HP, Sharp, Casio, etc. TI and HP are probably the leaders. You might even want to delay getting this until you are here a few weeks and see what you really need. Or you may already have something good enough.

 

2. A cheap, non-programmable calculator with trig functions, logs, powers, etc., that you can likely get for $20+. You may need this for exams where programmable, alphanumeric, and/or wireless functions are prohibited to prevent students bringing in unauthorized information.

 

Engineering Undergraduate Studies
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Michigan State University
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Fax: (517) 432-1356

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