TI-Nspire series
The TI-Nspire product line is a series of calculators developed by Texas Instruments. This line currently includes the TI-Nspire and TI-Nspire CAS. It is available as handheld and also as software for PCs and Macs. It is already available for purchase by educators via educational dealers, and will be commercially released in the US in Fall 2007.
Handhelds
The TI-Nspire line of handhelds have greatly improved hardware compared to older TI graphing calculators. This includes 16MB of computing memory (versus 188KB in the TI-89 Titanium and Voyage 200) and 20MB of storage memory (versus 2.7 MB in the TI-89 Titanium and Voyage 200). The improved LCD screen has a higher resolution (320*240) and is capable of displaying multiple shades of gray.[1]
The TI-Nspire line features the ability to display dynamically linked variables from application to application. For example, a calculator application with an equation stored in the variable x might be displayed alongside a graphing application which would graph the shared variable. Changes made to variables made in one application will affect the others in real time.
In order to deal with this split-screen interface, the Nspire has the larger screen and a cursor-like control. By using the cursor many things can be adjusted fluidly. Application window sizes can be adjusted. Equations can be dragged and manipulated while the coefficients of the equations change accordingly in real time. The graphing window scale and center can also be controlled using the cursor.
TI-Nspire
The TI-Nspire calculator is the non-CAS edition of the Nspire. The TI-Nspire is comparable to the TI-84+ in features and functionally. It features a TI-84 mode by way of a replaceable snap-in keypad and contains a fully working TI-84+ emulator. The likely target of which is secondary schools that make use of the TI-84 currently or have text books that cover the TI-83 and TI-84 lines, and to allow them to transition to the TI-Nspire line more easily.
Since the TI-Nspire lacks a QWERTY keyboard, it's acceptable for use on the PSAT, SAT, SAT II, ACT, and AP Exams.
The TI-Npsire also features a "testing mode" with flashing LED to inform teachers that the calculator is still restricting features and possibly saved files on the handheld during the test.
TI-Nspire CAS
The TI-Nspire CAS calculator is the CAS edition of the TI-Nspire line (featuring functions like solve(...) and storing values symbolically instead of floating-point approximations). For this reason, the TI-Nspire CAS is more comparable to the TI-89 Titanium. Its likely target is for college students.
Unlike the TI-Nspire, it is not compatible with the snap-in TI-84+ keypad and it does not have a "testing mode" LED light. It also may be restricted in some standardized tests such as ACT.
Other features
As with some other TI calculators, the TI-Nspire can be used with sensors to deals with the real world (data acquisition) such as Vernier EasyTemp, Vernier Go! Motion, Vernier Go! Temp or Texas Instruments CBR2 motion detector [2] [3] [4]
Issues, bugs and criticism
The major criticism is the very limited programming abilities[5]. An other criticism in the current software release, is the lack of 3D surface plotting (compared to TI-89 or V200).
References
External links
- TI-Nspire official site
- Texas Instruments Calculators & Education Technology
- Texas Instruments
- Patent Information, European Patent Office
- TI-Nspire CAS training videos
- DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM
 | This microcomputer- or microprocessor-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |