So many students are underusing calculators in their math classes. In particular:
- Using an overly basic and non-user-friendly calculator
- And not learning how to use their calculator, and what their calculator can do
You should use your calculator to do most calculations. Many students try to do complicated arithmetic in their head. You will always make more mistakes than a calculator, and you want to avoid silly mistakes on tests. At the very least, you can use it to check your answers after you solve it by hand.
You should use the best calculator you’re allowed to use. Using the right calculator will improve your test scores, because you will save time and increase accuracy. When studying, you can use the time saved from being a human calculator, to spend more time on understanding the concepts.
In fact, there are many kinds of calculators, and students often use old and underpowered calculators, when their courses allow them to use much stronger calculators.
Whichever calculator you choose, you should learn how to use it well. A powerful calculator is only useful if you know what it’s capable of and what buttons to press. You can look up the manual for your calculator, or find YouTube tutorial online.
Check with your teacher or class syllabus to confirm what calculators are allowed. Some teachers are stricter, and some are less strict.
Types of Calculators
The 3 major categories your course can have are:
- Any calculator (including online): most powerful, best for online or self-paced courses, or take-home assignments
- Graphing calculators: typically used for standardized tests
- Scientific calculators: least powerful, typically used for grades 8-11, as well as most university courses
Graphing calculators are basically more advanced scientific calculators, that include graphing features.
Some courses will allow any graphing calculators (or any calculator), whereas others will restrict you to only scientific calculators.
Whichever you require, I suggest you read about all of them in the rest of the article below, so you can get a sense for what is possible, and because you might be best using some combination. For example, scientific calculators on your test, but online calculators when doing homework.
Free Online Calculators
In fact, physical calculators are obsolete for most uses. Everything that a (physical) calculator can do, a free online tool can do better.
If you aren’t restricted whatsoever (like for homework), then you should consider these free and more powerful options.
Moreover, a secret that many students don’t know is that, today, computers can do pretty much any computation. In particular, they can do a lot more than just “calculate” in the sense of 3+5=8. They can:
- Graph functions, and analyze them, including intercepts, maximums/minimum, intersections, etc.
- Solve equations, both numerically (like x = 1.76…) or symbolically / exactly
- Factor expressions (like x^2-4x-5) or expand expressions (like (x+2)^3)
- Solve systems of equations (like x+2y=5, 2x-3y=10)
- In statistics, calculate descriptive statistics (like mean, median, standard deviation, etc.), compute probabilities for various distributions (like binomial, normal, Poisson, t-distribution, etc.)
- In calculus, compute derivatives, compute integrals (both definite and indefinite), evaluate limits
Don’t worry if some of these are completely unfamiliar to you, because it’s just meant to be examples. The point is that whatever your course is, a calculator can probably help you more than you think.
Desmos is the best all-around graphing calculator for most students.
- Lots of features, user-friendly interface, and runs fast
- Graphing calculator to graph anything, much better substitute for any (physical) graphing calculator
- Can also act as a scientific calculator for number calculations
Also check out:
For more heavy-duty math, try Wolfram Alpha.
There are also many tools for specific computations. For example, for calculus, there is Derivative Calculator and Integral Calculator.
Scientific Calculators
There are tons of types of scientific calculators, with some being very powerful and some being extremely basic and clunky to use. There is no reason to use a poor scientific calculator, because they are all basically the same price.
This is my best recommendation for a scientific calculator. It is seriously a cheat code, and you can buy it on Amazon for $25. Some of its features:
- Can display exact fractions (e.g. 2/3 instead of 0.66666…)
- Can display radicals and irrational numbers exactly (e.g. typing in sqrt(2) or pi will give you just sqrt(2) or pi, as opposed to 1.414… and 3.141…)
- Can simplify radicals (e.g. sqrt(12) = 2*sqrt(3))
- Can evaluate trigonometric ratios exactly (e.g. sin(60) = sqrt(3)/2 as opposed to 0.866…)
- Can evaluate logarithms of any base, so can type in (e.g. log_2(7))
- Also has some more advanced math abilities, like: solving linear and polynomial equations, can solve systems of equations, also has some advanced math techniques like numerical differentiation and integration, and matrix calculations
This is the 2nd best. It is very similar to fx-991ES, but without the advanced math abilities. So if you don’t need any of those, then it is essentially equivalent. Also, it is slightly cheaper.
Graphing Calculators
Graphing calculators are somewhat obsolete, with online graphing tools like Desmos mentioned above.
Calculator technology has advanced a lot over time (just like all other technology), however schools mostly use old outdated models that are slow and clunky.
Texas Instruments, the main company selling them, basically has a monopoly on graphing calculators (although this is slowly changing). This results in these calculators being priced at $100+, despite little innovation over the past 20+ years.
This is the most powerful graphing calculator.
It has computer-algebra software (CAS) abilities, so it can work with algebraic expressions, like simplifying, factoring, and expanding, and solving equations exactly. All of these are similar to what the free online calculators can do, but this is a calculator that is (sometimes) allowed for classroom tests.
Most notably, as of 2025, it is allowed on the AP Calculus exam (in particular the graphing calculator section).
However, it is also the most expensive, being around $200-250 new. However, you can find it used for $50-150 on an online marketplace like Facebook Marketplace.
The TI-Nspire CX CAS (without the “II”) is just like the II, except slightly older and slower and less fancy, but it does the same job.
TI-84 Plus CE is the best recommendation, if CAS calculators are not allowed. It is the most popular graphing calculator today, especially for AP Calculus.
- TI-84 Plus CE (color enhancement) is the fastest version and is recommended
- TI-84 Plus C SE (silver edition) is also usable, but it is slightly older, is much slower, doesn’t have color, and is heavier
Some schools may use the TI-83 Plus, which was the standard for graphing calculators, but is now outdated. It has fewer features, is less user-friendly, and is not in color.