Ok guys, I am having a super hard time in algebra now, and I need a great calculator. Does anybody know of a calculator that pretty much does all the work for you, one where you just type the problem in and it solves it for you? Thanks. 
Sorry, but donât think I know of one. And even so Iâm not sure I could in conscience advocate the usage of such a device.
No calculator can ever replace understanding the material my friend.
When I was in college in the early sixties, the best calculator that we had in the geophysics laboratory (we had one calculator for everyone) was a heavy mechanical electrical calculator (Frieden, I think). It had ten rows and ten columns of number keys. It would add, subtract, multiply, divide, and nothing more, and the solutions were not instantaneous, like today. All the little gears and spinning parts inside would whirl until it would finally stop with the solution to the problem. It was easy to give it a problem that it could not solve, and it would just sit there and spin all afternoon if you had the time to watch. Modern calculators will give an error message if you try to divide by zero, for example, but this calulator would hopelessly try to find the solution to difficult or impossible problems. I sometimes dream of showing my professor the current electronic calculator in my watch, using time-travel, of course. Of course, he wants to know where I got the watch, but I canât tell him.
We used a TI-85 in high school Pre-Calculus back in the early 90s.
In fact, I think the school was given several of the calculators if
they used a book that incorporated the calculator into the lesson.
They graphed quite nicely and would do some pretty complicated
algebra. I think theyâre up to TI-89, and have even gotten a new
naming system with the TI-NSPIRE.
In college we used software called Maple for calculus classes.
It will solve pretty much any equation you throw at it. But that
has the same drawbacks as a calculator, learning-wise.
I donât know how much good thoseâll do you , unless itâs just to
check your answers. They wonât let you use them on the test.
Youâd probably be better off with tutorial software like Math911
http://math911.com/ (which is free for a few more months).
djm
Do you need algebraic equations solved?
Perhaps this site may help: http://www.quickmath.com/
Try the solve link in the menu, or any of the other pages, for instance expanding equations, etc.
http://www.algebrahelp.com/ looks good too.
~Hans
We used the HP 9100As with RPN. I have an HP-35 that works, cost me a fortune, but when I showed up at the refuge office with that bad boy⌠Iâm saving it for the Road Show. I still use an HP 20S scientific, looks like it was made in some place called the USA, must be a city in China?
Oh, yeah. Be careful with those HP calculators.
Once you go Reverse Polish Notation, itâs hard
to go back!
Just donât dust it with Lemon Pledge.
They hate that.
Actually, I just transferred colleges in a different state, and for some reason they wonât accept my math classes here. I already know the stuff, it is just time consuming. I need a calculator where I can get through it fast. It really sucks that I have to do the classes over again. 
No calculator which assists with algebra will help pass exams.
Unless theyâre strictly multiple choice, and math tests usually arenât.
I have a HP-28S that I used in college.
It will solve symbolic equations.
They donât make them anymore but you can get them used on Ebay. (For MUCH less than I paid for mine. 
Oh well.)
Itâs still a great calculator, although these days itâs really overkill for me. (Though the binary and hex capabilities do come in handy).
âJames
TI actually makes several calculators that can solve equations for you. I even have one that can do a system of equations. The problem is that if you donât understand how to do it in the first place, theyâre not a lot of help. Theyâre most helpful when doing lab work or things like that. Having said that, I really like the TI-89. Thereâs better calculators out there now, but Iâm pretty comfortable with mine and it will do darn near anything. the downside is that itâs not the best for statistics or trig functions.
Anywho, learn to do it by hand first. Especially because many professors will check your calculator and wonât let you use one with these types of capabilities on a test. I had one that wouldnât even allow an abacus or a slide-ruleâŚ
I usually use a digital calculator:
Iâve mentioned this before, but whenever I tried to use my digital calculator (counting on my fingers while I had my back turned to the students) as a high school math teacher, I got howls of laughter and pointed comments, such as, âYourâre no math teacher!â
What an empathetic bunch we all turned out not to be. Now get to class on time and listen to your professor. Eat a good breakfast.
Well, the breakfast part is the truth.
But I donât think thereâs a lack of empathy inherent in telling it like it is. That is, to succeed in an algebra class, one must learn to do
algebra problems in the proper step-wise manner. The best means of acquiring this skill, imho, is to do ALL the practice problems that
you have access to. Generally you have a text or workbook which has an answer key, because you need to be able to be sure youâre getting it right.
But thatâs the only way, far as I know.
When I took the GRE, I bought about 5 different study guides and did all the math they offered. Do enough problems and the various types they throw at you eventually look familiar.
Yep. Emmâs in Mom mode today. Full steam ahead. Take no prisoners. But if you do take prisoners, make them eat their veggies and wash behind their ears.
That mode pretty much gets hardwired in after a few years.
No matter how large a person Iâm walking through a parking lot with, I still grab his/her arm and steer him/her out of the way of traffic.
I used to use a calculater with RPN. Iâd forgotten all about that. It was great. I donât know why they donât teach it starting in first grade.
Suffix notations is a little hard to read/write.
55 67 +
The numbers kind of run together that wayâŚ
Infix is much easier on paper:
55 + 67
But RPN is cool on calculators. No need for
parentheses. It always seemed ironic that
in the US we tell âdumb Polishâ jokes, but
they can come up with such a great notation.