This is the Casio FX 83MS Scientific Calculator, for typical use at high school level. This is what you need to keep up in maths at school at GCSE level and beyond. The extra functions of a scientific calculator are necessary for this level of work and are still useful even if you just want to use a calculator simply.
Anyway, that applies for any scientific calculator, now what about this one? This is a Casio which is a good sign straight off. Casio is one of the leading brands in the scientific calculator market keeping one step ahead of the rest at all times. Now the recent 'natural display' releases from leading firms are a definite improvement on these originals as they show fractions in the form they are written amongst other things but this is still good enough. There are many different versions of the Casio scientific calculator and most are very much the same with a few modifications every now and again. This is the one I have at hand so it's this one I am reviewing.
The calculator has a ten figure display screen with the ability to hold up to around 75 characters in the top half of the screen where you type in your problem. With many different modes this calculator is advanced enough to get you through your GCSEs, A levels and still useful in Uni. It has the ability to work with trigonomic functions, logarithms, ! notation, fractions, standard form and more I'm not going to pretend to know. The shift button toggles between alternate uses for the keys with the alternate functions written in yellow above the keys. It also has 9 memory slots labelled: A, B, C, D, E, F, X, Y and M. These can have specific numbers stored to them and you can access them simply and easily using the alpha key which works like the shift key only it toggles to the purple writing above the keys.
The calculator has an automatic stand by feature if you leave it too long without doing anything so if you have a number there you want to keep, make sure you store it or keep pressing buttons occasionally. For movement around the 'problem' section of the display there is a large directions button which helps navigate about the screen and also bring back the last thing you entered into the calculator if it hasn't been switched off. You can go back to anything you have typed in with this button which is handy. There is an off button which is good as some lack this neccessity and it's aggrivating having to wait for the automatic stand by feature to kick in.
The calculator cover comes loaded with instructions of how to use the calculator. At the top it has a simple diagram of how to use the mode switching feature. Then a section about how the Replay feature, skipping back to what you have done before which I said about. Then a useful bottom section about how to work out standard deviation on this calculator which gives the impression this may be a newer feature not available on previous versions. This is helpful at both GCSE and A level maths for the Statistics units.
The back of the calculator gives teechnical details about the power and battery size which is as follows:
Rating: DC 1.5V --- 0.0002W use Battery LR44 x 1
This is not a common battery size but they tend to come with one already in it that will last you a long time anyway. And the back also has the EU Trading Standards seal of approval.
Overall this is a decent calculator which has been useful for me throughout my GCSEs and my current AS Level. Got me through my exam today very well, not it's fault about how I do anyway... I do recommend this to anybody taking GCSE or A Level Maths as it is definitely very useful.
Price: These are usually around £7 but may well be cheaper online.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
May 21st, 2007
very helpful by (100%):
