Texas Instruments® TI-30XS MultiView™ Scientific Calculator

Fantastic Functionality for the Price

I was floored by the level of functionality and flexibility of operation that TI has brought to the TI-30 line. I used to think that the TI-30 series (e.g. TI-30Xa) ...Read complete review

I was floored by the level of functionality and flexibility of operation that TI has brought to the TI-30 line. I used to think that the TI-30 series (e.g. TI-30Xa) were underpowered calculators, but this one has rapidly become my most often used calculator.

I'm in the actuarial profession, which means that I have to pass a series of grueling exams in order to earn professional designations. The Society of Actuaries allows only very few calculators, including the TI BA II series and the TI-30 series. I have a BA II Plus Professional -- a solid, professional instrument that looks like it belongs on an executive desk. I also use an HP 12C, the industry standard financial calculator, which was issued to me by my company. However, since I didn't want my calculator to fail on test day due to lack of batteries, I decided that I would pick up a solar-powered calculator as a backup. Little did I know that this brightly-colored device with a toy-like aesthetic would practically replace my brushed metal "professional" calculators!

First of all, I'm glad to see that TI has started to become more competitive with Casio, by offering the "MathPrint" functionality in the TI-30XS MV. It makes this calculator a pleasure to use -- I still enjoy being able to enter fractions, and see them as fractions in the display. Through my studies, I've noticed how often it helps me to review my input, and ensure that I'm calculating what I really intend to calculate, in a way that isn't possible on single-line display calculators. On top of that, the menu system and general interface are reminiscent of the TI-80 series of graphing calculators, with which I'm very comfortable, having used them in high school and in college. If you're used to the TI-82/83/84/85/86, you'll be perfectly at-home with the TI-30XS MV. And after you've used the TI-30XS MV's Data and List functions, you can never go back to entering stats into a "regular" single-line calculator again. I honestly didn't expect to see so much power and functionality present in what I assumed would merely be a cheap "backup" calculator.

As I mentioned, the SOA/CAS exams allow only a handful of calculators. It's clear that the SOA/CAS intentionally restricted their list of allowable calculators in order to prevent candidates from having too much functionality -- they didn't want students to be able to do any assisted calculus, advanced statistics, or symbolic manipulation on exams. If they had allowed a larger range of calculators, then other Casio and HP models would give TI a run for their money. Given the restrictions, though, this is the THE calculator to get. It's already replaced my BA II Plus Professional for study purposes, and it's replacing my HP 12C at the office as well. I still keep them around in case I feel like doing mortgage or bond calculations on a handheld device, but I'm usually near a computer (or my phone) when I need to do so. For all other purposes -- exams, studying, day-to-day calculations, basic statistics, inspecting functions -- I can recommend the TI-30XS MV without hesitation. It would be interesting to see if TI came out with a TI-36XS MultiView!