The TI-89 VS HP 50g Calculator Comparison
The HP 50g supports HP BASIC, User and System RPL (Reverse Polish Lisp or ROM-based Procedural Language), and assembly verses the TI-89´s TI-BASIC and assembly. The C programming language is available for both calculators from HPGCC.ORG and TIGCC.TICALC.ORG
The HP 50g supports both algebraic entry and RPN (Reverse Polish Notation) for more efficient entries. The HP 50g has a better keyboard layout for text entry. You can use alpha-lock and enter both letters AND numbers without changing the state of the lock. The HP 50g has a complex and fancy equation writer which allows sub-expressions to be edited directly in "Textbook Mode".
The HP 50g has more memory: 1.5 MB (megabytes) compared with 580 KB (kilobytes). The TI-89 Titanium have 188 KB of RAM, combined with an impressive 2.7 MB of flash memory.
The TI-89 has a better screen resolution. 160x100 as opposed to 130x80. Resolutions are given width by height in pixels. Note that the TI-89´s effective history resolution is only 160x64, but both the Program I / O (input / output) and graph screens take advantage of more (all) of the screen.
The HP 50g has a built-in step-by-step solver for derivation, integration (anti-derivation), and linear algebra. The TI-89 has Split-screen mode, which allows you to look at a graph and the home screen at the same time.
The HP 50g has a financial solver for tvm (time value of money) and amortization problems.
The HP 50g has what I will call Trigonometric Identity Functions. In other words, if you want things in terms of sine, you can use the T2SIN function and your answer will be in terms of sine. You can do this for COSINE, TANGENT, SINE, TAN -> SIN / COS identity, and more.
HP 50g Specific Features and the TI-89 Response:
The HP 50g has a clock with a messaging alarm system. What I mean by messaging is that you can attach a message to any specific alarm which will be displayed when the alarm goes off.
The TI-89 doesn´t have a clock or an alarm system, but it does have organizer programs, they just don´t have alarms. This could be a useful feature for lab-timing experiments.
The HP 50g has an xroot key and a log button.
The HP 50g has an expandable catalog of functions. This means that you can add your own functions to the list of functions in the catalog. This is good if you use the catalog a lot.
The TI-89 is supposed to support an expandable catalog with the advent of AMS 2.00, but this is as of yet unverified.
The HP 50g Auto prompts the user to switch into approx / complex mode for some calculations which require it.
Most of the time the user will know when to be in complex mode, but this may be a nice feature for some and for learning. If you didn´t know that you can´t take the square root of -1, then this would be a learning assist.
The HP 50g supports conic plots. Equations that have Y´s and X´s on the same side, usually with both the X and Y to the second power.
The TI-89 can do conic plots in a limited fashion, i.e. only if you can solve for y. The HP 50g has much better support for conics than the TI-89 does at this time.
The HP 50g has a number of other-type plots which the TI-89 does not support also. The only type of plot which the TI-89 has that the HP 50g does not is sequence plots.
The HP 50g supports directory hierarchies. This means you can put directories inside OTHER directories. This is a nice way to separate programs.
The HP 50g has a separate file menu / var menu for easy access to variables. This is nice because you don´t have to run through a long list of files along with your variables if variables are all that concern you. Very nice if you have 10000 files and 5 variables (often the case with large BASIC programs).
The TI-89 has more classroom support meaning that you will find more teachers familiar with the TI-89 or in general TI calculators. It should therefore be easier to get help for the TI-89, but this may not always be the case as it will vary from school to school. As far as real-world support, the HP calculators are the calculator of choice for real-world engineers.
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