PE Exam Calculator

[bisonee]

This is kind of a proffesional question but I need some advice and I dont know where to ask. I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for the best calculator to use for the PE exam. The options are:

Hewlett Packard – HP 33S
Casio – FX 115MS or FX 115MSPlus
Texas Instruments – TI 30X IIS
Texas Instruments – TI 36X SOLAR

On the EIT i was able to use the TI 92 so I am familiar with the TI. I guess I am looking for the one that is user friendly and yet can do most of the functions needed.

 

[GerryMoore]

Go with what you are familiar with.

I used the HP33S this past October because I use HP calculators. I also bought the Casio model for a backup, I liked it also it was very easy to use.

After purchasing, make sure you practice with the calculator so you can perform all the functions you need without having to waste time looking at the instructions.

 

[alehman]

I spent several days programming all kinds of electrical formulae in to my programmable calculator before the exam (such things were allowed when I took the exam). As I recall, I didn't use any of them. On most problems, getting to the point where a canned formula could be used was much the harder part.

p/r conversion is one of the few built-in "advanced" functions which I actually found useful on my PE exam. Because I anticipated there would be a lot of uses for it, I had learned exactly how it worked on my calculator, understanding how it handled each quadrant and conversions in both directions. I might have done just as well to spend the time practicing Pythagoras and arctan.

 

[stevenal]

Arctan returns a value in one of two quadrants, so an error is possible if the value wanted is in the other half plane. I found it helpful to have a calculator that accepted and returned values in either rectangular or polar form. I bought it early and practiced with it a lot.

 

[singlespeed]

While I agree with Gunnar that it is important to know the fundamentals, try solving a three loop circuit with reactive components using Cramer's rule (there is no calculator allowed for the PE exam that will do simultaneous equations with complex numbers). Just work through this problem converting p/r using pythagoras and arctan - see how long it takes. If you can do it in 6 minutes, let me know. I figure that 13 rect. to polar and 48 polar to rect. conversions are required. I think this is a formidable task on a calculator - I can't imagine trying to do it with my Versalog 1460.