Fundamentals Of Engineering Approved Calculator

Q: Since it appears that I will no longer be able to get a hold of the HP-33s calculator, what calculator do you recommend for the Fundamentals of Engineering exam? The approved list is at: http://www.ncees.org/exams/calculators/ Briefly, the approved HP calculators are: HP-9, HP-30s, HP-32s, and HP-33s It seems like many of these calculators are discontinued and are selling at insane prices - especially, in my case, for a one-time exam. I'm certainly not willing to spend $300 for such a thing. Any suggestions for something reasonable? I have plenty of $20 TI calculators available, but I prefer something in RPN as I'm more comfortable with the numerical entry format.

A: -I've seen the hp 9s ($10.00) and hp 9g ($50.00), the difference being the graphics capabilities of the 9g. Since you don't really

have the time to do graphics in the FE exam, go for the 9s, then give it to a high school kid as a present. By the way, I saw those calculators at the Utah State University bookstore, so they may be available at University Bookstores around the U.S. -Although I was first turned off by the algebriac nature of the 9s and 9g I got a 9g anyhow. I fugured it was cheap enough to give it a try. After a little time I got to like using it and even started to program it. A few months ago I got tired of the poor display and found that I never did any graphing with it. So I got the 9s and can now read the decimal point. They're both nice machines that tend to grow on you.