Well, part of the training of an engineer or a scientist is the put in him the understanding of the limits of his calculations..
If you have that understanding and the other members of your workgroup don't you will have to educate them. Fortunately, for this work, the BEST tool is your basic spreadsheet.
A "modern" engineer should almost immediately put down his derrivations into a spreadsheet. A spreadsheet (computer type, of course) makes it easy to demonstrate the sensitivity of results to "errors" in the calculations.
The essence of engineering (as distinct from being, say, an uppity technician) is that you understand the maths yourself, and not get something or somebody to do the work for you.
What criteria are they using to disallow a particular model? Some computational capability (maximum matrix size)? Storage capability sufficient to contain some 'disallowed' material? IR/wireless communications?
I would recommend visiting the NCEES website for more info. Bascially, they ban any calc with text editing or communication capabilities. So, currently, the 15C is allowed. However, as I said, there is a push for NCEES to create an "approved list". This list is likely to only include currently available models since they will not want to evaluate every calculator ever made.
Personally I think the rules are stupid, but I don't make them.
While I dearly love my trusty yellow Pickett "Microline 120" (even if I can't see its "microlines" that clearly any more ), and while I agree that one should learn math rather than just learn how to do math on a calculator, I also think that a calculator can be handy.
While my CAS calculator is more than capable of doing my work for me, it is also capable of helping me with it, or just verifying it. The fault lies not in our calculators, but in our selves.
With regard to your original question, AFAIK, the most clever, two line, non-programmable, non-communicating calculators -- i.e., the most universally test friendly calculators (would be FE exam takers, are you reading this?!?) -- are the Casio FX-570MS & FX-991MS. The calculators are identical except that the FX-570MS is battery powered (1xLR44) while the FX-991MS is dual-powered (it automatically switches from solar power to battery power, thereby allowing you to preform calculations in complete darkness! ).
Regrettably, neither calculator is sold in the USA. The FX-991MS is available in Canada, but Casio Canada refuses to sell to Americans, and I know of no on-line source in Canada. The FX-570MS is available in the UK, and (with uninsured Royal Mail) can be fairly swiftly and quite economically acquired from Science Studios Limited
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or your favorite UK retailer.
N.B. Neither calculator is permitted on UK university exams, but most USA tests that permit a calculator will permit either.
For a full featured CAS calculator, you would probably want to choose either a TI-89 or Voyager (assuming you wanted one at all). The Casio Classpad 300
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will certainly get you noticed in class, and its software developers
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certainly know their maths, but Casio marketing seems committed to following HP's calculator operations into oblivion, and I'm not sure they won't achieve their goals. The Casio Algebra FX 2.0 PLUS is quite likable, and has its advantages, but, over all, I don't think its in the same league as the top-of-the-line TIs.
Since you already have a fairly nice calculator, you may wish to consider saving your money and not buying a new calculator at all. Don't worry, I think your college will find a way for you to spend your extra cash! Alternately, if your keen to spend money on math, you could pick up a copy of "Engineering Mathematics" (USA distributor:
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. Good luck!
Cordially, Richard Kanarek Marching into Calc II...
Additional links:
----------------- Casio Educational Products:
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manuals (there are two manuals that, together, cover either calculator):
I once had a credit-card size scientific solar calculator. Regrettably it did not survive a run through the washer and dryer (I was picking keytops out of the lint screen) and so I have been looking for a replacement ever since. There's tons of $2 credit-card 4-bangers around but none of them have trig functions or scientific notation.
Is there anything out there to replace my late lamented Sharp/Radio Shack calculator?
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