Summary of Calculator Requirements in First-year Mathematics

• Math 25L, 26L, 31L, 32L, and 41L
• Math 103

Math 25L, Math 26L, Math 31L, and Math 32L

Here are the reasons for this recommendation:

1. The teachers and lab instructors will be working with the TI-83. If you use a different calculator and if if you need any technical calculator support, then the lab assistants may not be able to help you with a different machine.

2. Many students have tried to work through our labs with other calculators, and some have run into some difficulty with their inability to get their "other" calculators to do what is needed in the labs.

Exceptions and Other Considerations
If you already own another calculator and if you know how to use it well, then you can use that calculator as long as you don't expect technical support. But note below that some machines are banned from major tests.

If you want to use a different calculator, you must let your teacher or your lab instructor know, and you should make sure it's not one of calculators which are banned from major tests (see below).

Sometimes an individual teacher may make some changes in these general polocies. For example, some teachers have experimented with the use of laptops in calculus labs; however, in general laptops are not allowed on exams and students are not required to have their own laptops.

Banned machines
On the final exam in the "L" courses machines that can perform symbolic operations in calculus are not allowed. Examples of such machines are the TI-89, the TI-92, and laptop computers.

Math 103

Variations
Some teachers may allow calculators on their individual tests. In such a case a basic calculator that can compute powers roots, logarithms, and trig functions is sufficient.

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If you have other questions about calculators in Duke's math, you can send an email message to the Supervisor of First-Year Instruction, Lewis Blake, at sfi@math.duke.edu