[jacobolus]

Through 6 semester courses of high school mathematics, 10–11 semester courses of college pure/applied mathematics, 5 semester courses of college physics, and lots of other numerical problem solving, I never ran into a case where punching some complicated formulas or numbers into a graphing calculator during a lecture would have been useful, and never ran into a time when I wished I had a graphing calculator instead of a regular $10 scientific calculator or a laptop. YMMV.

[batbomb]

I guess you never took Nuclear & Particle and had to type the SEMF into a calculator :)

I have my TI-89 Titanium next to me on my desk as I speak.

I used it a lot in Applied Physics. I used it during thermo, I used it during optics lab, I used it during electronics exams, I occasionally it during Linear Algebra, I used it during Physical Chemistry. I used it a lot during undergraduate lab.

I didn't use it in senior year Classical or E&M.

Sometimes I used my laptop (when I finally bought one 2 years in) for those things, but I'd end up remotely logging into another computer on campus and punching stuff in Maple when that was the case.

It was a speed thing. It's faster (and more explicit) than a scientific calculator, and accurate for what it is.

[TheAceOfHearts]

I'm a computer engineering student. I've taken physics, thermodynamics, electronics, linear algebra, etc.

I've never had a need for a TI-89. I inherited one from my brother and I've never used it. If I'm doing anything complicated I'll just use my laptop.

[S4M]

Well, I can remember the coefficients of the Fourier series being a real pain to calculate...