Product Description

Casio Scientific Calculator

Product Details

• Color: Gray
• Brand: Casio
• Model: FX300ES
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.50" h x 5.80" w x 9.50" l, .40 pounds

Features

• Permitted on SAT&PSAT/NMSQT
• Number of Functions - 208
• Slide-on hard case
• Display - 2-Line / 10 Digit + 2 Exponent
• Unit Dimensions&Weight (H x W x L) 3.33 x 0.5 x 6.35; 3.7 oz

Customer Reviews

Good but there's a bug...
I chose this calculator after looking at 6-7 other candidates. I teach a Mathcounts class at a local middle school and this calculator has several key features. First and foremost is the 2 line, editable, display that shows me what a student keyed. That's crucial in helping me see where they made an error when they get a wrong answer. The 'editable' feature usually means that a few keystrokes are all that are needed to correct an error rather than re-keying the entire expression.

The second feature is the list of readily available functions. Mathcounts topics (mathcounts.org) cover a wide spectrum of mathematics far beyond what a typical middle school curriculum requires so the calculator had to have permutation, combination, and factorial functions. This calculator has them.

It handles fraction and radical notation nicely - it displays the square root of 12 as 2sqr(3) which helps the students check their conceptual understanding when we're rationalizing or simplifying radical expressions. Flipping between displaying 1/2 and .5 requires but a single keystroke. Flipping between mixed number and improper fractions requires only two keystrokes.

The solar panel has saved at least one student from having a completely dead calculator when he drained his battery. The panel ekes out just enough juice to give you a glimmering display which is better than nothing. A slightly larger solar panel would be nice.

Finally, the manual is available online so you don't have to try to read a multi-lingual manual printed in 6 point type on rice paper. Kudos to the project manager for posting the pdf. Much appreciated!

Unfortunately, there's a bug in the firmware which turned up in a calculator exercise. If you key in 75025 and ask for it to be represented to 4 significant digits in scientific notation, the calculator gives the correct result, 7.503e4. However if you arrive at 75025 by computing the 25th fibonacci number using f(25) = ((1+sqr(5))^25-(1-sqr(5))^25)/(2^25*sqr(5)), the calculator displays 7.502e4. Reset the display to show an integer result and it correctly shows 75025. Somehow, doing the calculation, as opposed to entering the number, confuses the display routine.

We work around the bug by rounding the result ourselves instead of relying on the calculator to do it but the bug somewhat reduces my confidence in the calculator's ability to correctly compute. Hopefully, the bug will be fixed by next school year when we buy another class their calculators. Were it not for the bug, I'd rate the calculator at 5 stars.

Great algebra calculator
This item has "Natural Display" which displays fractions as they would be in a hand written environment. Easy to use and dual powered, it assisted me thru 2 algebra classes and soon college algebra.

CASCIO fx-300ES
I bought this calculator because of my good experiences with other CASIO
products. The keys feel just right and consistent over the entire keypad. The calculator that I replaced did odd things like skipping if
the keystroke was too light or made double entrys if the keystroke was too heavy.