Casio FX-991EX Engineering/Scientific Calculator, Black (European Version), 3" x 6.5" x 0.4"

Lean, mean and not messing around; beware the new kid on the block! It annihilates the FX7400GII in terms of overall usefulness, yet can be had for two-thirds of the price (though this is beginning to creep up!). Appearance wise, Casio have broken with their traditional fx-83GT/fx-991ES shape and created something very different, with a clean, new look, that's almost a work of art. Its appearance is so good, I suspect it will sell just on those grounds alone! Put simply, it has real style; you almost feel in possession of a fashion accessory! Most photos don't do justice; hopefully my photo will!Although it isn't a graphical calculator as such, it has the capacity to draw graphs on your smart phone or tablet, via a scannable QP code and an app.They've improved the statistical functions so that in addition to the standardized, normal cumulative probaility distribution, you now also get the inverse cumulative normal distribution function, plus binomial and Poisson, probability and cumulative probability distributions. These are very useful to anyone doing S1 or S2 statistics modules for A-Level, and dispense with the need for tables of these functions. Most of this is absent on FX7400GII! What it offers, however, is still way short of the fx-9750GII, in this respect.You also get the ability to solve quadratic, cubic or quartic polynomial inequalities and the answer is given just as it should be written down, using the correct inequality symbols! Even the FX9860GII doesn't offer this at present!Other enhancements include better vector facilities: it now offers the ability to show you the angle between two vectors rather than leaving you to work it out via the dot-product. The FX7400GII has no vector facilities at all and doesn't even have a matrix mode! The FX9750GII does matrices but no vector mode! Only the next one up from that, the FX9860GII, does both, apart from the FX991ES, now available at roughly £16.For some, the cherry on the cake will be the addition of a basic spreadsheet mode (absent on the FX7400GII and the FX9750GII calculators). You also get an equation solving mode which is an enhanced version of the FX991ES. It now features a 'Solv' facility, designed to give approximate solutions, to many types of equation, as presented, using Newton's method. In this respect, however, the FX9750GII and FX9860GII are light years ahead with the 'SolveN' facility, as this often gives exact solutions (even as multiples of pi, where relevant on the fx-9860GII).You get a crystal clear, 'natural' display, with answers presented as surds, or multiples of pi, including fractions, where possible. FX7400GII can't do this and the FX9750GII only does it when uprated.The processor also seems faster than before.If there is a drawback, it has to be the fact that display history is cleared when the calculator is switched off and once you've performed a calculation, you can not go back, edit the history and recalculate, once the display shows ANS.Amazingly enough, evidence suggests that UK exam boards will allow it, despite no CAS features allowed. However mild, this calculator does have CAS features because it uses symbolic logic to write inequality regions. Fortunately, many teachers have taken to it and I suspect wires were be pulled by the more influential ones ('old boy' networks etc!) to get it approved for UK, GCE exams. Whether or not they'll achieve this for IB use, is another matter! Without an Exam Mode, similar to the FX9860GII or Graph 75/95, it would definitely be banned in France, for IB use, on account of the vector commands.It goes without saying, that now it's regarded as suitable for UK, GCE exam use, the FX991ES may now bite the dust or be offered at a lower price. This is something Casio could easily do because the circuit board is almost identical to the FX85GT-Plus, often available for under £10 and popular with GCSE students. In the past, however, Casio went to great lengths to prevent people getting too much of a bargain! Take the FX83ES as an example. It shared the same type of circuit board as the FX991ES and an HB pencil applied to the P4 jumper on it, would effectively turn it into one, from something no better than the current FX85GT Plus, within seconds. Yes!, you unleashed 5 extra modes and all the functions of FX991ES. Casio reacted by encapsulating the P4 jumper, to make it virtually impossible to do this any more.So, interesting times ahead and one does hope that models known and loved by students, here and abroad, like the FX9750GII will be around a bit longer. Ten years, however, is a long time in terms of technology and the FX9750GII first appeared in 2008! Does the FX991EX usher in the era of a new line up of scientific calculators? One wonders!In summary, there's a lot to like about Casio's new offering and one could say that at under £20, it redefines the market in the value-for-money stakes, providing many features hitherto not offered.On looks alone, it scores 10 out of 10. Its new keyboard layout, with extra keys such as OPTN (pity they didn't give it the EXIT key as well!) and main menu with attractive looking icons is also highly functional. It's slim, solar powered and has useful features not found on models costing three times the price. Here, I'm thinking of the polynomial inequality solver and the ratio solver. These will be an immediate hit with GCSE and A-Level students. Together with a basic spreadsheet facility in addition to other useful features which have been around for some time (eg matrices, vectors) and you really have an incredibly useful little machine! Some universities ban programmable calculators, so it's bound to have great appeal there!On the downside, don't expect the build quality of an fx-9860GII or even an fx-9750GII and do bear in mind that both these trounce it in terms of overall usefulness to the average A-Level student. Providing the fx-9750GII's OS is upgraded to the fx-9860GII, the extra facilities could be worth at least one extra grade in the exam! Savvy students good at IT would probably jump two grades! There are certain well-known, independent, private schools, which choose these models, for their students and in the US, a yellow school edition version of the fx-9750GII, is quite common.There may be school or college teachers out there thinking they should bulk buy the new fx991-ex. I'd urge caution! £50 will be affordable to most, and just on the basis of the 'SolveN' facility alone, justifies the extra cost of the fx-9750GII. With vastly superior statistical functions, bigger screen and the ability to graph functions, it really does win hands down.Both the fx-9750GII and the fx-9860GII are fully programmable, in a language almost identical to BASIC, with the full range of commands you'd expect. This could be a real aid in getting students interested in programming. With almost every mathematical and text symbol available, you can in effect write your own software to cover anything you consider important, but absent (within reason!).So, to maximize overall grades achieved, the fx-9750GII or fx-9860GII are still 'top dog' and this new offering must be seen as very much inferior.Let me end on another negative point! Whilst the price of the fx-9750GII has come down from £65 to £49.99, in the last couple of months, the price of this one has risen (to as much as £32.50, here on Amazon). At under £20, it's stellar value for anyone wanting to cut costs. At £27, however, it's starting to look expensive. Anything more than £30, and it falls into the 'betwixt and between' category. The average GCE student should pay the extra £18 and go for the fx-9750GII. The cheapskate, however, would be better off with the fx-991ES Plus, readily available at £18 (currently about £16 on Amazon) and still a great little calculator or the Canon F-789SGA (better made than the fx991es, with slightly more functions and selling for roughly £18).WHAT SEEMS RIDICULOUS IS THAT FROM AMAZON.COM, THE UK PURCHASER CAN GET IT FOR £18.50! IN OTHER WORDS YET AGAIN, THE UK CONSUMER GETS RIPPED OFF! DON'T HAVE IT!!Let's also be quite clear that despite its good looks and superb blend of features, the fx-991EX is really just a tweaked version of its predecessor. It's not programmable, isn't a true graphical calculator, can't connect to your PC and can't take additional apps, like an fx-9860GII or uprated fx-9750GII. In short: a great little calculator but most GCE students would be far better off paying the extra for the fx-9750GII.

Good quality

This calculator is suitable for the UK A-level mathematics course and has served me well.There is a nice little menu with various functions that are useful for many of the topics in the pure, statistics and mechanics sections of the A-level course.This calculator is even suitable for the Further maths A-Level, although a graphical calculator would probably be worth investing in at that point (After all, these are you're exams so might as well have all the best tools you can afford) but this is the cheapest calculator I can find that will get you through your exams.Overall, this calculator looks nice, feels nice and works great at an affordable price.

A worthy successor to the Casio fx-991ES PLUS. This is pretty much the best calculator you can get until you reach the point where you need a graphing calculator, which right now means A Level. Anything below - GCSE, Year 9/8/7/etc. - and this is an ideal calculator.As an aside, even at A Level, this makes a great scientific calculator as a companion to a graphing calculator; it's best to take a scientific and graphing calculator into A Level exams.Other improvements over the fx-991 series:* The internals have also been upgraded, so certain operations (e.g. numerical integration) are MUCH quicker.* The look of the calculator is much cleaner* The screen is much higher definition, greatly helping legibility* The menus are now graphical instead of abbreviated* The calculator tells you when you're on solar and when you're draining the battery* Much simpler reset procedure for examsAll in all, an excellent calculator - and the fact that it's dual solar/battery powered is a nice bonus.

Hello to any fellow a-level students who are taking a-level maths.as you will know, most of math is calculator work. this calculator has all the required functions for the course and is beautifully simple to learn.however i think it's a little steep with payment, there are places you can get them cheaper!however this is not a bad resort.the calculators use and functions are 5'5. however i've knocked a star off due to the price.

This Casio fx-991EX gives everything a GCSE / A Level maths student needs to enhance the chances of passing the exam with better grades. You can factorise quadratic functions, solve simultaneous equations, solve linear equations, Table feature helps you to plot graphs, You can figure out ratios. You can solve quadratic inequalities. You can do unit conversion and work out prime factors . You can evaluate mean and standard deviations and all other associated statistical parameters. From data you can work out PMCC and regression coefficients. Not to mention all the stats tables inside the calculator for you to work out binomial and normal probabilities. For Further Maths students it helps you with matrices and vector calculations too. I did not mention any basic features as it is taken for granted. In my opinion, every GCSE and A level student must have this calculator Casio fx-991EX

Bought this calculator for my 16 year old who is soon to start her A level maths and intends to go on to uni (hopefully). The calculator is well made sturdy with easy to use keys and excellent functions. the graphics in the display are clear and of good definition. This calculator is recommended for maths, further maths and sciences, will see her through uni (hopefully).I WOULD DEFINATELY RECOMMEND.

A must have for A levels. Good unless you require graphical features