How to identify Calculator is Programmable or Non-Programmable Calculator ?

Some competitive examinations allow the use of a calculator but may permit to use of only a calculator of the non-programmable type.

Calculators that are NOT programmable:

This is what a non-programmable calculator looks like. non-programmable calculator example

List of non-programmable calculators of some famous brands like Casio, Sharp, Texas Instruments, Hawlett Packard.

non programmable calculators list 1
non programmable calculators list 2

Calculators that are programmable:

Programmable calculators can automatically carry out a sequence of operations under the control of a stored program, much like a computer.
programmable calculator example
Examples of the programmable calculator are in the top picture. These calculators run on a Computer Algebra System (CAS). A CAS helps to make certain difficult algebraic functions automatic and less tedious. As you can see, these calculators also have graphing capabilities. A calculator with graphing capabilities is most likely to be programmable. The easy way to tell if the calculator has graphing capabilities is by looking at the larger screen than would be found on a scientific calculator.

Features of Programmable calculator:

  1. These calculators are capable of storing text or alphanumeric data input by a user.
  2. These calculators are capable of storing, manipulating or graphing functions entered in symbolic form.
  3. These programmable calculators are capable of performing operations such as differentiation, definite integration, algebraic expressions, binomial expansion, symbolic differentiation and the solution to a system of equations.
  4. These calculators are also capable of external communication or Internet connectivity.
The main difference between a programmable and non-programmable calculator is there is no function button on the non-programmable calculator. Another difference that can be noticed on non-programmable calculators have no matrix or vector functions.