Scientific or graphing calculator? What students should buy As your kids grow older and get older, the list of school supplies might be shorter, but it's not always cheaper. One thing that can trigger sticker shock for parents of middle and high school students is a specific calculator. Many schools prefer if students use their own scientific calculator. In higher math classes, like AP Calculus for example, a graphing calculator may be required. But, what's the distinction? A scientific calculator can perform tasks beyond addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Scientific calculators typically have buttons that are specifically for parentheses, trigonometric function, exponents inverted numbers and pi among other things. A graphing calculator does even more. It will have a larger screen that lets you enter a number of functions, then look at a graph of it. Best buy's Geek Squad agent Derek Meister says scientific calculators can run anywhere ...