Overview
Casio released the Casio fx-CG500 back in 2017. It was an alternate version of the fx-CP400 (relesed in 2013) the only difference was that it didn’t have a QWERTY keyboard making it allowed on the SAT and other College Board tests. The fx-CG500 is Casio’s most capable graphing calculator. It has advanced features like 3D graphing and CAS (computer algebra system) calculation (What’s CAS?).
Fx-CG50: fx-CG20: fx-9860GII / fx-9860GII SD: fx-9750GII: fx-7400GII Specifications Number of functions: Over 3,000.1: Over 3,000.1: Over 2,900.1: Over 2,800: Over 2,100: Power supply: AAA / Ni-MH(recommended type only) AAA / Ni-MH(recommended type only) AAA: AAA: AAA: Approximate battery life (hours) 170.2: 140.2: 200.3: 230.3: 230. Fishpond New Zealand, Casio Classpad II FX-CP400Buy. Electronics online: Casio Classpad II FX-CP400, Fishpond.co.nz. The Classpad II (fx-CP400) is an update to the Classpad 330. The color, backlit screen is a great upgrade to the Classpad, which previously had a monochrome screen. The characters and graphs are nice and crisp. Like the previous Classpads, the Classpad II has CAS (computer algebra system). Unlocking the additional space on a fx-CG50AU by: MajesticFalcon35 September 28, 2020, 5:02 am Digit limits in FX-CP400 by: KaLi1994 August 8, 2020, 4:27 am Last visit was: Mon Nov 30, 2020 9:32 pm.
This calculator does not fall short on capabilities and features, but some of the hardware like the screen, processor, and build are not on the same level. Keep reading the review for a detailed look at what this calculator can do and what it’s like to use.
Features and Capabilities
CAS and Calculation
The CAS on the Casio fx-CG500 sets it apart from most all other Casio calculators. With a computer algebra system you can do things on your calculator that are usually only doable by hand. Things like solve algebra problems, factor expressions evaluate indefinite integrals and much more.
As you can see above, the CAS is very capable and will save a lot of work that would have otherwise been done by hand. But there were a few thing here and there that we thought the fx-CG500 ought to be able to do that it wouldn’t. One thing we noticed was that it wouldn’t perform some trig identity operations like the one shown below. Both the TI-Nspire CX II CAS (review) and the HP Prime (review) were able to simplify this expression to sin^2(x).
But keep in mind that these are minor details in comparison to the overall capability of this calculator.
I haven’t covered nearly all the things that having a CAS allows you to do, but I’ll sum it up by saying the Casio fx-CG500 can tackle most single expression problems, with or without variables. It’s also important to keep in mind that this feature is allowed on the SAT and while it won’t turn a horrible score into a great score, you will defiantly have an edge, and if nothing else save a lot of time.
Graphing
Graphing is one of the fx-CG500’s stronger points. The double hight screen really shines in this situation. The interface is as straightforward as you would expect. Just enter your equations in a list and then press graph and watch the calculator draw your lines. It’s especially nice to be able to see and edit all your equations and at the same time be able to look at and interact with the graph. This is of corse facilitated by the larger screen.
If at any time you want one of the sections to be full screen you can use one of the touch buttons at the bottom to toggle a selected section of the screen on or off. Additionally you can use the touch buttons to rotate the entire interface. This gives a nice wide view of the graph.
By default, even in side ways mode, the equation list and the graph are smooshed together on top of one another. If I made the interface I would have put them side by side. They’re almost unusable when they’re that thin.
3D Graphing
Along with being able to graph parametric and dynamic equations, the fx-CG500 can also graph in 3D. The 3D graphing interface is almost exactly the same as the 2D one. You have your list of equations at the top and then the graph at the bottom.
The graphs themselves look OK. Our main complaint with the 3D interface is that the processor seems too slow to make any interaction with the graph something you will want to do on a regular basis. Zooming in and out is tedious and panning around the graph with the stylus is somewhat unresponsive and laggy.
Like the 2D interface you can make either the graph or the equation list full screen. But unlike the 2D interface you can’t rotate the graph. This is disappointing because you would really be able to get a better look at your 3D graphs in rotated full screen mode. Putting the graph in full screen in the vertical position essentially changes nothing but the adition of some more white space around the graph.
Apps
Beyond CAS calculation and graphing, the Casio fx-CG500 has apps that perform many other functions. Below is a picture of both pages of the calculator’s main menu. We won’t go into detail about every app but the images below should give you a good idea of what’s available.
The apps that come with the calculator are pretty standard as far as graphing calculators go. As you can see you get things like a spreadsheet, an app for working with geometry and an app for basic finance. Although your experience with these apps could be different on this calculator because of the larger screen size. You can see lots more data on the spreadsheet, review many more lines of code, and have a lot more space to play around with shapes.
One app that really highlights the large color screen is the periodic table. This is one of the best periodic table apps we’ve seen on a calculator. The split screen allows you to view individual elements, see the periodic table and scroll around all at the same time.
Programming
The programming interface is similar but not the same as the interface on all the other Casio fx series calculators. You will find that the syntax is slightly different and there are a good number of new functions. The Casio fx-CG500 is defiantly a programable calculator with the potential to make some large and complex programs right from the calculator.
Having a lack of buttons means that you will be spending a lot of time in menus on screen to access various programming functions. On other Casio graphing calculators the menus in the programming interface are crammed at the bottom of the screen but because the CG500 has so much more screen real estate, the menus are big and very navigable. They’re also aren’t very many abbreviations for functions in the menus which makes programming a lot less confusing.
Hardware
Processing Speed
Out of all the great features of the operating system this is the one thing that holds the CG500 back. I don’t think this calculator has quite enough processing power. Navigating the menus is by all means doable. But there are often times where it feels like it could be faster and more responsive. You tend to get annoyed when you get a lag bump after all you did was scroll to the next page on the home screen menu. Also things like panning around a graph to get a better view of the graphed line can be slow to the point of frustration.
Low processing power is something that a lot of graphing calculators struggle with. Tasks like graphing lines and adjusting graphs on a relatively low resolution screen should be a breeze for todays processors. But it seems like most calculator companies aren’t willing to add updated processors to their units.
Screen
The screen is about as high resolution as they come on graphing calculators and it gets bright enough to use in any well lit room. The CG500 has a stylus touch screen. This you can use either your finger or the stylus, but I found the stylus works much better. The screen relies on a small amount of pressure to sense a touch. (Rather than using static electricity in your fingers like your smartphone). This means that it will be a bit less responsive and you will actually have to press on the screen rather than tap it.
The viewing angles are not the best on this calculator. You get a ton of discoloration and glare when you look at this calculator from any angle other than dead on. This makes the screen seem quite a bit lower quality than most other graphing calculators.
And finally, the most obvious feature of the screen, its size. Like we’ve mentioned before the screen is about twice the size that you would normally find on a graphing calculator. And this comes with the benefits we’ve mentioned throughout the review but it also comes with some drawbacks. The screen is larger but the calculator itself is only a bit taller than the average graphing calculator. This means, obviously, that you are going to have quite a few less buttons. This also means that the buttons will be moved into menus on screen.
Keyboard
Often times you’ll be able to use apps in full screen mode, but more often than that you will have an onscreen keyboard pulled up. This takes up half the screen and essentially makes the Casio fx-CG500 just like a normal calculator with the normal 2/3 1/3 ratio of buttons to screen. Beyond that, when given the option, I prefer to press actual buttons instead of pressing buttons on a screen with a stylus. Any time you want one of the functions that isn’t one of the basic ones on the physical keyboard, you will be tapping the less responsive screen buttons to get what you want.
Fx Cg500 Vs Fx Cp400 2017
Build
Compared to other calculators the fx-CG500 is defiantly on the beefy side. Below it’s shown next to TI-Nspire CX II CAS and the TI-84 Plus CE.
One of the reasons for this is that he CG500 does not have a built in Li rechargeable battery. This means that you will have to buy new batteries whenever your calculator runs low, but it also means the battery will tend to last longer. Another option is to buy rechargeable AAA size batteries.
Another thing to consider is the CG500’s weight. It is significantly heavier than most other graphing calculators. The Casio fx-CG500 weighs 12.6 ounces compared with the TI-nspire cx II CAS (8.5 ounces), the TI-84 Plus CE (7.0 ounces), and the Casio fx-CG750 GII (8.6 ounces). All weights include slide on cases.
Conclusion
The Casio fx-CG500 is Casio’s most advanced calculator designed for the education environment. It is packed with features including 3D graphing, programming and a computer algebra system. As far as features go this calculator has all you need. All these features are packed into a non traditional graphing calculator design with a double sized screen. All these things are great but in my opinion, the CG500’s hardware is really what holds it back from being a great calculator. A better touch screen without a stylus, and a faster processor would really take this calculator to the next level.
Usable On…
- PSAT (can’t use stylus)
- SAT (can’t use stylus)
- Math AP Exams (can’t use stylus)
See Next…
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| Comparison Chart | Color Graphing Calculator | Graphing Calculator | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product | fx-CG50 | fx-CG20 | fx-9860GII / fx-9860GII SD | fx-9750GII | fx-7400GII | |
| [ Specifications ] | ||||||
| Number of functions | Over 3,000*1 | Over 3,000*1 | Over 2,900*1 | Over 2,800 | Over 2,100 | |
| Power supply | AAA / Ni-MH(recommended type only) | AAA / Ni-MH(recommended type only) | AAA | AAA | AAA | |
| Approximate battery life (hours) | 170 *2 | 140 *2 | 200 *3 | 230 *3 | 230 *3 | |
| Dimensions HxWxD(mm) | 18.6 x 89.0 x 188.5 | 20.6 x 89.5 x 188.5 | 21.2 x 91.5 x 184 | 21.3 x 87.5 x 180.5 | 21.3 x 87.5 x 180.5 | |
| Approximate weight (g) | 230 | 230 | 225 / 220 | 205 | 205 | |
| Case Style | Slide-on hard | Snap-on hard | Slide-on hard | Slide-on hard | Slide-on hard | |
| Dot matrix display | 216 x 384 | 216 x 384 | 64 x 128 | 64 x 128 | 64 x 128 | |
| Display capacity (Characters) | 21 x 8 | 21 x 8 | 21 x 8 | 21 x 8 | 21 x 8 | |
| Mantissa + exponent digits | 10 + 2 | 10 + 2 | 10 + 2 | 10 + 2 | 10 + 2 | |
| Icon menus | ||||||
| Internal operation digits | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | |
| Nested parentheses levels | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | |
| Color display | (More than 65,000 colors) | (More than 65,000 colors) | － | － | － | |
| Backlit display | － | － | ||||
| SD card slot | － | － | － / | － | － | |
| USB port | － | |||||
| I/O port (3pin) | ||||||
| Connection with PC | Mass storage | Mass storage | Program-Link software | Program-Link software | Program-Link software | |
| Direct connection to CASIO projectors | － | |||||
| Examination Mode | (OS Update) | (OS Update) | － | － | ||
| [ Utilities ] | ||||||
| Natural textbook display / Natural-V.P.A.M | － | － | ||||
| Key rollover function | ||||||
| Replay function | ||||||
| Multi-replay functions | ||||||
| Backspace | ||||||
| SOLVE function | ||||||
| Answer function | ||||||
| Variables | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | 28 | |
| Auto power off | ||||||
| [ Special Features ] | ||||||
| Base-n calculations (Binary/Octal/Hexadecimal) | ||||||
| Logical operations | ||||||
| Engineering symbol calculations | ||||||
| Engineering notation (ENG/InverseENG) | ||||||
| Scientific constants | Physium(Add-in) | Physium(Add-in) | Physium(Add-in) | － | － | |
| Conversion (Metric) | ||||||
| [ Basic Functions ] | ||||||
| Trigonometric / Inverse trigonometric | ||||||
| Hyperbolic / Inverse hyperbolic | ||||||
| Exponential / logarithmic | ||||||
| Base specified logarithmic | ||||||
| Power and radical root | ||||||
| Fraction | ||||||
| Rounding | ||||||
| Simplification | ||||||
| Integer division | ||||||
| GCD / LCM | ||||||
| Sexagesimal <－> decimal | ||||||
| Display format (FIX, SCI) | ||||||
| Angle unit (Deg, Rad, Gra) | ||||||
| Angle unit conversion (Deg, Rad, Gra) | ||||||
| [ Calculus ] | ||||||
| Differentiation calculation | ||||||
| Integration calculation | ||||||
| [ Algebra ] | ||||||
| Simultaneous equation | ( 6 unknowns) | ( 6 unknowns) | ( 6 unknowns) | ( 6 unknowns) | ( 6 unknowns) | |
| Polynomial equation | ( Degree 2-6) | ( Degree 2-6) | ( Degree 2-6) | ( Degree 2-6) | ( Degree 2-6) | |
| Table function | ||||||
| Matrix calculations | － | |||||
| Vector calculations | － | － | ||||
| Complex number calculation | ||||||
| [ Graphing ] | ||||||
| 3D Graph | (Preloaded) | (Add-in) | － | － | － | |
| Rectangular coordinate graph ( y=f(x) , x=f(y) ) | ||||||
| Polar coordinate graph | ||||||
| Parametric graph | ||||||
| Inequality graph | ||||||
| Real time integration display | － | － | － | |||
| Dual screen | ||||||
| Conics graph | － | |||||
| Dynamic graph | － | |||||
| [ Geometry ] | ||||||
| Geometry Application | (Preloaded) | (Preloaded) | (Preloaded) | － | － | |
| Coordinate conversion (Pol, Rec) | ||||||
| Vector calculation | － | － | － | |||
| [ Probability ] | ||||||
| Combination, permutation (nCr, nPr) | ||||||
| Random numbers | ||||||
| Random integers | ||||||
| Random Norm / Bin | ||||||
| Random sample | － | － | － | |||
| [ Statistics ] | ||||||
| List-based STAT data editor | ||||||
| Standard deviation | ||||||
| Variance | ||||||
| Regression analysis | ||||||
| Linear regression | ||||||
| ab Exponential regression | ||||||
| Other regressions | Med, Quad, Cubic, Quart, Log, Exp, Pwr, Sin, Lgst | Med, Quad, Cubic, Quart, Log, Exp, Pwr, Sin, Lgst | Med, Quad, Cubic, Quart, Log, Exp, Pwr, Sin, Lgst | Med, Quad, Cubic, Quart, Log, Exp, Pwr, Sin, Lgst | Med, Quad, Cubic, Quart, Log, Exp, Pwr, Sin, Lgst | |
| Advanced statistics | － | |||||
| [ Programming Functions ] | ||||||
| Program logic | (BASIC-like) | (BASIC-like) | (BASIC-like) | (BASIC-like) | (BASIC-like) | |
| Memory (bytes) | 61,000 | 61,000 | 62,000 | 62,000 | 20,000 | |
| Program areas | Up to memory | Up to memory | Up to memory | Up to memory | Up to memory | |
| Storage memory area (Flash memory) | 16MB | 16MB | 1.5MB | － | － | |
| [ Financial ] | ||||||
| Simple interest | － | |||||
| Compound interest | － | |||||
| Cash flow | － | |||||
| Amortization | － | |||||
| Conversion | － | |||||
| Cost / sel / margin | － | |||||
| Days calculation | － | |||||
| Depreciation | － | |||||
| Bond calculation | － | |||||
| [ Spreadsheet ] | ||||||
| Spreadsheet Application | － | － | ||||
| Conditional format | － | － | － | |||
| [ Other Application ] | ||||||
| eActivity | － | － | ||||
| Recursion | － | |||||
| E-CON | － | |||||
| Probability Simulation | (Add-in) | (Add-in) | (Add-in) | － | － | |
| Periodic Table (Physium) | (Add-in) | (Add-in) | (Add-in) | － | － | |
| Picture Plot | (Preloaded) | (Preloaded) | － | － | － | |
| Conversion (Metric) | (Preloaded) | (Preloaded) | ||||
| Russian Language | (Add-in) | (Add-in) | (Add-in) | － | － | |
Classpad Fx Cp400 Vs Fx Cg500 Prizm
- *1 Changes when OS is updated.
- *2 Repeat of one-hour cycle of (1), (2), and (3) below.
(1)Menu display for 5 minutes (display brightness 3 for first 30 seconds and then 1 thereafter)
(2)Run Matrix mode calculation for 5 minutes(display brightness 3)
(3)Flashing cursor in Run-Matrix mode for 50 minutes(display brightness 3 for first 30 seconds and then 1 thereafter) - *3 Continuous operation (assuming 5 minutes calculation and 55 minutes display per hour)