WORTHIVO OF THE WEEK · Week 38 · 2026
Casio fx-115ES Plus 2nd Edition review: a straightforward yes
The first product to clear this bar without a condition attached. Here is what the evidence showed, and the two places it still runs out.
Worthivo
Recommended
We think this one is worth buying.
Weighed against everything we found, the evidence runs in this product’s favour for the person it is built for. That does not mean it suits everybody, so the review still names who should skip it.
How we got there
- We read what owners actually report, across sources that do not copy each other.
- We check the buzz is real before it counts — a marketing budget can buy discussion.
- We look for what would prove us wrong, and publish it either way.
- We distinguish our judgment from source reports, and publish the limits.
Worthivo has not hands-on tested this product. Read how we choose.
Exact model shown · fx-115ES Plus 2nd Edition, FX-115ESPLUS-2 · ASIN B086Z79HXS
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Worthivo Recommended
Worthivo recommends the Casio fx-115ES Plus 2nd Edition for a university engineering or science student who needs a non-programmable, non-graphing scientific calculator. The favourable evidence includes owners still using it after years of engineering and science coursework, and an institution naming the exact model. Its limits — three-by-three matrices, slower numerical work, and a reproducible edge on some direct complex powers — are documented boundaries of the model rather than findings against it, and none of them touches the ordinary use the calculator is sold for.
Verdict recorded .
VERIFIED PRODUCT FACTS
What the product is—before the marketing does the talking.
Type
Casio's own description, and the reason this model sits inside exam rules that exclude programmable calculators.
Power
Two-way power. The separate fx-115ES PLUS B 2nd Edition runs on one AAA cell and is a different model.
Expected battery life
Casio's estimate for the main battery.
Display
Expressions are entered and shown as they appear in a textbook.
Matrices
The documented ceiling. Work beyond it needs a different class of tool.
Exam eligibility
NCEES publishes a prefix rule rather than a per-model list. Recheck it for your own exam date — the policy, not the calculator, is what changes.
Listed warranty
Casio's published calculator warranty for the original purchaser, proof of purchase required, batteries and case excluded.
BUY IF
This sounds like your real routine.
- Your course calls for a non-programmable, non-graphing scientific calculator and you need algebra, trigonometry, statistics, scientific notation, equation solving or numerical calculus.
- You study physics, chemistry or engineering and want natural textbook entry, fraction-to-decimal conversion, scientific constants, unit conversions, vectors, complex numbers and matrices up to the model's documented limits.
- You are preparing for a 2026 NCEES examination and want a model within the approved fx-115 family, after checking the policy again for your actual exam date.
- You prefer a solar-and-battery calculator with a hard case and do not need graphing or symbolic algebra.
SKIP IF
The compromise lands in the wrong place.
- Your instructor or exam requires a different named model, a four-function calculator, or a workflow standardized on another calculator.
- Your course permits or requires graphing, computer algebra or symbolic manipulation; this model is explicitly non-graphing and performs numerical rather than symbolic calculus.
- You routinely need matrices larger than three by three or faster numerical integration and equation solving than this older platform provides.
- Your work depends on direct high-power complex-number expressions such as raising a general complex number beyond the model's supported direct-entry behavior.
- You are unwilling to learn its modes, setup choices and fraction-to-decimal controls before an exam.
CURATED FROM OWNER DISCUSSIONS
What owners keep bringing back into the conversation.
The themes below are what owners keep returning to—the situations, habits, and expectations that decide whether this product suits a particular buyer. Some rule a buyer out. Some are the kind of recurring problem that would move a verdict, and where that is the case the page says so. Follow the links and judge the context yourself.
Several years of use, by someone teaching with it
An owner posting as D. White reported using this exact edition for several years while teaching chemistry at a community college, citing straightforward fraction entry and everyday numerical work including integrals. Time depth from someone using a calculator professionally is the strongest single signal in this record.
Read the owner discussion (opens in a new tab)It carried a whole engineering programme — with one social cost
An owner said the exact 2nd Edition carried them through all their engineering mathematics and physics classes. The same account named a real disadvantage that has nothing to do with the hardware: other United States students are more likely to know a different calculator, so peer help with keystrokes is harder to come by.
Read the owner discussion (opens in a new tab)Solid throughout college, on solar and battery
A second engineering-student account described the fx-115ES Plus as solid across college and useful for physics and chemistry, with both solar and battery power. This account did not state the 2nd Edition, so Worthivo reads it as corroborating the family workflow rather than this revision's durability.
Read the owner discussion (opens in a new tab)The one limit an owner reproduced
An exact-model owner reproduced a Math ERROR raising a general complex number to the fourth power, while cubing the same number worked; others in the thread described polar-form workarounds. This is a bounded limit on one specialised workflow, not a failure of ordinary scientific calculation — and it is the reason the skip list names it.
Read the owner discussion (opens in a new tab)BEFORE YOU BUY
Four questions that matter more than a sale badge.
- Does the rule that actually governs your course or exam name a required or forbidden calculator? Check that before anything else — it decides the purchase.
- Do you need graphing or symbolic algebra? This model does neither, by design.
- Does your work involve matrices larger than three by three, or direct high powers of general complex numbers? Those are its documented edges.
- Are you buying for an NCEES examination? Confirm the prefix rule again for your own exam date rather than relying on this page.
READY TO CHECK THE EXACT MODEL?
Casio fx-115ES Plus 2nd Edition
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SOURCES & LIMITS
Trace the decision.
- Current exact-model Casio page; authoritative for model identity, specifications, advertised purpose and support links, but commercially interested and not independent proof of reliability or student outcomes. (opens in a new tab)
- Current United States Amazon page opened directly for the mandatory screening gate. It was used only to verify the exact model, ASIN, listing identity, availability and real image, not to establish product quality. (opens in a new tab)
- Exact-model owner page opened directly. Two independently written accounts were used: D. White dated March 24, 2023 and Reda Hanna dated July 14, 2026. No aggregate marketplace signals were imported. (opens in a new tab)
- Current exact-model page opened directly. One non-incentivised verified-purchase account dated January 23, 2026 was used; merchandising copy, aggregate signals and an explicitly incentivised account were excluded. (opens in a new tab)
- Directly retrieved, commercially unlinked engineering-student discussion. One exact-model account dated April 28, 2025 was used; claims about unrelated models and price comparisons were excluded. (opens in a new tab)
- Directly retrieved, commercially unlinked engineering-student discussion. One product-family account dated February 12, 2025 was used. It names the fx-115ES Plus and its dual-power design but does not prove the precise edition, so it is used for family-level time depth only. (opens in a new tab)
- University of Mississippi Physics 212 syllabus, independent of Casio and retailers. It is exact-model course-fit evidence from an instructor, not a controlled reliability test. (opens in a new tab)
- Official NCEES memorandum dated October 20, 2025, independent of the maker and sellers. It establishes current exam eligibility by model prefix, not calculator quality. (opens in a new tab)
- Recent, directly retrieved and commercially unlinked exact-model capability discussion used in the falsification pass. One exact-model owner account dated April 27, 2026 was counted. (opens in a new tab)
- Current maker warranty page; authoritative for the United States warranty process but commercially interested and not evidence that failures are rare. (opens in a new tab)
- Current maker page for the distinct B-suffix model. It is used only to prevent variant confusion and to identify lifecycle uncertainty, not as evidence for the researched Amazon SKU. (opens in a new tab)
Specifications and policies can change. Owner sources were used to identify questions and recurring friction, not to calculate prevalence. Last editorial review: August 23, 2026.