The TI-83 is a great piece of mathamatical equipment, but dont take our word for it, they pay people in marketing for that so get it straight from the chimp's mouth!
It can make the math easier to do-my head hurts less because of it-but if you don't know how to use it, you my end up banging your head against the wall in frustration at trying to get it to work. That little book they send with it doesn't help much either when you can't understand it.
The solution: well if you're reading this, you've already found it!