Introduction to the Texas Instrument Graphing Calculator Calculator
Historical Information on Calculators
Life without a calculator is extremely difficult for everyday tasks. How did the people in the “old days” deal with not having calculators? They probably didn’t count that high and their only method was probably using tally marks with pen and paper. That’s what most people would say when they think about the history of calculators. But to truly understand the history of the calculator you have to go back in time all the way to the time before Christ. The first device that was made to count was The Abacus, it was developed by the Sumerians in the year 2500 BC. The abacus worked by holding place values in columns of beads, pebbles, shells or other small objects. The user could make complex addition and subtraction calculations by moving the number of beads in each column. (Karen Harris, 2019) The device was later improved by the Chinese. The main problem was the only operations that could be done were addition and subtraction. Besides that this was a great feat for the time era.
Over the years there were many other forms of calculators as time went on. The reign of The Abacus was over 4000 years. In the year of 1617 John Napier, a Scottish mathematician developed a method that used rods as a means of calculating. The device he created was a series of rods on which the multiplication table was written, which he called the Napier Bones. This was a step ahead of the Abacus but still nothing compared to what we have today.
Later on came the Arithmometer which was a breakthrough invention at the time . It was the first reliable mechanical calculator that was made in 1820 by Thomas de Colmar. It was not a very large item which made it even the better plus it was so accurate that most offices and retail outlets started using them. This is the time period when the number of “human calculators” were diminishing. The skill was no longer required due to the advancements in technology. It was such a good device that it stayed in the spotlight till the late 20th century.
In the 1940s is when we started seeing the first electrical and digital calculators. They were first made within the 1940s but they were big in size due to the vacuum tubes that helped operate the device. But this all changed within the 1970s when Japan produced the first digital calculator. It was made with a microchip which meant that it could be a very small device that can be held in your pockets at all times. This was a necessary item for students, offices and many retail shops. Later on these eventually started appearing on smartphones in the late 1990s.
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The Innovation of the Texas Instrument Graphing Calculator
But the best calculator to this is made by the company to this definitely the Texas Instrument calculators. They have been going strong since the 1970s and took the calculator game by storm. They designed high quality scientific calculators all the way till the the late 1980s that had a variety of keys and were fully programmable. Texas Instrument made their first graphing calculator in 1990 the TI-81 which changed calculators forever. These calculators allowed people to draw complex graphs, manipulate matrices and even had a built in storage. To this day Texas Instruments has the monopoly in the classroom for calculators. The TI-84 is the best selling school calculator for a while now even though they started manufacturing in 2004 many people teachers and standardized tests only allow certain calculators and the TI-84 falls amongst them. Most Texas Instruments calculators now are fully programmable, allow you to use graphs and also allow you to use programs that can be downloaded from the computer. You basically plus in the numbers to virtually any equations problem set and it will give you the most accurate answers with graphs and other data.
Outer Components
Specifications
TheTI-84 Plus CE line of calculators comes in 4 different versions,The TI-84 Plus (2004),The TI-84 Plus Silver Edition (2004),The TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition (2013),The TI-84 Plus CE (2015). The TI 84 Plus CE is a relatively small device that can be carried around with you whenever you need it. It comes in a variety of fun colors. One of the main reasons the calculator is such a hit is because it is extremely easy to use.The TI-84 keeps it very simple and has minimal confusing menus. This is especially true with the graphing interface. All of the important buttons are in a row at the top and you can easily toggle through doing things like entering equations and viewing the graph. The calculator is made out of plastic which makes it extremely light.
Figure 1: Outer Functions of the TI-84 Plus CE (Texas Instrument 2015)
Functional Outer Components
The numbers in the figure represent the button categories based on functionality. The “1” keys allow you to access interactive graphing features. You start the equations of the graphs with these keys. It also allows you to customize the graph to your likings and also allows you to zoom in and out of the graph. The 2 keys are editing keys allow you to edit expressions and values. The 3 keys are math and statistics keys which display menus that access math, statistics, and other basic functions. The 4 keys are the scientific keys which allow access to the capabilities of a standard scientific calculator—including trigonometric functions. The 5 keys are the Number Keys allow you to enter numbers, this is standard with basically any calculator. The 6 keys are common math functions which allow you to divide, multiply, subtract, and add. The top row of keys are there to allow shortcuts and also act as a shift key for the calculator which allows buttons to have two to even three features per button.
Inner Components
Hardware
The screen size is 320 x 240 pixels (2.8″ diagonal). The screen resolution is 140 DPI; 16-bit color. It also comes with rechargeable batteries not like the older version that only allowed one time use batteries. The memory consists of 3 MB FLASH ROM memory for data archive and storage of apps and 154 KB of available RAM memory, which is definitely a lot for a calculator. There is also a usb port at the bottom that connects to computers. It also comes with a Impact-resistant slide case, so even if you do manage to drop it the calculator won’t take serious damage. Another handy feature that the calculator comes with is the internal clock with date and time display. This is handy so you don’t have to keep looking up at the clock during a test when time is of the essence.
Built in features
There are a lot of new features to the TI-84 plus CE. Firstly let’s talk about graphs and color. Graphing a line is pretty straight forward just plug it in the y= functions and there you go. But a cool new feature is that every line you now draw there is a different color. This helps a ton especially for those questions with multiple equations and multiple intersection points. There are fifteen colors for the function graphs and you can even add images to the background of the graphs.Once you have graphed a line or lines, you can zoom in and out on the graph, change tick mark frequency, or calculate an intersect and much more. There is also, of course, a table function that you can either scroll through or jump to a specific X value on.(Math Class Calculator, 2015)
You can also have Up to 10 graphing functions defined, saved, graphed and analyzed at one time. With all these graphs you can have up 8 different styles to choose from to differentiate the graphs. One of the worst parts of a graph is when you have to use a table. The problem with that is that you have to keep flipping back and forth between the two, but the TI 84 Plus CE makes it so that you can the graph and table side by side. This helps you save a tremendous amount of time especially on tests.
Product Dimensions and Battery Life
The TI 84 Plus CE is a relatively small device that can be carried around with you whenever you need it. The calculator weighs about 12 ounces and the dimensions are 7.5 x 3.4 x 0.6 inches. It is way lighter than its predecessors which makes it easy to carry without even realizing. Most of the older models of the TI calculators made you single use batteries that could possibly die on you during a test. But now there are rechargeable batteries that are built in the calculator. The calculator can run for about a month with a single charge, that seems like a very long time. This is due to a new feature that was added called “sleep mode”. This preserves the battery life as much as possible. The calculator doesn’t use a wired battery but uses the batteries that are found in modern day phones which you can take out and replace if needed.
Figure 2: Shows the difference between the old wired batteries and the new detachable ones.
Apps and Programming
Lets not forget one of the most important parts of the TI-84 Plus CE. It has a ton of built-in apps that are ready for use. By pressing the app button you will be brought to a menu that gives you a bunch of options. The TI-84 Plus CE has all the functions of a graphing calculator that you would expect like graphing, tables, lists, and matrices. It also has a whole bunch of other apps that you may not have expected. There are a ton of different useful applications that your math teacher may neglect to tell you about.(Math Class Calculator, 2015) The Programming feature goes hand in hand with this. Even if the calculator doesn’t have the app built in you can always add the programs through a computer. The calculator comes with the cable to attach to your computer so you don’t even have to worry about that. I myself have used and downloaded a couple of these programs to help me during difficult tests.
Figure 3: Shows the different types of apps that are built into the calculator from the beginning
Summary
I know you want to go buy this calculator yourself now for your next math class. The calculator itself has come a long way since the Abacus. Before it was used as a luxury and weighed a ton. Now there’s no excuse not to have one. It is extremely light and is definitely worth the money. There are a ton of awesome features and most professionals require the use of one anyway. We aren’t in the stone ages where we can’t find the answers to equations. We have a device that makes life a ton easier and is basically something that we can’t live without at this point. With all the features, graphs, apps, programs and battery life there is no way you ever go wrong with the TI-84 Plus CE.
References
TI-84 Plus CE Graphing Calculator(2015) – US and Canada– Official TI website Specifications retrieved from https://education.ti.com/en/products/calculators/graphing-calculators/ti-84-plus-ce?category=overview
Tech Powered Dad (2019) TI-84 PLUS CE REVIEW- info on battery life Retrieved from https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-plus-ce-review/
Karen Harris(2019) It All Adds Up: The History of the Calculator– Introduction and the background history of Calculators retrieved from
Mathclasscalcualtor.com (2015)-TI-84 Plus CE Review–Apps, Programming, and Features retrieved from
