The Casio fx-9860G, TI-89 and HP 49g+ calculators are all amazingly powerful calculators that are fun to use! The primary goal of this site is to show you how these Graphing Calculators as your study companion. The approach (we hope) is not to use the Graphing Calculator as a black box, but rather as a tool for exploring the way maths and science works and the way it can be used to solve problems - without having to rely entirely upon “cooked-up” problems with nice, clean solutions.

Take the learning of Calculus for instance. These Graphing Calculators will not “do calculus” for you. It cannot decide the proper approach to a problem nor can it interpret results for you. In short, you still have to do the thinking, and you need to know the fundamental concepts of calculus. You must learn calculus from attending lectures, your textbook and most importantly by working on problems. That’s where these Graphing Calculator comes in, allowing you to work interesting problems without getting bogged down on algebraic and computational details that can sometimes distract from the calculus concepts.

Each available model of Graphing Calculator (GC) has a different combination of capabilities, memory capacity, programmability, and price. See below for descriptions of each individual calculator:

• TI-89 (1998) - The TI-89 sports all of the power of a TI-92, but in a traditional handheld design. With such features as 3D graphing, upgradable flash ROM, built-in assembly language programming, and a generous amount of user-available memory. The TI-89 Titanium (2004) eventually replace this model.
• TI-84 Plus (2004) is an upgrade to the TI-83 Plus. It remains completely compatible with the TI-83 Plus. Its features include a new built in clock, a new mini USB link port in addition to the standard I/O port, added clock speed over the TI-83 Plus and an increase in Flash ROM size.
• TI-83 (1996) was released as the successor to the TI-82 and featured a newer, more contoured case design that has since been used on all of TI's newer calculators. The TI-83 features backwards compatibility with TI-82 programs and some newer financial functions, but by far the most notable aspect of this calculator is built-in assembly programming capability. It been largely replaced by the TI-83 Plus (1999) and TI-83 Plus Silver Edition, an updated model.
• TI-82 (1993) was long believed that the TI-82 could not be programmed in assembly, a loophole was eventually found, making the TI-82 a much more attractive programming platform. The TI-83 Plus and TI-84 Plus have taken the place of the TI-82 as the standard in math and science classrooms and the TI-82 is expected to be discontinued shortly.

CAS is old wine, new bottle. Why? Computer Algebra Systems (CAS) has been around for a while, are now available on graphics calculators and will soon become part of the technology which mathematics teachers are required to master and use in their classroom. Here, we like to give CAS novices an overview of CAS in the context of teaching and learning mathematics. Some of the curriculum and assessment issues associated with the introduction of CAS will also be explored.

GC with my Mac

Turn on the HP calculator.
Press MODE
Select FLAGS from the soft menu (F1)
Make sure flag #33 is clear. Message should read "Transfer via wire" IR is not supported.
Connect the HP to the Mac via the USB cable.
Type XSERV() and press [Enter]
to start the XSERV communication program.
The display should read "Xmodem Server Waiting for command"

Preparing the Mac

Start the HPConnect program.
Press the "Connect" button in the HPConnect button panel.

Graphing Calculator Programming

Playing a large part in their popularity is the fact that graphing calculators can be programmed in a language closely resembling BASIC and, in many cases, in low-level assembly language. On calculators with link ports, these programs can be copied to other calculators of the same type. Many students learn to program on these calculators and eventually move up to computer programming. Students need to be able to write programs for their graphics calculators so that useful formulae can be stored to assist in routine calculations.