Pre Calculus

The TI-Nspire and Microsoft Excel

As I’ve mentioned a couple of times on Tech Powered Math, I’m leading the charge on our new statistics class at my school. It’s the culmination of several years of effort, including a feasibility study, search for textbooks, curriculum adoption, and now implementation. It’s very exciting and exhausting at the same time. The class is serving as a capstone course for students who have come through the “standard” sequence of courses, but it has also attracted a significant number of “honors students” who are looking forward to the opportunity to take the AP Statistics test to earn college credit at the end of the year.

Continue reading

Video Lesson: Tables on the TI-84

The table feature allows you to quickly scroll the an x vs. y chart on your TI-84. This can be useful as early as first year algebra for students that are just learning to graph. It’s even more helpful to calculus students using their calculator to help find a limit. The end of the video demonstrates a quick method for using the table’s “ask” feature to help find a limit.

Continue reading

Video lesson: Tables on the TI-Nspire

The table feature allows you to quickly scroll the an x vs. y chart on your TI-Nspire. This can be useful as early as first year algebra for students that are just learning to graph. It’s even more helpful to calculus students using their calculator to help find a limit. The end of the video demonstrates a quick method for using the table’s “ask” feature to help find a limit.

Continue reading

Video lesson: Finding the intersection of two graphs on the TI-Nspire

In this video lesson, you’ll learn how to find the intersection of two graphs on the TI-Nspire graphing calculator. The two functions graphed here are a line and parabola, but you could use this same approach for the intersection of two lines, or virtually any functions the TI-Nspire can graph. It’s also certainly possible to have more than two functions graphed at a time. You just have to let the Nspire know which two functions you are trying to find the intersection of.

Continue reading

Video lesson: Finding the intersection of two graphs on the TI-84

In this video lesson, you’ll learn how to find the intersection of two graphs on the TI-84+ graphing calculator. The two functions graphed here are a line and parabola, but you could use this same approach for the intersection of two lines, or virtually any functions the TI-84 can graph. It’s also certainly possible to have more than two functions graphed at a time. You just have to let the 84 know which two functions you are trying to find the intersection of.

Continue reading

Video lesson: Solving polynomial equations on the TI-84

When you are solving a quadratic equation, you have a lot of options. You can factor, complete the square, or use the quadratic formula. But what about polynomials with a degree (highest exponent) that is higher than two? These can be difficult to factor with the types of factoring you learn in a high school algebra class. This video lesson explains how you can use an app included with the TI-84+ Silver Edition to solve a polynomial equation.

Continue reading

Video lesson: Imaginary and complex numbers on the TI-84+

Imaginary numbers can be a source of confusion when they are first introduced to a student, but they don’t have to be. Basically, we are trying to deal with the problem of the square root of a negative number. When we take the square root of negative one, the number is called i. This video lesson includes a brief explanation of complex numbers and a tutorial on how to use your TI-84+ to do calculations involving complex numbers.

Continue reading

Video lesson: Imaginary and complex numbers on the TI-Nspire

Imaginary numbers can be a source of confusion when they are first introduced to a student, but they don’t have to be. Basically, we are trying to deal with the problem of the square root of a negative number. When we take the square root of negative one, the number is called i. This video lesson includes a brief explanation of complex numbers and a tutorial on how to use your TI-Nspire to do calculations involving complex numbers.

Continue reading