I. Graphing a function on the TI-83:

A. Easy graph, tracing and evaluating

1. Press the 'ON' button, located at the bottom left corner of the calculator.
2. Press the 'Y=' button, located at the top left corner of the calculator.
3. Type in a function, like x² in the spot where it says '\Y1='.
4. Press the 'ZOOM' button, which is in the middle of the top row.
5. You'll see a list of options; choose number 6, either by pressing the number 6 or by sliding down to 6, then pressing 'ENTER'.
6. While viewing the graph, press the 'TRACE' button. After doing that, you may press the right/left arrows to get the x- and y-coordinates of the blinking dot. (Do it!)
7. You may get the x- and y-coordinate of any single point that you want by using the calculator's built-in 'value':
   • Press the yellow button that has '2nd' on it.
   • Notice that right above the 'TRACE' button in the top row is the word 'CALC' in yellow. Pressing the yellow button allows us to access that.
   • After doing that, notice that item 1 in the list is the word 'VALUE'. Press the number 1 to access it.
   • You should see the graph, and at the bottom of the screen you will see 'X = '. Type in any x-value, then press 'ENTER'.

B. Choosing a window

1. After entering your function, you could pick the graphing window you want, by hand. Press the button that says 'WINDOW'.  It's the second button in the top row.
2. In the list of things you see, 'XMIN' is the furthest left you want your graph to go, 'XMAX' is the furthest right you want the graph to go, 'YMIN' is the lowest you want the graph to go, and 'YMAX' is the highest you want the graph to go. Let's change each to the following, by going to each item using the up/down arrows:
   • XMIN = -2
   • XMAX = 5
   • YMIN = -1
   • YMAX = 30.
3. Don't go to the ZOOM menu! Just press the 'GRAPH' button that's in the top row, furthest button to the right.

C. Other zoom option summaries:

• ZIN and ZOUT: These stand for Zooming In and Zooming Out.  For both of these, you go to the ZOOM menu, and choose it. Move the cursor to where you want to be the new center of the screen, then press ENTER. ZIN gives you a much more detailed view of a smaller part of the graph, while ZOUT gives you a better view of the big picture, with less detail.
• ZBOX: To use Zoom Box, choose it in the Zoom menu. Then go to the graph, and put the cursor where you want a corner of your box to be. Press ENTER. Now pressing the up/down/left/right arrows starts to draw a box for you. When you have the box in just the right position, press ENTER, and only points in the box you picked will be graphed.
• ZFIT: First, go the WINDOW and pick whatever you want XMIN and XMAX to be (so you have chosen the left and right sides of the window.) Pressing ZFIT now gets the calculator to calculate all the points BEFORE it starts graphing. It then adjusts the screen so that the top of the screen is the highest y-value calculated, and the bottom of the screen is the lowest y-value calculated.

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