I. Graphing a function on the TI-89:

Two important notes about the TI-89 buttons:

A. Easy graph, tracing and evaluating

  1. Press the 'ON' button, located at the bottom left corner of the calculator.
  2. Press the green button, then the F1 button way at the top (so we're accessing the 'Y=' command.)
  3. In any empty spot, say y1=, type an expression you want to graph, like x2.
  4. Press the F2 button,  located way to the left with all of the other F buttons. You should see a big list of ZOOM options.
  5. The sixth one down is 'ZOOMSTD', which gives us a 10 by 10 graphing window, with (0,0) at the center.  We can access this either by using the arrow buttons (which are located on the big round thing in the upper left hand corner of the calculator) to slide down to it and press ENTER, or by just pressing the number 6.
  6. Look at the top of the screen; you'll see what is called a toolbar. (The toolbar box with Zoom in it is F2). The toolbar box with 'TRACE' in it says F3. So press F3, and at the bottom of the screen you'll see the x- and y-coordinates of the point that's blinking on the graph. Using the left and right arrows now moves the blinking dot along the graph, while the x- and y-coordinates change accordingly.
  7. You may get the x- and y-coordinate of any single point that you want by using the calculator's built-in 'value':

B. Choosing a window

  1. After entering your function, you could pick the graphing window you want, by hand. Press the green diamond button, then the F2 button way at the top (so we're accessing the command 'WINDOW' above it!)
  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:
  3. Don't go to the ZOOM menu! Just press the green diamond button, then the F3 button way at the top (which means we're accessing the green 'GRAPH' command just above it!)

C. Other zoom option summaries:  When you press F2, you'll see a big list of other ZOOM options. Here are the most important ones.

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