How to Use a Program to Write Text on the TI-84 Plus

The Disp and Output commands for the TI-84 Plus are used to get a program to display text on the Home screen. Because each line of the Home screen can accommodate up to 16 characters, the wise programmer will limit all text items to no more than 16 characters. A space counts as one character.

The first picture shows an example of a program that displays the text “PRESS ENTER TO CONTINUE” in two ways. The first Disp command displays the whole text, in spite of the fact that it contains more than 16 characters. The next two Disp commands break the text into two parts, each of which contains less than 16 characters.

The output of the program in the first picture is shown in the second picture. The ellipsis at the end of the second line in this picture indicates that the calculator could not display the whole line. (The calculator does not understand “wrap around.”) And worse than that, you cannot use

to see what comes after that ellipsis. The remaining lines of this picture illustrate the solution to this problem.

When programming the calculator to output text, limit all text items to 16 characters. A space counts as one character. If necessary, break the text into two or more text items that are consecutively displayed.