TI-83 Plus Window Editor in Polar Mode

You must set several variables in the Window editor of the TI-83 Plus graphing calculator when the calculator is in Polar mode. The following gives an explanation of the variables that you must set in this editor:

• This setting contains the first value of the independent variable

  

  that the calculator will use to evaluate all polar equations in the Y= editor. It can be set equal to any real number.

  

• This setting contains the largest value of the independent variable

  

  that you want the calculator to use to evaluate all polar equations in the Y= editor. It can be set equal to any real number.

  

  is usually set equal to

  

  However, there are occasions when you may want to set it equal to a larger number.

  

  is entered into the calculator by pressing [2nd][^].

  

• This setting tells the calculator how to increment the independent variable

  

• as it evaluates the polar equations in the Y= editor and graphs the corresponding points.

  

  must be a positive real number.

  You want

  

  to be a small number like

  

  but you don’t want it to be too small like 0.001. If

  

  is too small, it will take a few minutes for the calculator to produce the graph. And if

  

  is a large number like 1, the calculator may not graph enough points to show you the true shape of the curve.

  If it’s taking a long time for the calculator to graph your polar equations, and you start to regret that very small number you placed in

  

  press [ON] to terminate the graphing process. You can then go back to the Window editor and adjust the

  

  setting.

The remaining items in the Window editor deal with setting a viewing window for the graph.