Arithmetic expressions are evaluated on the TI-84 Plus Home screen. The Home screen is the screen you see when you turn the calculator on. If the Home screen is not already displayed on the calculator, press [2nd][MODE] to display it. If you want to clear the contents of the Home screen, repeatedly press C until the screen is empty.
Repeatedly pressing [CLEAR] doesn’t delete your previous entries or answers — it just removes them from view! Press the up-arrow key to scroll through your previous calculations. When a previous entry or answer is highlighted, press e to paste it into your current entry line.
Arithmetic expressions are entered in the calculator the same way you would write them on paper. If you use the division sign (/) for fractional notation, it’s usually a good idea to use parentheses around the numerator or the denominator, as illustrated in the first two calculations.
![image0.jpg](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/398705.image0.jpg)
There is a major difference between the subtraction key [-] and the negation key [(-)].They are not the same, nor are they interchangeable. Use the [–] key to indicate subtraction; use the [(-)] key before a number to identify that number as negative.
![image1.jpg](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/398706.image1.jpg)
If you improperly use [(-)] to indicate a subtraction problem, or if you improperly use [–] to indicate that a number is negative, you get the ERR: SYNTAX error message. The second screen is the result of pressing [ENTER] on the first screen. Simply press [2] to automatically bring your cursor to the cause of your error where you can edit the entry as needed.
![image2.jpg](https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/398707.image2.jpg)
Do not use commas when entering numbers. For example, the number 1,000,000 is entered in the calculator as 1000000. See the third screen.
After entering the expression, press [ENTER] to evaluate it. The calculator displays the answer on the right side of the next line.