Steve Ouellette

The TI-Nspire device is the most sophisticated handheld graphing calculator available, allowing users to display and evaluate values symbolically, and to reuse the same equations across multiple applications. Because it’s so sophisticated, navigating its features can sometimes be confusing. It helps to know a variety of methods of achieving your aims with the device.

After you install the batteries and get your TI-Nspire device up and running, you'll need to run through the initial setup. To turn on your TI-Nspire device, press the [ON] key. After pressing [ON] for the first time, you see a progress bar indicating that the operating system is loading. Eventually, you are greeted by a screen that prompts you to choose a language, giving you your first experience with a dialog box featuring drop-down menus.

To open a new Lists & Spreadsheet page on the TI-Nspire, press [CTRL][DOC] and select Add Lists & Spreadsheet from the list. Alternatively, press [ON] and select the Lists & Spreadsheet icon from the available options. Each Lists & Spreadsheet page contains a total of 26 columns. Each column is labeled with a letter, starting with A and ending with Z.

Sometimes when you're using a computer, you get into typing mode. Call it laziness if you want, but you might not really feel like accessing a symbol palette or catalog to insert the symbol or command that you need. Incidentally, the first seven shortcuts also work on the handheld: To enter π, type pi. To enter θ, type theta.

Shortcuts are available to help you quickly navigate documents on your TI-Nspire, allowing you to move from problem to problem, page to page, application to application, and even to change your view. They are as follows: Display previous page: Ctrl-◄ Display next page: Ctrl-► Switch between applications

Is the display on your TI-Nspire too bright, not bright enough, or need to be turned off? These shortcuts will modify the display on your TI-Nspire quickly: Increase contrast: Ctrl-+ Decrease contrast: Ctrl-– Power off: Ctrl-On

A TI-Nspire file that holds problems and pages is a document. You can manage your TI-Nspire documents with these shortcuts or use them to access the Document and Context menus: Access the Documents menu: Doc Access the Context menu (right-click): Ctrl-Menu Open Document: Ctrl-O Close Document: Ctrl-W

The TI-Nspire handheld device has seven applications from which to choose — Calculator application, Graphs application, Geometry application, Lists & Spreadsheets application, Data & Statistics application, Notes application, and Vernier DataQuest. Calculator application: In this application, you perform calculations.

To open a file on the TI-Nspire, you must be in the My Documents view. Simply highlight a specific file and press [ENTER] or [CLICK]. You can also highlight a file and press [MENU]→Open (or [CTRL][O]). The first page of the new document is displayed. To go back to the My Documents view, press [ON]→My Documents.