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.

You find two types of TI-Nspire computer software: TI-Nspire Student Software and TI-Nspire Teacher Software. The TI-Nspire Student Software now comes free with the purchase of a TI-Nspire Handheld. Of course, both can be purchased at instructional dealers or the TI online store. The two types of software are extremely similar.

The Integral command is one of the most significant commands on the TI-Nspire CAS Calculus submenu. Press [MENU]→Calculus→Integral to open the Integral command. A template containing four fields is pasted to the entry line. The two leftmost fields are where you specify the lower and upper limits of integration.

Before you can make the most of your TI-Nspire, you must configure the settings. To access the settings, press [ON]→Settings. The first screen shows six choices. Choosing Handheld Setup is a good place to start. The second and third screens show some of the resulting choices you have. To conserve battery life, consider changing the Power Standby field (which turns off your handheld after the specified time of inactivity), the Hibernate field (similar to a computer, it will take an extra-long time to turn on your handheld because you must reboot the OS), and the Auto Dim field (the screen will not turn off, but will dim slightly to save power after a specified time of inactivity).

You have two ways to view a two-variable data plot in the TI-Nspire Data & Statistics application: as an x-y scatter plot or as an x-y line plot. The x-y line plot is identical to the scatter plot except that adjacent points on a scatter plot are joined with a segment. Press [MENU]→Plot Type→XY Line Plot to switch to an x-y line plot.

A few TI-Nspire products are worth mentioning here. The functionality of TI-Nspire Computer Software has been expanded in recent years to include the functionality of some of these other Texas Instruments products: TI-Nspire Computer Link Software: Now obsolete, this software enables your handheld to communicate with your computer and take screen shots directly from the handheld.

In the TI-Nspire Notes application, you can evaluate expressions using interactive math boxes. Press [MENU]→Insert→Math Box to type a mathematical expression in the TI-Nspire Notes application. Alternatively, press the shortcut key sequence [CTRL][M] to access the Math Box option. Pressing some keys, such as [10x], automatically opens a math expression box.

This tool is easy to use! If you want to get a file from your computer to your TI-Nspire handheld (or vice versa), you can use the last tab in the Documents Toolbox, Content Explorer. Connect your handheld to your computer using a USB–to–mini-USB cable. Almost immediately, the Handheld File browser, located in the lower half of the Content Explorer panel, will recognize your handheld with an icon.

You can print the contents of a TI-Nspire document. Choose File→Print and customize to fit your needs. Following are three items that you might like to customize when you print a TI-Nspire document: Select an option from the Print What field: Viewable Screen: Prints the viewable window with no scrolling. Print All: Prints any text or data that you have to scroll to see.