Re: TI-86 Programming
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Re: TI-86 Programming
Dana Mosely writes:
> Hi-
> To introduce the notion of programming on the TI-86 I'm going to
> show the programming steps for using the quadratic formula.
Could I suggest choosing a different application? The QF is not _worth_
programming -- doing so tends to spread the idea that you need a program to do
_anything_ with your calculator. I teach my students to just enter values for
A, B and C (got to use caps because the TI-86 reserves the lowercase a and b),
then the expression B*B-4A*C-->D . If you choose to proceed after examining D,
you next enter (-B + sqrt(D) ) / (2A) --> x1 . That's all. You can use
_recall_ to conveniently calculate the companion root x2, and you have them
handy to play with (like feeding them back into the expression
A*x1*x1 + B*x1 + C to see how close to 0 the result is. And to think about
the values of x1 + x2 and x1*x2 . Etc.
For practical purposes, the poly solver on the TI-86 may be an even more
convenient way to solve QE's.
A good example of a not-so-trivial but still-easy application to write a first
program with might be finding the greatest common divisor (GCD) of three or
more numbers, since the 86 can only do this for _two_ numbers, and you have to
do it in _steps_ if you are working by hand. Side note: the index entry for
GCD in the red TI-86 manual is incorrect (my copy, anyway).
RWW Taylor
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester NY 14623
>>>> The plural of mongoose begins with p. <<<<