HOW TO PROGRAM YOUR CALCULATOR
Editors Note: The following is a calculator programming tutorial written by Jack S. ('15) and Toby J. ('15).
Something you can do with your Calculator
Staring out the window, bored out of your mind, doing the quadratic formula for hundredth time that day when Mr. Campagna screams “WAIT! Give me your calculators.” Everything seems hopeless, you haven’t memorized how to do square roots in your head yet and you’re on the verge of giving up on math all together when suddenly ... Mr. Campagna hands the calculator back to you with a shiny new program: QUAD99.
You open it up and it does everything for you! No more nights lost to crying over the quadratic formula; with three easy button presses, you will never do the quadratic formula ever again. But what if you could do this with all of your tedious math queries? What if every math problem you did could be solved that quickly? What if you never had memorize an equation ever again?
Welcome to the wonderful world of calculator programming! To enter this world, start by pressing the PRGM button on your calculator. Scroll over to the NEW tab, and press “Create New.” There are an infinite number of programs we can make, but we’ll start out simple: a program that calculates the Pythagorean Theorem. So name this program accordingly, perhaps “PYTH.” We’re now prompted with a blank screen on which to write our program. Writing a program is a lot like typing regular commands into your calculator; programs just usually involve a variable that the user can input in addition to what you, the programmer type in.
For the Pythagorean Theorem, the user will have to input two variables: the two sides of the triangle that they know. To ask the user for these variables, press the PRGM button, scroll over to I/O, and select Prompt. Next, we type the variables you want the calculator to ask for next to Prompt with each variable separated by a comma (Note: variables can only be single letters e.g. A,B,C etc.). These variables can be called whatever you want, but for the purposes of simplicity, we will call them A and B.
We have now input everything we need to solve the Pythagorean Theorem; we just need a way of making the calculator solve it. For this, we will once again need to press the PRGM button and to scroll over to I/O. This time we will select “Disp” which, as you can guess, will display whatever you put after it. Next to Disp we will just type √(A^2 + B^2), the Pythagorean Theorem applied to solve for the C, the missing side.
You have now written your first program. You can run it and use it as much as you want, and you’ll never have to do the Pythagorean Theorem by hand again. You can program any function that your calculator can normally do, such as addition subtraction, or even permutations or the greatest integer function. There are also functions specific to programs, the first of which being Disp. You can find these under the PRGM menu. To learn more about the other functions, check out this list of all the programming functions: http://www.math.oregonstate.edu/home/programs/undergrad/TI_Manuals/ti83Guidebook.pdf, pg. 299. The rest is up to you.
If there is a formula that you need to memorize for class, why not put it into your calculator?
To get specific help with your program writing, talk to your nearest Toby or Jack.
Staring out the window, bored out of your mind, doing the quadratic formula for hundredth time that day when Mr. Campagna screams “WAIT! Give me your calculators.” Everything seems hopeless, you haven’t memorized how to do square roots in your head yet and you’re on the verge of giving up on math all together when suddenly ... Mr. Campagna hands the calculator back to you with a shiny new program: QUAD99.
You open it up and it does everything for you! No more nights lost to crying over the quadratic formula; with three easy button presses, you will never do the quadratic formula ever again. But what if you could do this with all of your tedious math queries? What if every math problem you did could be solved that quickly? What if you never had memorize an equation ever again?
Welcome to the wonderful world of calculator programming! To enter this world, start by pressing the PRGM button on your calculator. Scroll over to the NEW tab, and press “Create New.” There are an infinite number of programs we can make, but we’ll start out simple: a program that calculates the Pythagorean Theorem. So name this program accordingly, perhaps “PYTH.” We’re now prompted with a blank screen on which to write our program. Writing a program is a lot like typing regular commands into your calculator; programs just usually involve a variable that the user can input in addition to what you, the programmer type in.
For the Pythagorean Theorem, the user will have to input two variables: the two sides of the triangle that they know. To ask the user for these variables, press the PRGM button, scroll over to I/O, and select Prompt. Next, we type the variables you want the calculator to ask for next to Prompt with each variable separated by a comma (Note: variables can only be single letters e.g. A,B,C etc.). These variables can be called whatever you want, but for the purposes of simplicity, we will call them A and B.
We have now input everything we need to solve the Pythagorean Theorem; we just need a way of making the calculator solve it. For this, we will once again need to press the PRGM button and to scroll over to I/O. This time we will select “Disp” which, as you can guess, will display whatever you put after it. Next to Disp we will just type √(A^2 + B^2), the Pythagorean Theorem applied to solve for the C, the missing side.
You have now written your first program. You can run it and use it as much as you want, and you’ll never have to do the Pythagorean Theorem by hand again. You can program any function that your calculator can normally do, such as addition subtraction, or even permutations or the greatest integer function. There are also functions specific to programs, the first of which being Disp. You can find these under the PRGM menu. To learn more about the other functions, check out this list of all the programming functions: http://www.math.oregonstate.edu/home/programs/undergrad/TI_Manuals/ti83Guidebook.pdf, pg. 299. The rest is up to you.
If there is a formula that you need to memorize for class, why not put it into your calculator?
To get specific help with your program writing, talk to your nearest Toby or Jack.
