Do Graph Calculator Art

Boredom engenders creativity, and a long and tiresome lecture in class can be spiced up by creating your own graphic art on your graphing calculator. Amuse yourself without disrupting the class at large by creating a personal masterpiece on your calculator, providing a conversation piece in the halls between classes.

Instructions
1. Press the "Y=" button. Use the "Delete" button to clear any equations that are there. This ensures that you will have a clean pallet upon which to draw.

2. Press "2nd" followed by "Format." Select "AxesOff" and press "Enter." This removes the axes so you have a blank canvas.

3. Press "Graph," "2nd" and "Draw." Choose the drawing style you wish to use such as "Circles," "Lines" or free drawing in "Pen" mode.

4. Use the arrow keys and the "Enter" button to draw your desired line type. Repeat until your masterpiece is complete.


Tips & Warnings

- To save your picture, press "Draw" and press the "Right Arrow" button twice. Select the "StorePic" option to save your drawing.

Plug in a Graphing Calculator

Graphing calculators are valuable in middle school and high school algebra classes. In algebra, it's important to know how to graph equations and determine the values of equations for particular x-values. Your graphing calculator allows you to create a graph of an equation and to plug in various x-values and obtain the corresponding y-values. Graphing calculators can save you a significant amount of time on homework and exams.

Instructions
1. Type your equation into the Y= portion of your calculator. For example, if you'd like to find the graph of y=x3, plug x3 into your calculator.

2. Hit "graph", to obtain the graph for the equation.

3. Press "calc," then enter the value of x that you'd like to plug into your calculator. Press "enter." Your calculator will display the corresponding value of y.