Calculator Tips
From PrattWiki
This page contains information about how to use various calculators for different classes.
Contents |
TI-83/84
Not as many built-in functions for vectors / matrices. See http://www.tc3.edu/instruct/sbrown/ti83/vecprod.htm for a program that will help with cross products.
TI-89
Vectors in General
Vectors may be entered surrounded by [ ]. That is, for some vector 
:
say,
the TI version of the vector would be:
[3, -2, 6]
Note that the result will actually be surrounded by two sets of square brackets, representing a matrix. Be sure to use the unary negative operator (-) versus the binary subtraction operator - at the start of negative entries.
Dot and Cross Products
- Vector operations on TI Calculators: www.phys.lsu.edu/classes/spring2010/phys1100/TI_calc_vec.pdf
Unit Directions
- To find the unit direction for a vector, use
- <2nd>--<5>MATH--<4>Matrix--L:Vector ops--<1>unitV()
Coordinate Angles
- To find the coordinate angles of a vector, you should first get the unit direction vector. Then, you must turn the unit direction vector into a list before taking the arccos of the list. Lists are surrounded by {} instead of []. To convert a vector to a list, use
- <2nd>--<5>MATH--<3>List--F:mat->list()
and put the desired matrix in as the argument; the result will be surrounded by {}. You can then apply the arccos to the list and get all three coordinate direction angles at once!
- <2nd>--<5>MATH--<3>List--F:mat->list()
Questions
Post your questions by editing the discussion page of this article. Edit the page, then scroll to the bottom and add a question by putting in the characters *{{Q}}, followed by your question and finally your signature (with four tildes, i.e. ~~~~). Using the {{Q}} will automatically put the page in the category of pages with questions - other editors hoping to help out can then go to that category page to see where the questions are. See the page for Template:Q for details and examples.
