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Overview
The TI-84 Plus is the most common calculator in high schools across the U.S. and other countries. There are 4 different versions of this calculator (this one remains the most popular). But if you still want to know more, check out our article explaining the difference between all TI-84 Plus calculators.
The TI-84 Plus has all of the features necessary for high school and many college classes. This, combined with its ease of use are what makes the TI-84 the most popular graphing calculator across the world, despite its age. This calculator has many features, apps, a great graphing interface, and a great programming interface. If you are buying this calculator for high school or home use, you really can’t go wrong. That being said, there are a few things that I’ll point out that may steer you to a different calculator or a newer version of the TI-84 Plus.
Features and Capabilities
Features
From any screen you can press[mode] to access the calculators settings. You’ll be able to put the calculator in, real/non-real mode, radian/degree mode, normal/scientific mode and more.
The “home screen” or the calculation screen is most likely where you will be doing most of your work. From the home screen you can press the[math] key to access all of the templates and functions you need. Once you select a template it will appear in the calculation screen ready for you to input the numbers. The templates range from being as simple as a fraction to as complex as summation notation.
Usability
One of the main reasons that the TI-84 Plus is so popular is because of its usability. All of the menus and other user interface systems on this calculator are simple and intuitive. Another reason it will be so easy to pick up on how to use this calculator is because of its popularity. There are tons of sources on the internet that can teach you how to use this calculator and chances are that your math teacher knows how to use this device pretty well.
Apps
The TI-84 Plus has 9 main apps (not including the calculation screen, graph, or table). I won’t cover all of them, but I’ll talk about the most useful ones.
First off is “PolySmlt2” this is an app for dealing with either polynomials, or simultaneous equations. For polynomials, the calculator can find roots, (real or non-real), with a polynomial of degree 10 or lower. And for the simultaneous equation solver you solve up to 10 equations with 10 unknowns.
Then, there is an app for conics (ellipses, hyperbolas, parabolas). Here you can graph shapes that aren’t actually functions, like ellipses, that you are unable to graph in the normal graphing part of the calculator. In this app you can also enter the equations in the natural form for the conic, instead of in “Y=” form as is required by the normal graphing section of the TI-84 Plus
There are also a couple of apps for science subjects. First, there is “Periodic” which gives you a full layout of the periodic table. You can scroll around and select whatever element you want, then by pressing [enter]you will get more info like the full name of the element, the atomic weight, the number of neutrons and protons, and more.
Next, in the science category there is “SciTools” this app includes a sig-fig calculator, a unit converter, a data analysis app, and a vector calculator. Each of the sections in the app does exactly what it sounds like. The unit converter can do conversions using 9 different sets of units like energy, length, or velocity, or you can convert using science prefixes, which removes the need to memorize them.
Graphing
Graphing is very straightforward, you can enter up to 10 equations at a time and graph each line on the same graph. The TI-84 Plus can also graph sequential, polar, and parametric graphs.
The graph function works well and is easy enough to read. However, the TI-84 Plus’ screen is getting a bit out of date. For something like graphing the TI-84 Plus CE (newest TI-84 Plus) really has the TI-84 Plus beat. Below are the same four equations graphed on the TI-84 Plus (left) and the TI-84 Plus CE (right).
Once you have graphed a line, or lines, you can zoom in and out on the graph, change tick mark frequency, or calculate an intersect and other things. There is also, a table function that you can either scroll through or jump to a specific X value on.
MATHPRINT
This is a feature that is on most TI calculators these days but it is a function that is still worth pointing out. MATHPRINT is the name for the calculator’s ability to print expressions as they may appear written out by hand or in a textbook. This feature reading entered expressions on the screen much easier. Below are the exact same expressions one with MATHPRINT off (left) and the other with MATHPRINT on (right)
Today, all TI-84 Plus calculators come with MATHPRINT.
Unfortunately, unlike many calculators today, the TI-84 Plus doesn’t give answers in exact simplest form. Instead you will get a decimal. So if you entered something like√32 you would get 5.65685… instead of having the option to get the simplest form of the radical, 4√2.
But there is a way to fix the issue of simplifying radicals, and it is the topic of the next section. Click <here> to see our program that simplifies radicals for the TI-84 Plus.
Programming The TI-84 Plus
Our favorite feature on the TI-84 Plus is its programming interface. You can create and use some pretty advanced programs directly from this calculator. You can use the programs easily at any time from the home screen. Programming on this device is much easier than it could be but if you don’t feel like learning how to program in TI-BASIC, feel free to download or copy some of our programs<here>. There is a program for simplifying radicals as mentioned in the last section.
Hardware
Power
This is where the TI-84 Plus really starts to show it’s age. This calculator first came out in 2004 and it really shows. However as we have said before, it remains the best selling calculator on the market, which means that most customers don’t really find the hardware to be very important. First of all, this calculator is powered by 4 AAA batteries. Most other calculators today are rechargeable including the TI-84 Plus CE (the newest version of the TI-84).
Build
The use of the older batteries, and overall old technology, means that the TI-84 Plus is going to be a bit bulky. It is defiantly thicker than most of the calculators that you can buy today. The TI-84 Plus CE is over 50% thinner at .8 inches whereas the regular TI-84 Plus is 1.3 inches thick.
Screen
The TI-84 is still using the same screen technology that has been used in graphing calculators for the past 3 decades. The screen doesn’t have color, is not-backlit, and has a very low resolution of 96 x 64 pixels.
Most calculators today have all three of those things (color, backlight, and a relatively high resolution). Compared with other calculators this means the TI-84 Plus’ graphs will not look as nice and some of the menus and other places will feel more crammed because the overall text size has to be larger due to the low-res screen. Below is the mode menu on the TI-84 Plus (left) and the TI-84 Plus CE (right).
Conclusion
The TI-84 Plus is the most popular graphing calculator in the world. This calculator will give you everything you need for high school and more, all in a simple, easy to use package. You get a great graphing system, MATHPRINT templates, and a number of well thought out useful applications. The biggest drawback of the TI-84 Plus is it’s out of date hardware. I’d really recommend checking out the TI-84 Plus CE (the newest version of the TI-84 Plus) before making your final buying decision.
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