It’s 8 pm. Dinner is over. You’re sitting down to watch a movie or Monday Night Football, and then it happens. . . “Mommmmmmmm (or dadddddddddddddddddddddddddd), my calculator doesn’t work. I have my math homework due tomorrow and my graph doesn’t show up.”
This can’t be that bad, you think. “I passed high school math. Heck, I even installed Quicken accounting system at work. How complicated can a calculator be?”
The last time you looked at your son’s TI-83 or TI-84 was in August at the office superstore; she was at the front of a shopping cart with three ring binders and notebook paper on top of a stack. It didn’t look so bad then, but now you take a closer look and there are all kinds of keys you’ve never seen on a calculator before. At the bottom is something familiar: a normal-looking array of number keys, and to the right are the usual add, subtract, multiply, and divide keys. But what the heck are “MODE”, “DEL”, “STAT”, “ZOOM”, “TRACE”, etc. ? What are you going to do? Who are you going to call?
Chill out.
Here are a couple of really simple things to do; but remember, the title of this article is “Help, My TI-83/Ti-84 Does Not Graph”, and that is really all that is covered in this article.
graphic buttons
Look at the top row of buttons on the TI-83/TI-84 calculator. There should be five of them, set back from the other buttons; and should have the following tags:
[Y=] [WINDOW] [ZOOM] [TRACE] [GRAPH]
This is where all your activity is going to take place.
The three main problems
Most of the time, when a chart doesn’t display, there are three reasons:
- graph function.The graphic function has not been entered correctly or has not been entered at all.
- Graphic not lit. The graph function was entered correctly, but graphing is not turned on.
- Viewing window. The function display window is set to the wrong size or location.
We will deal with these one at a time.
Check that the graph function has been entered correctly
push the [Y=] at the top of the calculator. This takes you to the Y= editor screen. You should see a screen that looks like this:
Plot1 Plot2 Plot3
Y1= 2X+1
Y2=
Y3=
Y4=
Y5=
Y6=
The expression “2X+1” is just an example, but you need to see some kind of expression on the Y= editor screen, not just a bunch of blank “Y=” lines. If all you see is the following, then you need to add an expression:
Plot1 Plot2 Plot3
Y1=
Y2=
Y3=
Y4=
Y5=
Y6=
If you want to test a really simple expression to make sure the calculator can plot, use “Y1=X”. This should draw a nice 45 degree line directly through the origin of the graph screen.
Verify that the graph function is activated
It is possible that the graphical representation of the function is not activated in the Y= editor screen. This bug is a bit subtle. Look at the “=” sign in the equation you are trying to plot. The “=” sign should be highlighted.
If not, you should place the cursor on the “=” sign and press the button [ENTER] key, to highlight it.
Viewport must be set to the correct size and location
If the display window is the wrong size or location, the calculator can plot but will not see it on the screen.
There are many ways to set up the viewport, but an easy and reliable method is to simply “Zoom Out”, until you see the function you are trying to graph. push the [ZOOM] at the top of the calculator. Then press “3” to zoom out. Repeat until you see the function you are trying to graph. You should now have an idea of which window you need to use to view the function plotted. push the [WINDOW] at the top of the calculator and adjust the display features as needed.
