How to Use a Graphing Calculator for Trigonometry

Your trig teacher requires you to have a graphing calculator to use during class, how a graphing calculator works or if you want to tackle the learning curve required to use one. Here are some easy steps to become familiar with your graphing calculator and its functions so you're able to do those problems quickly and easily.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

1. Turn on your calculator. Get familiar with it by playing around with a few of the trig functions. Take the time to learn the layout of your calculator's keypad so you will be able to locate the buttons easily. Some brands are more difficult to use than others are. Casio graphing calculators have been a favorite for many years and a bonus is that batteries are readily available as well.
2. Run through your graphing calculator's tutorial. This will give you a good overview of what way the system requires you to input functions as well as gets you more familiar with the calculator's functionality. This experience comes in handy when you need to do an inverse trig function problem or need to input something with a logarithm.
3. Get to your formula input screen. This could be one of many options in your calculator's menu.
4. Type in a trig formula. Remember, most graphs are in the format of "y" is equal to some function of "x." This is how most graphing calculators plot trig functions. If you need to plot "x" equals some function of "y," you may be in for some finger gymnastics, or you may not be able to do it at all. You need to mentally flip the graph or rewrite the problem as "y" as a function of "x."
5. Try online graphing calculators, and ask if your instructor allows you to use these resources. If your trig instructor allows this, he will probably allow you to bring a laptop to class so you can access an online graphing calculator during class. You can try WebGraphing online which requires a membership to get started, but it is free.

Tips & Warnings

• Learn how your graphing calculator requires you to type in the functions. To get the right graph it's imperative to enter the trig function properly. Don't be afraid to ask your instructor if you have trouble figuring out how to input a function. Your instructor can also look at the graph and see if it has plotted correctly as well.

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