Texas Instruments TI-Nspire CX User manual

Page 1
N Hopley. Sep 2015. TI-Nspire OS4.0
Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths (STEM)
Calculator Guide
Texas Instruments TI-Nspire CX Handheld
(Operating System 4.0)
This short guide is designed to instruct you on how to set up your handheld to perform
calculations that you will typically do in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.
This guide will not attempt to explain the underlying Numerical or Mathematical concepts.
Page
1 Layout of the keypad, highlighting keys used in this guide
2 The Document Settings Menu
3 Restoring the General Settings to Factory Default Settings
4 Using the TI-Nspire for Calculations with Factory Default Settings
5 Using the TI-Nspire in Normal Calculation Mode
6 Using the TI-Nspire in Fixed Decimal Place Mode
7 & 8 Using the TI-Nspire in Scientific Notation Mode
9 Using the TI-Nspire in Engineering mode
10 Using the TI-Nspire in Degree Mode for Calculations
10 Using the TI-Nspire in Degree Mode for Drawing Graphs
11 Calculating Reciprocals
12 Converting numbers between Decimal and Binary
13 & 14 Preparing the TI-Nspire for Assessments
15 Removing the TI-Nspire from Press-to-Test mode
Page 1 - Layout of the keypad, highlighting keys used in this guide.
Touchpad/
Cursor Control
Scratchpad
Tab
Control
(press to
access blue items)
“to the Power of”
Exponent
Home
Menu
Delete
Catalogue
Fraction Template
(press /p)
Force Decimal
Approximation
(press /·)
Enter
Negative

Page 2
N Hopley. Sep 2015. TI-Nspire OS4.0
Page 2 - The Document Settings Menu
The Document Settings Menu controls how the TI-Nspire displays answers to calculations.
Go to the Home screen by pressing c.
Press 5to select Settings
This will open a new pop-up menu, as shown !
Press 2to select Document Settings
You will now see the Document Settings menu.
You can either press e, or you can use the
Touchpad, to move to different options.
You can press !to open up a drop-down menu, and
then use "and #to move through the settings.
You can either press ·,or you can click on the
centre of the touchpad x, to make your setting choice.
This guide will demonstrate how several of these menu settings can be used to
control how answers to calculations are displayed.
You can also access the Document Settings menu from within any Document or
Scratchpad, without having to go back to the Home screen.
Simply use the touchpad to move the cursor arrow over the cog/battery icon in the top
right corner.
Then click on the centre of the touchpad to select the icon, which will then open up the first
pop-up menu.

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N Hopley. Sep 2015. TI-Nspire OS4.0
Page 3 - Restoring the Document Settings to Factory Default Settings
It is often helpful to reset the general settings to avoid unexpected behaviour when starting
a new calculation task.
This resetting action is called ‘Restoring settings to factory default settings’.
Go to the Home screen by pressing c
Press 5to select Settings
Press 2to select Document Settings
Select
Select to restore the settings.
Select
Select to apply the restored settings.

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N Hopley. Sep 2015. TI-Nspire OS4.0
Page 4 - Using the TI-Nspire for Calculations with Factory Default Settings
Restore Factory Default Settings by first going to the
Home screen by pressing c.
Press 5to select Settings
Press 2to select Document Settings
Select and then to Restore factory default
settings.
Notice that Calculation Mode is set to Auto
This means that the TI-Nspire will try and give answers exactly, without writing them as
decimals.
Select and then .
Access the Scratchpad Calculator by pressing ».
When you type 2p3and then press ·, the
display should look like that shown !
Notice that the answer is displayed as an exact
fraction.
Press /then ·.
This selects ≈and displays the last calculation’s
answer as a decimal approximation.
You can force the TI-Nspire to give a decimal answer
straight away by simply including a decimal point
somewhere in your calculation - even at the end of a
number will do.
For example, you could
EITHER type in 2^p3 which will display
OR type in 2p3^ which will display
€
2.
3
€
2
3.

Page 5
N Hopley. Sep 2015. TI-Nspire OS4.0
Page 5 - Using the TI-Nspire in Normal Calculation Mode
We are taking ‘Normal Calculation Mode’ to mean here that the TI-Nspire will give answers
to all calculations as decimal approximations, rather than exact values.
Go to the Home screen by pressing c.
Press 5to select Settings
Press 2to select Document Settings
Select and then to Restore factory default
settings.
For Display Digits select Float
For Calculation Mode select Approximate
Select and then .
These settings will display all answers as decimals, with up to 12 decimal places on show.
Access the Scratchpad Calculator by pressing ».
When you type 2p3and then press ·, the
display should look like that shown !
Notice that the displayed answer has been rounded to
12 decimal places.
The TI-Nspire actually knows the answer to 14 digit
accuracy, and it uses these extra known digits to
round the answer correctly.

Page 6
N Hopley. Sep 2015. TI-Nspire OS4.0
Page 6 - Using the TI-Nspire in Fixed Decimal Place Mode
In this example, we will select 3 decimal places.
Go to the Home screen by pressing c.
Press 5to select Settings
Press 2to select Document Settings
Select and then to Restore factory default
settings.
For Display Digits select Fix 3 (scroll down the list to below all the Float settings)
For Calculation Mode select Approximate
Select and then .
Access the Scratchpad Calculator by pressing ».
When you type 1^2345and then press ·,
the display should look like that shown !
Notice that the number has been rounded to 3 decimal
places.

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N Hopley. Sep 2015. TI-Nspire OS4.0
Page 7 & 8 - Using the TI-Nspire in Scientific Notation Mode
Go to the Home screen by pressing c.
Press 5to select Settings
Press 2to select Document Settings
Select and then to Restore factory default
settings.
For Display Digits select Float
For Exponential Format select Scientific
For Calculation Mode select Approximate
Select and then .
Access the Scratchpad Calculator by pressing ».
When you type 12345 and then press ·, the
display should look like that shown !
Notice that the number has not been rounded, as the
Float setting was chosen.
If you wanted Scientific Notation to 3 decimal places,
press c5 2
For Display Digits select Fix 3
Select and then .
Access the Scratchpad Calculator by pressing ».
When you type 12345 and then press ·, the
display should look like that shown !
Notice that the displayed result has been rounded to 3
decimal places.

Page 8
N Hopley. Sep 2015. TI-Nspire OS4.0
If you wanted Scientific Notation to 3 significant figures
places, press c5 2
For Display Digits select Float 3
Select and then .
Access the Scratchpad Calculator by pressing ».
When you type 12345 and then press ·, the
display should look like that shown !
Notice that the displayed result has been rounded to 3
significant figures.
If you wanted to do the calculation
You would type:
1^23i4 p5^67iv8
and then press ·.
Note that pressing i4 means the same as
…pressing ·becomes….
Alternatively, you could enter the calculation using the
fraction template. Type:
/p 1^23i4 e 5^67iv8
to give a screen like that shown !
and then press ·.
The above results are displayed with 3 significant
figures (Float 3) in Scientific mode.
The same result in just Float mode would look like !
€
(1.23 ×104)÷(5.67 ×10−8)
€
×10
4

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N Hopley. Sep 2015. TI-Nspire OS4.0
Page 9 - Using the TI-Nspire in Engineering mode
Go to the Home screen by pressing c.
Press 5to select Settings
Press 2to select Document Settings
Select and then to Restore factory default
settings.
For Display Digits select Float
For Exponential Format select Engineering
For Calculation Mode select Approximate
Select and then .
Access the Scratchpad Calculator by pressing ».
When you type 12345 and then press ·, the
display should look like that shown !
Notice that the number has not been rounded, as the
Float setting was chosen.

Page 10
N Hopley. Sep 2015. TI-Nspire OS4.0
Page 10 - Using the TI-Nspire in Degree Mode for Calculations
Go to the Home screen by pressing c.
Press 5to select Settings
Press 2to select Document Settings
You are now viewing Document Settings
For Angle select Degree
Select and then .
Page 10 - Using the TI-Nspire in Degree Mode for Drawing Graphs
Go to the Home screen by pressing c.
Press Bto select the Scratchpad Graph
Press bto select 8: Settings
--- OR ---
Press 1to select New Document
Press 2to Add Graphs
Press bto select 8: Settings
You are now viewing Graphs & Geometry Settings
For Graphing Angle select Degree
Select and then .
The important thing to note here is that you use the
bbutton to change the Graphing Angle settings, but
to change the Calculation Angle settings, you use the
cog/battery icon or the home screen to access the
Document Settings screen.