TI-83 Plus Online Calculator

Getting around the keys

Press the keys on screen or type on your keyboard. The number keys, the operators, Enter, Escape, Delete and the arrow keys all work. Press x for the X,T,θ,n key, which types X, or T, θ or n in the other graphing modes.

Each key has up to three jobs. The white label is the main job. The blue label above the key is its second function, which you reach by pressing 2nd first. The green label is a letter, which you reach by pressing ALPHA first. Press 2nd and then ALPHA to lock the letters on until you press ALPHA again.

Menus open from keys such as MATH, VARS and ZOOM. Move through a menu with the arrow keys and press ENTER, or press the number shown beside an item.

Worked examples

Pick a worked example from the list. Each one is a short series of steps with the keys to press. In Follow mode the next key is ringed on the keypad and the example only moves on when you press it. Press Play step in either mode to watch the remaining keys of the current step. Playback pauses at the result. Pause stops it early, and Play step resumes. Show me completes a step immediately.

You can press your own keys at any point. The example pauses and a button takes you back to it. Every example and every step has its own link, so a teacher can send students straight to the step that matters.

The examples cover arithmetic and the order of operations, the MATH, NUM, TEST and CATALOG menus, graphing, zoom and window settings, tables, and the CALC tools for zeros, minimums, maximums, intersections, slopes and areas. They also cover lists and the list editor, one and two variable statistics, regressions, statistics plots, matrices, probability and distributions, tests and confidence intervals, and the memory menu. The graphing examples go on to parametric, polar and sequence graphs, the graph styles, drawing on the graph with the DRAW menu, pictures and graph databases, the window, zoom and table variables of the VARS menu, and the split screens.

Fidelity notes

This simulator is written from scratch and does not run Texas Instruments software. It follows the TI-83 Plus keys, menus and screens closely, and its behavior is checked against published documentation. It is not an exact copy of the handheld.

The tools that search for a value, which are zero, minimum, maximum, intersect and dy/dx, can differ from a real calculator in the last digits. The cursor does not blink, and the table is drawn without grid lines. The up arrow on the Home screen copies an earlier entry down, which is an extra here. The guidebook describes 2nd and ENTRY for recalling an entry.

Statistics, regressions, distributions, tests and intervals are computed with standard numerical methods, so their results can differ from a real calculator in the last digits. Random numbers come from the simulator's own generator, so the same seed does not give the numbers a handheld gives. The list and matrix editors, the statistics plot setup and the memory screens use the same sixteen by eight text grid as the rest of the screen, not the small type of the handheld. Archive, Unarchive and Group are not included.

Parametric, polar and sequence graphs, the DRAW menu and the split screens follow the screens shown in the TI-83 Plus guidebook. Where the guidebook says nothing, the simulator makes its own choice. Text( writes with the simulator's own small font, so its letters look different from the handheld's. Path and Animate draw the finished curve with a ball at its end. On the handheld the ball moves along the curve as it is drawn, and Animate leaves no curve behind it. The sizes that Mem Mgmt/Del shows for pictures and graph databases are the simulator's own estimates. To keep the page responsive, a parametric or polar graph takes at most 2000 steps and a sequence at most 10000 terms, and a larger window gives ERR:WINDOW RANGE.

Complex numbers, strings, programs and finance are planned for later releases. The MODE options a+bi and re^θi are greyed out for now.

Related calculators

Explore solvers, calculus, complex numbers, matrices and vectors with the TI-36X Pro calculator. Practice fractions and scientific functions with the TI-30XIIS calculator, or explore color graphing with the TI-84 Plus CE calculator.

Using it for school

This is a learning tool. Some tests allow only an approved handheld calculator, so check your teacher's rules before you rely on it in an exam. It is useful for practice, for checking your keystrokes and for finding where a menu item lives.