Published by KermMartian on February 6, 2013 at 5:17:33 PM CST | Discuss this article (12)

As we get closer and closer to the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition's Spring 2013 launch date, we have been uncovering more information about this new color-screen TI graphing calculator. Unfortunately, we still don't know details about the processor and hardware, but we do know a lot about the math features of the operating system, and with a seminar last night held for teachers, we know (and TI-Planet) even more. This seminar covered statistics, graphing, the expanded homescreen and mode menu, the new TI-Connect and SmartView software packages, and more. In brief form, here's almost all the new things we know:

:: The Mode menu is nearly identical to the one on MathPrint TI-84 Plus calculators. Notably, you can still disable MathPrint by entering Classic mode.
:: The Graph Format menu is greatly expanded. You can set grids of lines or points, plus specify the color of the grid. You can choose a picture for the background behind graphed functions. We also saw colors specified both as numbers (1 = light gray) and as names ("MEDGRAY").
:: Because the graph is higher-resolution, the Trace cursor now moves 4 pixels at a time by default instead of 1. You can set this in the new Window menu.
:: You can put the List Editor side-by-side with the graph screen. It appears that this feature may have also been added to the monochrome MP operating system. Perhaps a new MP OS for the TI-84 Plus/SE is coming too?
: Both the Catalog and error messages now display helpful hints, like the arguments and a blurb about using functions from the Catalog or more information about what may have caused the error message for errors.
:: There's a new regression mode called QuickPlot & Fit-EQ That appears to let you draw points for regression directly on the graphscreen.

We continue to be excited about this new calculator, and we're eagerly anticipating the flood of new users and programmers who will be coming to Cemetech (and the rest of the community) to learn to use their new TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition calculators. What are your thoughts on these new features? Tell us below!

Left: A graph with a grid, a Stat Plot, and a line of best fit, split-scren with the List editor.
Right: Three graphed functions, demonstrated line colors, the grid, and asymptote detection.


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