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Graphics Calculator tip! Plotting

points
We can check whether a set of coordinate points form a linear pattern by using a graphics calculator to
show them plotted on a Cartesian plane.
1 Press Y= and clear any entries.
2 Press 2nd [STAT PLOT], select 4: PlotsOff and press ENTER to turn off any existing plots.
3 Press STAT and select 1: Edit . . .
4 Enter the x-values in the first column headed L1 (that is, List 1) and the y-values in the second
column headed L2 (for List 2). Remember to press ENTER after each value is typed in.

5 Press 2nd [STAT PLOT] and select 1: Plot 1. . . With the cursor flashing on ON, press ENTER
then scroll and press ENTER on the type of plot required.

6 Press ZOOM and select 9: ZoomStat to automatically select window variables that include all the
x- and y-values entered.
The screen will show the plotted points.

7 You can press TRACE and use the cursor key

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to check the values of each point.

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graphs
Graphics Calculator tip! Drawing
given the rule
The main purpose of a graphics calculator is to draw graphs. If we are given the rule or equation, we
can easily produce a graph to check our results.
1 To clear any existing plots, press 2nd [STAT PLOT], select 4: PlotsOff and press ENTER .
2 Press the Y= key and enter the rule. For example, to enter y = x + 3, press ALPHA [X] then +
and 3.

3 Press GRAPH to display the graph of the rule entered. You may need to adjust the WINDOW settings to show the graph clearly on the screen.

Alternately, you can press ZOOM and select 6: ZStandard which shows the graph on a Cartesian
plane with x- and y-values ranging from 10 to 10.)

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4 Experiment with different ZOOM settings.

ZDecimal has x-axis values extending from 4.7 to 4.7 and y-axis values extending from 3.1 to

3.1.
ZInteger has x-axis values extending from 47 to 47 and y-axis values extending from 31 to 31.
ZSquare keeps the scale on the x-axis the same as the y-axis so that if you were plotting a circle,

the graph would look like a circle and not an oval shape.
5 Experiment further with the ZOOM settings by pressing TRACE and moving the cursor keys.