The basics of the TI-30X II S

The TI-30X II S is the recommended calculator for the class. It has many features that will do some very difficult calculations automatically. In the instructions, any time a key press or series of key presses is discussed, the instructions will be in red in the font called Courier.

One of the most important keys on the calculator is the blue key [2nd] at the upper left. Using this key, almost all the black keys and the bottom row of the white keys have double uses. For example, the

[ON]

button is at the lower left. If you press

[2nd][ON]

that turns the calculator off. Some, but not all the functions on the regular black buttons have an inverse function associated with it by pressing 2nd. For example, the 4th button from the bottom in the left column, with [x^2] on it, will square a number, while if you key in [2nd][x^2], it takes the square root of a number. Be careful. To get a square root, you need to type

[2nd][x^2] 3 [ENTER]

which will give you 1.732050808, while to get 3 squared, you type

3 [x^2][ENTER]

to get 9.

To enter in data sets, we will be using the DATA and STATVAR keys, as well as the four arrow buttons in the upper right. Since the four symbols are not available in the text editor I use for this blog, I shall type [up], [down], [left] and [right] to identify the four buttons.

Getting in and out of STAT mode: There are some words written in a small font below the output line for answers. If you see STAT written on that line, this means the calculator has a current set of data it is storing. If you don't see that word, there is nothing currently stored.

If you don't see STAT: Press

[2nd][DATA]

and the equation line of the output screen will give the choices of 1-VAR and 2-VAR. You can use the [left] and [right] buttons to toggle back and forth. Pick the one you want, then press

[ENTER]

(The first data sets we are going to deal with will be 1-variable applications.)

If you want to start a new data set, press

[2nd][DATA][left]

This gives you the CLRDATA option. If you press

[ENTER]

all data that was stored will be erased.

Now we know how to get in and out of STAT mode and erase old data. Next we will learn how to enter a data set and how to get the parameters or statistics, which is to say some of the important numbers associated with the data set, which could be a population or a sample.