Texas Instruments TI-83 Plus Manual Book page 83

Chapter 3: Linear Functions
³ Try-It!é on Your TI.83 Plus or TI.73
Students investigate how to input the calculation for slope on the Home screen. See the Student
Worksheet for instructions.
Warn students about the correct use of parentheses. They need to be reminded of the Order of
Operations rules. Notice that the TI-73 has stacked fraction capabilities; therefore, the
calculation is performed correctly without parentheses.
Additional Problems
1. Students input
division is performed before subtraction according to the Order of Operation rules. This is
not the correct answer. Students need to be aware that parentheses, such as (6 4) (2 7),
override the Order of Operation rules.
2. Students practice calculating the slope using the calculator, but remind students that they
can compute these answers faster than the calculator can! Pair students and challenge them
to try to beat the calculator.
a. (3,M4) and (M2,8)
b. (M12,17) and (5,M6)
c. (36,6) and (M25,6)
d. (1.36,2.54) and (1.36,5.72)
Topics in Algebra 1
in the calculator. The calculator computes 6 (4 2) 7 = M3 since
6 4à2 7
© 2001 Texas Instruments
Section 2: Slope Using Coordinates
12
slope = M
5
23
slope = M
17
slope = 0
slope = undefined
Teacher Notes 3-17