The TI-84 Plus and TI-84 Plus Silver Edition graphical calculators

Like many readers, I received a recent mailing from Texas Instruments with an introductory offer for their new TI-84 Plus Silver Edition graphing calculator. I was lucky enough to be able to get my hands on one in March at the T-cubed International Conference in New Orleans. So what’s the big deal?

Of course it’s bigger (1.5 Mb flash ROM), faster (2.5 times), flashier (different coloured face plates available) and has more functions (it now has an internal clock with date and time display) than the current TI-83 Plus. It also comes with an impressive array of 21 free software applications ready installed, including Cabri Junior, Cellsheet, Study Cards and Note Folio. For a fuller specification see: http://education.ti.com/uk/product/cdlt/84p.html

The big leap forward is the inclusion of a USB port. This is intended for two main purposes. The first is the speeding up of communications between two TI-84 Pluses and between a TI-84 Plus and a computer. The second is the ability of all USB calculators to connect to the existing whole class displays: the ViewScreen for use on an OHP and the TI-Presenter for use with a video projector or screen. This means that any student version of the TI-84 can be connected to show to the whole class.

Given the range of USB devices now available for computers my guess is that we can also expect to see a range of other products communicating with the TI-84 Plus. We have already seen the rapid fall in prices of USB `memory stick' devices for computers - and such a device could make the equivalent of an external hard-drive for a TI-84 Plus. Also there are now low cost probes for data-logging which can plug directly into the USB port of a PC or Mac. So in theory we could see many of the existing data-logging and digital control applications being run directly from a USB graphical calculator without the need for other interfaces.

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Adrian Oldknow

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