First of all, before I record anything on this blog, I must declare that MA 3340 is like the year 2020; there is something new that surprises you to the bones each week—but in the best way possible.
In the last two weeks, I have come to a conclusion that my TI-84 calculator is like that one book of poems that I did not care for when I was young, but as I grow up, there are new things each time I read them.
The features regarding basic trig—angles from radian to degree vice versa—seems so minor to us at this point of our academics. However, I for sure believe that this feature can help a student who’s newly learning trigonometry, because having a tool to quickly check which radian angle is equals to which degree can lubricate the process of understanding the relationship between radian and degree.
I remember from back in Linear Algebra, I heard some students whispering that your TI calculator can do matrix, which I thought, “that might be nice, but there’s no way”. Little did I know, an year later, turns out your calculator CAN do matrix. My professor at the time made us use a software called SageMath, which allowed you to do math with basic coding commands. All I can say about SageMath is that it was purely awful, and I never had to pay so much attention to missing brackets and indents in my life.
Learning matrix row reduction is one of the main concepts in Linear Algebra, and all the algebraic process that goes into rows and columns can be often confusing. It is extremely helpful to have a tool to check your work as you go, so you don’t have to start all over again when you mess up. TI-84 calculator offers accessible tools to manipulate your matrix, and it is by far the easiest way I have experienced.
Hyogi's Blog 