Calculator Tips

This page contains information about how to use various calculators for different classes.

Vectors in General

Vectors may be entered surrounded by [ ]. That is, for some vector \(\vec{r}\):

\( \begin{align} \vec{r}&=r_x\hat{\imath}+r_y\hat{\jmath}+r_z\hat{k} \end{align} \)

say,

\( \begin{align} \vec{r}&=3\hat{\imath}-2\hat{\jmath}+6\hat{k} \end{align} \)

the TI version of the vector would be:

[3, -2, 6]

Note that the result will actually be surrounded by two sets of square brackets, representing a matrix. Be sure to use the unary negative operator (-) versus the binary subtraction operator - at the start of negative entries.

Dot and Cross Products

• Vector operations on TI Calculators: www.phys.lsu.edu/classes/spring2010/phys1100/TI_calc_vec.pdf

Unit Directions

• To find the unit direction for a vector, use
  • <2nd>--<5>MATH--<4>Matrix--L:Vector ops--<1>unitV()

Coordinate Angles

• To find the coordinate angles of a vector, you should first get the unit direction vector. Then, you must turn the unit direction vector into a list before taking the arccos of the list. Lists are surrounded by {} instead of []. To convert a vector to a list, use
  • <2nd>--<5>MATH--<3>List--F:mat->list()
    and put the desired matrix in as the argument; the result will be surrounded by {}. You can then apply the arccos to the list and get all three coordinate direction angles at once!

Questions

Post your questions by editing the discussion page of this article. Edit the page, then scroll to the bottom and add a question by putting in the characters *{{Q}}, followed by your question and finally your signature (with four tildes, i.e. ~~~~). Using the {{Q}} will automatically put the page in the category of pages with questions - other editors hoping to help out can then go to that category page to see where the questions are. See the page for Template:Q for details and examples.