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TI-84 Plus series

TI-84 Plus

TI-84 Plus Silver Edition

The TI-84 Plus is a graphing calculator made by Texas Instruments which was released in early 2004. There is no original TI-84, only the TI-84 Plus and TI-84 Plus Silver Edition models. It is an enhanced version of the TI-83 Plus. The key-by-key correspondence is the relatively same, but the 84 features some improved hardware. The memory is about 3 times as large, and CPU about 2.5 times as fast (over the TI-83 and TI-83 Plus). A USB port and built-in clock functionality were also added. The clock can be used to tell the time since the RAM last cleared (if set correctly, it will tell the actual time). It is merely a slightly enhanced version of the TI-83 Plus Silver Edition, as it retains many of the same system specs. The USB port on the TI-84 Plus series is USB On-The-Go compliant, similar to the next generation TI-Nspire calculator, which supports connecting to USB based data collection devices and probes, and supports device to device transfers over USB rather than the via Link port.^[1] Although graphing calculators have been called inexpensive in education reform research^[2], the TI-84 Plus Silver Edition was $129.99 in 2008 on the TI online store.

The TI-84 Plus Silver Edition was released in 2004 as an upgrade to the TI-83 Plus Silver Edition. Like the TI-83 Plus Silver Edition, it features a 15 MHz Zilog Z80 processor, 24 kB user available RAM (the actual chip is 128 kB, but TI has yet to code support for the entire RAM into an OS), and 1.5 MB Flash ROM. Like the standard TI-84 Plus, the Silver Edition includes a built-in USB port, a built-in clock, and assembly support. It uses 4 AAA batteries and a backup button cell battery. If you take out the batteries while the TI-84 is running, it clears the RAM. TI offers yellow versions of this calculator to schools. A kickstand-style slide case and interchangeable coloured faceplates are also available.

There are three different types of programs which can be downloaded or programmed into it: TI-BASIC, Z80 assembly language, and Flash (applications). There are a wide range of applications that this produces, from science classes, to games, to calculus to note taking (when put together with a separately sold keyboard). The TI-84 Plus Series is exactly like its predecessor in that it can be used on the SAT and ACT examinations as well as International Baccalaureate examinations. However in some cases those administering the exam may reset the calculator's memory beforehand to prevent cheating through the use of built in programs or other data.

When OS 2.30 was initially released, users noticed the speed of graphing was greatly reduced. The explanation was that the update added asymptote checking in graphing.

In January 2006, Texas Instruments released v 2.40 operating system for the TI-84 plus series. The most noticeable addition to the new OS was the teacher key, allowing the teacher to disable any programs installed on the calculator, so they cannot be used on tests, etc. OS version 2.41 for the TI-84 plus series was released in May 2006. The current OS version is 2.43 which was released in December 2007.

Assembly Language
TI-BASIC
Technical specifications
See also
References
External links

Assembly Language

Z80 assembly language gives a programmer much more power over the calculator than the built-in language, TI-BASIC. On the downside, Z80 assembly is much more difficult to learn than TI-BASIC and very cumbersome for coding large programs. Z80 assembly language can be programmed on the computer and sent to the calculator via a USB port, written by hand directly into the program editor (using the hexadecimal equivalents to the opcodes) or compiled using third party compiler programs. Programs written in assembly are much faster and more efficient than those using TI-BASIC, as it is the processor's native language, and does not have to be interpreted like TI-BASIC. An example program that displays "Hello World" on the screen:

Unfortunately the TI-84 will be made exam illegal for GCSE, GCE AS & A Level exams starting in 2009.

TI-BASIC

TI-BASIC is the built in language for TI-84 Plus series calculators, as well as many other TI graphing calculators. TI-BASIC is an unstructured programming language, meaning it is arranged sequentially, without the use of methods or organized blocks of code. Because it is so simple and easy to use many programmers start their careers with this. Below is an example of a Hello World program equivalent to the assembly language example.