?
10. How do I graph a piecewise-defined function such as y = ?
To produce a good graph of a piecewise-defined function, first press MODE , select DOT, and press ENTER (On the TI-83, you can use the arrow keys to move the cursor all the way to the left in the graph editor, and then repeatedly press ENTER until you see a line of disconnected dots). We will select inequalities for our graph editor from the TEST ( 2nd --> MATH ) menu.
Press Y= to open the graph editor, and input each piece of y as a separate function. Enclose each function rule in parentheses, and enclose each interval in parentheses. Notice how the interval -3 < x < 3 is entered. Finally, check out the cool graph!
11. How to I plot a list of data points?
Press STAT to open the statistics editor, select CLRLST,
and press ENTER . Press L1 ( 2nd --> 1 ) and press
ENTER . Press ENTRY ( 2nd --> ENTER ), delete L1
and replace it with L2 ( 2nd --> 2 ), and press ENTER
. This will clear any lists previously stored in L1 and L2.
Now press STAT again and select EDIT. Use the arrow keys or
pressing ENTER to input the numbers -2, 0, and 2 in the L1
column. Scroll over to the L2 column using the arrow keys, and enter
the numbers 0, 1, and 2.
Now press Y= to open the graph editor, and make certain that all
graphs have been cleared or deselected.
Press STAT PLOT ( 2nd --> Y= ), select PLOT1 , and
make the window look as below.
Now press ZOOM , select ZDECIMAL, and press ENTER . You should see your three data points plotted. For fun, go back to your graph editor and see if you can find a linear function whose graph will pass through all three points!
