PE5_Web 2.0 Calculator

So, I’ve been entertaining myself with the Web 2.0 Calculator (I know, I’m a geek).  I wanted to explore it for its accuracy and to test different explorations that can be performed on it.  I played with the square root and cube root functions.  They can be used in a unit I teach in Algebra 2 this year.  I also played with the squaring and cubing buttons.  Those can be used in my exponential exploration in Algebra 1 as well as reinforcement of those concepts in Algebra 2.  I was particularly excited about the ability to use logarithms and natural logarithms on the calculators as those are not necessarily available on a typical scientific calculator, but would now be available to the students using this tool.  In addition to the logs, matrices can be set up on the web 2.0 calculator.  That is also a feature that is reserved for the graphing calculators.  This tool allows you to switch between degrees and radians (which is helpful in Precalculus) and it integrates pi, the solving feature and multi-digit exponents.  One feature I like and plan to use for my RILS activity is the sin^-1, cos^-1 and tan^-1 buttons that allow you to find the measures of angles in right triangles.  The regular trigonometric functions in addition to these buttons will greatly assist a student who does not otherwise have the necessary resources. The following screens demonstrate how we would go about using the measure of an angle whose sign is 4/5.  We would put the 4/5 into the calculator to come up with 0.8 as the decimal.

We would then use the sin-1 to calculate the measure of the angle that has that decimal.

Last, we would find the measure of the angle is approximately 42 degrees.

This is just one of the many features of a tool that would be quite beneficial to the students in my classes.