https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ Recent content on Tech Powered Math, Graphing Calculator Reviews, Test Prep Reviews Hugo -- gohugo.io en-us Copyright (c) 2018, Tech Powered Math; all rights reserved | <a href="https://www.techpoweredmath.com/dmca-compliance/">DMCA Compliance</a> | <a href="https://www.techpoweredmath.com/sitemap/">Sitemap</a> Mon, 27 Jun 2022 10:40:08 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/act-testing-dates/ Mon, 27 Jun 2022 10:40:08 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/act-testing-dates/ Don&rsquo;t forget to check my list of calculators for the ACT. Here are the ACT Dates for 2022-23: Test Date Deadline Late Deadline September 10, 2022 August 5 August 19 October 22, 2022 September 16 September 30 December 10, 2022 November 4 November 11 February 11, 2023 January 6 January 20 April 15, 2023 March 10 March 24 June 10, 2023 May 2 May 19 July 15, 2023* June 16 June 23 *No test centers are scheduled in New York for the July test date. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/sat-testing-dates/ Sun, 26 Jun 2022 10:11:11 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/sat-testing-dates/ Don&rsquo;t forget to check my list of calculators for the SAT. Test Date Normal Registration Late Registration Aug 27, 2022 Jul 29, 2022 Aug 16, 2022 Oct 1, 2022 Sept 2, 2022 Sep 20, 2022 Nov 5, 2022** Oct 7, 2022 Oct 25, 2022 Dec 3, 2022 Nov 3, 2022 Nov 22, 2022 Mar 11, 2023 Feb 10, 2023 Feb 28, 2023 May 6, 2023 Apr 7, 2023 Apr 25, 2023 Jun 3, 2023 May 4, 2023 May 23, 2023 **United States, Puerto Rico, and U. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/calculators-for-the-sat/ Sat, 25 Jun 2022 02:35:04 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/calculators-for-the-sat/ I picked the TI-Nspire CX II CAS as the best calculator for the SAT. One of the most common students ask before taking the SAT is, “Can I use my calculator on the test?” The answer is yes… if you are careful about which one you bring. You do have to be careful to stick with the SAT’s list of approved calculators. Fortunately, the SAT is more relaxed about what is allowed that many other standardized test companies. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/calculators-for-the-act/ Fri, 24 Jun 2022 02:35:04 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/calculators-for-the-act/ The TI-84 Plus is the most widely used calculator on the ACT and the best version is the TI-84 Plus CE. Click the button below to see it on Amazon. One of the most common students ask before taking the ACT is, &#8220;Can I use my calculator on the test?&#8221; The answer is yes&#8230; but be careful. You do have to be careful to stick with the ACT&#8217;s list of approved calculators. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/mcat-dates/ Sun, 24 Jan 2021 20:11:00 -0500 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/mcat-dates/ If you are taking the MCAT in 2021, undoubtedly you will want to know exactly when your score will be available. I&rsquo;ve put together the chart below with test dates for the MCAT and the corresponding score release dates. I hope you will find it helpful. If you are planning on doing an MCAT prep review course, consider taking a look at my write-up on Kaplan vs. Princeton Review for the MCAT. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/kaplan-vs-princeton-review-mcat/ Thu, 14 Jan 2021 20:10:42 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/kaplan-vs-princeton-review-mcat/ Some links on this site are affiliate links, meaning a percentage of your purchase will support my work at Tech Powered Math at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support! In this post: Kaplan and Princeton Review Respond to Covid Kaplan vs. Princeton Review MCAT Kaplan vs. Princeton Review LSAT Kaplan vs. Princeton Review GRE / GMAT Kaplan vs. Princeton Review ACT / SAT iPhone vs. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-codes-2020/ Sun, 14 Jun 2020 15:40:21 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-codes-2020/ I&rsquo;m getting this post up much too late, but Texas Instruments has another iteration of their NASA coding contests going on right now, with a grand prize of a TI-Innovator Rover and a TI graphing calculator. Top teams also get to take a trip to NASA&rsquo;s Johnson Space Center. These contests are always a great chance for students to express creativity in STEM and learn coding concepts. I say that I&rsquo;m getting this post up too late because Texas Instruments has already selected which students will advance beyond the first round. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/best-gmat-prep-course/ Wed, 27 May 2020 10:46:21 -0500 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/best-gmat-prep-course/ Some links on this site are affiliate links, meaning a percentage of your purchase will support my work at Tech Powered Math at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support! In this post: Best Classroom GMAT Prep: Princeton Review Best Live Online GMAT Prep: Princeton Review Best GMAT Prep on Demand: Kaplan Best GMAT Prep on a Budget: examPal Best GMAT Prep Book: Manhattan Prep When an MBA is in your future, you are most likely planning to take the GMAT. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/teacher-cell-phone-discounts/ Wed, 20 May 2020 08:01:39 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/teacher-cell-phone-discounts/ Please note that some links on this site are affiliate links, meaning a percentage of your purchase will support my work at Tech Powered Math at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support! NOTE: I try to keep the information on this post current. However, these numbers are subject to change at any time, and you should definitely validate these numbers by checking with the providers at the provided. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/magoosh-discount-code/ Thu, 14 May 2020 06:34:40 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/magoosh-discount-code/ There is a new Magoosh discount code that will get you 50% off their SAT prep code. This code applies only to the SAT, which is great because the last few promotions have not included the SAT. The code applies from Thursday, April 4, 2019 at 10 AM until Wednesday, April 10, 2019 at midnight so you&rsquo;ll want to act fast. Depending on how long of a term you buy with Magoosh, this can get you ready for just about any Spring or Winter test dates. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/pandemic-steam-ed-homeschool-ideas/ Wed, 01 Apr 2020 20:18:04 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/pandemic-steam-ed-homeschool-ideas/ The Hour of Code has many activities that allow students of all ages to learn to code If you&rsquo;re like a lot of us, you&rsquo;re currently schooling your kids at home due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Most parents in this situation don&rsquo;t have any training for this and many are trying to work a full-time job at the same time as they are trying to teach their kids. It&rsquo;s not an easy task, and even those of us who have been teachers are figuring it out as we go. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/magoosh-vs-kaplan-gmat/ Mon, 23 Mar 2020 20:00:17 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/magoosh-vs-kaplan-gmat/ In this post: Magoosh vs. Kaplan GMAT Magoosh vs. Kaplan GRE Magoosh vs. Kaplan SAT / ACT Magoosh vs. Kaplan MCAT Magoosh vs. Kaplan LSAT I recently completed a review comparing Kaplan vs. Princeton Review. That left me wondering how these test prep providers would stack up against the new kid on the block for paid test review, Magoosh. Kaplan and Princeton Review have been fighting it out for decades, but Magoosh has only been around for about 10 years. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/magoosh-gre-gmat-review/ Mon, 23 Mar 2020 18:16:06 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/magoosh-gre-gmat-review/ In this post: Magoosh GRE Review Magoosh GRE Alternatives Magoosh GMAT Review Magoosh GMAT Alternatives A few months back, I wrote a Magoosh SAT prep review. I am aware that there is even more interest in Magoosh&rsquo;s GRE test prep, so I&rsquo;m circling back to take a look at what Magoosh has to offer in their GRE (and GMAT) products. There are a few key differences between Magooh&rsquo;s GRE prep and GMAT prep, so depending on which flavor of test prep you need for grad school, you&rsquo;ll want to be aware of those differences. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/princeton-review-act-sat-prep-reviews/ Sun, 22 Mar 2020 10:00:01 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/princeton-review-act-sat-prep-reviews/ Please note that some links on this site are affiliate links, meaning a percentage of your purchase will support my work at Tech Powered Math at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support! Princeton Review online tutors can answer questions in real time right in the browser. What is Princeton Review? Princeton Review is a company specializing in college admission services, such as test prep classes, tutoring, online courses, and books. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/kaplan-vs-princeton-review-mcat0/ Tue, 18 Feb 2020 20:10:42 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/kaplan-vs-princeton-review-mcat0/ Some links on this site are affiliate links, meaning a percentage of your purchase will support my work at Tech Powered Math at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support! In this post: Kaplan vs. Princeton Review MCAT Kaplan vs. Princeton Review LSAT Kaplan vs. Princeton Review GRE / GMAT Kaplan vs. Princeton Review ACT / SAT Android vs. iOS. Marvel vs. DC. Laurel vs Yanny. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/kaplan-vs-princeton-review-mcat1/ Tue, 18 Feb 2020 20:10:42 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/kaplan-vs-princeton-review-mcat1/ Some links on this site are affiliate links, meaning a percentage of your purchase will support my work at Tech Powered Math at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support! In this post: Kaplan vs. Princeton Review MCAT Kaplan vs. Princeton Review LSAT Kaplan vs. Princeton Review GRE / GMAT Kaplan vs. Princeton Review ACT / SAT Android vs. iOS. Marvel vs. DC. Laurel vs Yanny. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/best-mcat-prep-course/ Mon, 17 Feb 2020 20:46:01 -0500 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/best-mcat-prep-course/ Some links on this site are affiliate links, meaning a percentage of your purchase will support my work at Tech Powered Math at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support! Here are the best MCAT prep courses of 2020: Best Online MCAT Course: Princeton Review 510+ Best Classroom MCAT Course: Princeton Review 510+ Best MCAT Intensive: Kaplan Best MCAT Tutoring: Varsity Tutors Best MCAT Prep Book: Kaplan Admission to medical school opens up a career path that is intellectually stimulating, beneficial to society, and financially rewarding. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/john-urschel-of-mind-and-matter-review/ Sun, 19 Jan 2020 10:38:48 -0500 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/john-urschel-of-mind-and-matter-review/ Some links on this site are affiliate links, meaning a percentage of your purchase will support my work at Tech Powered Math at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support! This Christmas, I was given a copy of John Urschel&rsquo;s memoir, of Mind and Matter. I was already somewhat familiar Urschel. He was known as something of a peculiarity in the sports world in the 2010s: the mathematician football player, first at Penn State, and then for the Baltimore Ravens. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-cx-review/ Sun, 12 Jan 2020 20:17:37 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-cx-review/ Texas Instruments provided me with a new TI-Nspire CX II review unit for this post. Please note that some links on this site are affiliate links, meaning a percentage of your purchase will support my work at Tech Powered Math at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support! In this post: What Makes the TI-Nspire CX II Special? TI-Nspire CX II CAS vs. TI-Nspire CX II Is the TI-Nspire CX II Allowed on the ACT/SAT? https://www.techpoweredmath.com/best-graphing-calculators-for-school/ Thu, 09 Jan 2020 20:00:16 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/best-graphing-calculators-for-school/ Please note that some links on this site are affiliate links, meaning a percentage of your purchase will support my work at Tech Powered Math at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support! What are the Best Graphing Calculators of 2020? Based on their ease of use and features for learning in the classroom, and my experience using and teaching with these graphing calculators, these are my picks for the best graphing calculators of 2020. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-plus-ce-review/ Wed, 14 Aug 2019 20:45:38 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-plus-ce-review/ In this post: Software Changes | Battery Life | TI-84 Plus vs. TI-84 Plus CE TI-84 Plus CE on the ACT/SAT What Is the TI-84 Plus CE? The TI-84 CE Plus is the latest in a long line of TI-84 calculators, but with a better color screen, battery life, software, and a more compact size. It is the most widely adopted, widely trusted calculator by teachers in American classrooms. In this TI-84 Plus CE Review, I&rsquo;ll explain why it made my list of the best graphing calculators for students. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-announces-ti-nspire-cx-ii/ Thu, 07 Mar 2019 20:16:28 -0500 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-announces-ti-nspire-cx-ii/ UPDATE: I have posted my TI-Nspire CX II review. Eight years&hellip; That&rsquo;s how long it&rsquo;s been since Texas Instruments announced the TI-Nspire CX graphing calculator, their first color graphing calculator. Since then, the platform has gotten a wide variety of software updates for the the TI-Nspire CX and CX CAS models that have continued to keep it at the top of the list of the best graphing calculators on the market. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/2nd-annual-ti-codes-contest/ Wed, 20 Feb 2019 20:45:18 -0500 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/2nd-annual-ti-codes-contest/ Texas Instruments has just launched their second annual &ldquo;TI Codes&rdquo; contest to coincide with National Engineers Week. For STEM teachers, regardless of whether you are a math, science, or computer science teacher, this is a great opportunity to get kids involved in writing code in a fun contest. This year&rsquo;s theme&ndash;food! TI is asking students to create a food product which could mean a new code driven cooking utensil, storage solution, nutrition idea, etc. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/springboard-vs-udacity/ Mon, 18 Feb 2019 21:01:33 -0500 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/springboard-vs-udacity/ Please note that some links on this site are affiliate links, meaning a percentage of your purchase will support my work at Tech Powered Math at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support! TLDR: Udacity&rsquo;s ultra competitive pricing and tight curriculum will make it the choice for the masses, but Springboard offers a concierge level of coaching that will appeal for those that don&rsquo;t want to be thrown in the deep end without a guide. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/questions-to-ask-childs-math-teacher/ Mon, 29 Oct 2018 21:31:32 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/questions-to-ask-childs-math-teacher/ At a lot of schools, the first quarter has been coming to an end, and parent-teacher conference season is happening. Sometimes parents struggle to come up with a list of questions to ask their child&rsquo;s math teacher. Now that I&rsquo;m on the parent side of things, I have to go through this exercise as well. As a teacher, parent-teacher conferences ranged from the very mundane to an intensely emotional, personal experience. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/best-tech-podcasts/ Mon, 08 Oct 2018 20:49:51 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/best-tech-podcasts/ Everyone knows that tech careers evolve fast. You&rsquo;ve got to stay up to date on the latest news and trends, and there are numerous ways to do that including forums, blogs, and Reddit. However, if you are like me, you like to listen to podcasts. Your commute or your morning jog can be a godsend when it comes to catching up on the latest piece of technology, language release, or company acquisitions. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/best-ap-class-to-take/ Thu, 27 Sep 2018 21:15:40 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/best-ap-class-to-take/ More schools are looking to add Advanced Placement classes, and I applaud the effort. AP classes have a common, challenging curriculum that is similar to what is offered at most top universities. Furthermore, at the end of the year, students and their future colleges get feedback about whether the program offered by their high school was up to par, and whether they learned the material at a college level via the AP test. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/mayim-bialik-inteview/ Sat, 15 Sep 2018 19:19:29 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/mayim-bialik-inteview/ The final season of the long running and widely popular sitcom, The Big Bang Theory kicks off in a little over a week on September 24, exactly 11 years after it originally debuted on CBS. This got me thinking about one of the more interesting opportunities I&rsquo;ve had with this blog, a chance to interview TBBT star Mayim Bialik. At that time, I was still working as a high school math teacher, the blog was a little over a year old, and as happens from time to time, I got an email from Texas Instruments PR team. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/springboard-data-science-review/ Thu, 06 Sep 2018 20:05:59 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/springboard-data-science-review/ In this post: One on One Mentoring Springboard Cybersecurity Review Springboard UX Design Review Do Springboard Students Get Jobs? Is Springboard Worth the Money? TLDR Data Science Career Track Review For a little over a year, I&rsquo;ve worked a couple of hours a week in my evenings with a young company called Springboard, and I&rsquo;ve become a really big evangelist of the program. The company&rsquo;s ambition is to help people find new careers in tech fields like data science, digital marketing, and UX design without the full investment of time and money that an additional degree carries. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/best-programming-language-for-kids/ Wed, 08 Aug 2018 19:19:57 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/best-programming-language-for-kids/ In This Post: Best Language for Young Children Best Language for Platforms They Already Know Best Language for Building Web Apps Best Language for Building Mobile Apps Easiest Language to Get Stuff Done So you&rsquo;ve got a child, and you want to encourage their love of computers by getting them started in a programming language, but you don&rsquo;t know which one to start with. Or maybe you are the &ldquo;kid&rdquo; reading this, a middle school kid, a college kid (or just a kid at heart), knowing that you are interested in learning to write code, but feeling overwhelmed by the choice of languages. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/what-sat-score-required-engineering/ Tue, 24 Jul 2018 17:40:25 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/what-sat-score-required-engineering/ So you&rsquo;ve been wondering what it takes to get into a top university as an engineering student. I wanted to know too, so I set out to answer this question by visiting hundreds of university websites and gathering data. I&rsquo;ve compiled what I found into a searchable table that will let you estimate what the average SAT is for engineering students at the majority of schools that do not share this information. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-innovator-rover-review/ Thu, 19 Jul 2018 21:38:50 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-innovator-rover-review/ What Is the TI-Innovator Rover? When Texas Instruments announced this product last year, a programmable robot that can receive its programs from their TI-84 Plus CE and TI-Nspire CX graphing calculators, my ears perked up. The TI-Innovator system, a series of programmable devices that interfaced with TI calculators had been intriguing, but the Rover is a robot on wheels, you might say a drone, created from many of the same devices as the earlier Innovator components. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/kaplan-free-events-sat/ Wed, 18 Jul 2018 17:38:23 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/kaplan-free-events-sat/ Kaplan has announced their schedule for free ACT and SAT online review events for August, 2018. These events are essentially &ldquo;samplers&rdquo; to get a chance to try out their full-blown courses without any cost or obligation to the students attending. If you haven&rsquo;t had a chance to read it yet, here&rsquo;s my Kaplan ACT &amp; SAT prep course review post. The upcoming free events include the following types: Seminars SAT/ACT Live Online Combo Practice Test Test Drive/Practice Test Sample Classes The schedule for the August events is as follows. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/kaplan-act-prep-reviews/ Sat, 14 Jul 2018 21:43:42 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/kaplan-act-prep-reviews/ What is Kaplan? Kaplan is the oldest name in test prep. They were founded in 1938 by Stanley Kaplan. In 2017, a staggering 350,000 students enrolled in Kaplan Test Prep courses. They are known for getting students ready for the biggest tests of their lives, and in the case of high school students, for getting them ready to be accepted to elite colleges. Why Choose Kaplan for ACT / SAT Prep? https://www.techpoweredmath.com/illinois-wyse-academic-challenge-discontinued/ Sun, 08 Jul 2018 19:20:40 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/illinois-wyse-academic-challenge-discontinued/ UPDATE: It&rsquo;s possible that the WYSE Academic Challenge may not be canceled after all. It appears that Eastern Illinois University may bail out the University of Illinois and take over the competition. Dear Academic Challenge Coaches, You have probably received the email from UIUC College of Engineering Associate Dean Jonathan Makela that UIUC is discontinuing the WYSE Academic Challenge. I am making an effort to for Eastern Illinois University take over operations of the competition starting with the 2019 competition. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/math-ethics-education/ Wed, 20 Jun 2018 20:41:25 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/math-ethics-education/ University of Exter Professor Paul Ernest has a new book out, The Philosophy of Mathematics Education Today, which includes a chapter called, &ldquo;The Ethics of Mathematics: Is Mathematics Harmful?&rdquo; In it, he raises some compelling questions about mathematics education as it stands and its effects on students. Ernest is quick to acknowledge the good that comes from learning math both for the individual and society and spends quite a bit of time expanding on this idea. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/is-engineering-still-a-good-career/ Mon, 11 Jun 2018 17:58:42 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/is-engineering-still-a-good-career/ Over the last few years, it feels like engineering has lost some of its mojo. The &ldquo;E&rdquo; in STEM just isn&rsquo;t as sexy as it with the media as it used to be. There&rsquo;s a narrative that says that thirty years ago, our best and brightest students were often going off to get degrees in engineering with dreams of working in Detroit; today, those same opportunities lie in Silicon Valley via degrees in computer science, statistics, or data science. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/magoosh-reviews-act/ Sun, 03 Jun 2018 20:31:39 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/magoosh-reviews-act/ In this post: What is a Magoosh Online Class Like? Mobile Apps Magoosh Pricing Magoosh Score Guarantee Is Magoosh Worth the Money? Why Choose Magoosh SAT / ACT Review? Affordable price Online prep High quality mobile apps Email question support Score guarantee While test review services like Kaplan and Princeton Review have been around for decades, Magoosh is a relative newcomer to the scene, having only been founded in 2009. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/why-save-529/ Mon, 28 May 2018 18:29:18 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/why-save-529/ Why Save in a 529 Plan? Compounded returns Tax advantages Reduced expected family contributions As a dad, there are times when the cost of college feels like a ticking time bomb that starts at birth with an 18-year fuse. The journey I&rsquo;m on with my kids is constantly surprising and exciting, particularly when it comes to their education, but the reality is that college expenses are rising at an unprecedented rate. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/best-act-sat-review-programs/ Mon, 14 May 2018 20:25:17 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/best-act-sat-review-programs/ In this post: Best ACT/SAT Classroom Prep Best Total ACT/SAT Prep Package Best ACT/SAT Prep on a Budget Best ACT/SAT Tutoring Service The Best ACT / SAT Prep Courses for 2020 Kaplan Test Prep Princeton Review Magoosh Wyzant Varsity Tutors Every year a combined 3 million students take the ACT and SAT tests. These tests have been with us for quite some time, with the SAT launching in 1926 and the ACT joining the party in 1959. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/lessons-math-teacher-taught/ Mon, 07 May 2018 22:24:50 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/lessons-math-teacher-taught/ As I sit here for Teacher Appreciation Week, I&rsquo;ve been thinking back on the all the math teachers I had over the course of nearly two decades of learning in K-12, undergraduate, graduate, even MOOCs. I&rsquo;ve had some really great math teachers, but you know what I&rsquo;ve realized? Some of the most important lessons they&rsquo;ve taught me haven&rsquo;t even been about the quadratic formula, the Pythagorean Theorem, or the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/best-stem-extracurricular-activities/ Mon, 23 Apr 2018 21:30:02 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/best-stem-extracurricular-activities/ The classroom is a great place to learn, but anyone who has had a job knows that classroom learning can&rsquo;t take you all the way. There&rsquo;s so much of a person&rsquo;s learning that comes on the job, the kind of stuff you simply can&rsquo;t get in a class. What&rsquo;s the equivalent of &ldquo;on the job learning&rdquo; for a student? Extracurricular activities! If your passion is sports, you don&rsquo;t just take P. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/thankyousubscriber/ Sun, 22 Apr 2018 19:54:21 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/thankyousubscriber/ Thanks for subscribing to Tech Powered Math! I look forward to sharing updates with you on a regular basis. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/site-reboot-stem-education/ Mon, 02 Apr 2018 17:22:37 -0400 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/site-reboot-stem-education/ For quite some time, I&rsquo;ve planned to make significant changes to Tech Powered Math. Today is finally the day the new site launches. Some of those changes are readily apparent to long time visitors, as the site is getting a much needed visual refresh. Others, while less apparent, should provide a better user experience as I&rsquo;ve migrated this site from WordPress to a lightweight static system, a system which I will continue to improve and tweak over time. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/sitemap/ Thu, 15 Feb 2018 21:22:30 -0500 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/sitemap/ Calculator Reviews, Graphing and Scientific Texas Instruments TI-Nspire Review TI-Nspire CX Review TI-30X IIS vs. TI-30X Multiview Review TI-36X Pro Review TI-73 Review TI-82 Review TI-83 Review TI-84 Plus Review TI-89 Titanium Review TI-92 Review TI-Voyage Review Casio Casio Prizm fx-CG10/CG20 Review Casio fx-9750GII Review Casio fx-9860GII Review Casio Classpad 330 Review HP HP Smartcalc 300 Review HP 39GS/40GS Review HP 50G Review Compare Graphing Calculators TI-89 vs. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/graphing-calculator-reviews/ Thu, 15 Feb 2018 20:53:02 -0500 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/graphing-calculator-reviews/ I&rsquo;ve been putting together my popular graphing calculator reviews for several years now, and it seemed like it was finally time to get them all organized on one single page. I do continue to add new reviews as the manufacturers release new products. For the biggest sellers, I try to update the reviews annually to take into account changes in the operating systems, new apps, hardware updates, or even how those calculators hold up in relationship to other new products on the market. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/education-discounts-technology/ Thu, 15 Feb 2018 20:46:06 -0500 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/education-discounts-technology/ INDEX: The Big Names | Cell Phones |Tablets/Scanners | Math/Science Software | Creativity Software | Music Software | Productivity/Utility Software | Drafting Software | Misc. Software | Non-Tech Discounts I wanted to put together a list the best discounts for teachers and students and technology as a way to say thank you to everyone who subscribes to my email list. It took a ton of hours, but I&rsquo;m thrilled what I&rsquo;m able to offer all of you. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/dmca-compliance/ Thu, 15 Feb 2018 20:42:26 -0500 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/dmca-compliance/ Tech Powered Math has made every effort to respect rights holders of images, videos, trademarks, etc. If you believe your rights have inadvertently violated for intellectual property, please contact us prior to filing a DMCA take down notice. Please include the URL that contains the property you are concerned about. You will receive a prompt response. Contact can be made by email at techpoweredmath via gmail. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/disclosure/ Tue, 13 Feb 2018 22:30:32 -0500 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/disclosure/ CCPA and Privacy Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, California residents have certain rights with regards to their personal data. You can access the CCPA out out tool at https://optout.privacyrights.info/ to opt out of one or more companies that may be tracking your data on this site as described below. Disclosure of Affiliate and Advertising Relationships Tech Powered Math is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/about/ Mon, 15 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/about/ Welcome to Tech Powered Math. Since 2010, I’ve written about my passions of mathematics, education, and technology. I started this site because I realized a lot of my students and their parents felt hopelessly lost when trying to make buying decisions about graphing calculators, online resources, and other educational technologies. Today, I find my writing patterns beginning to shift. I&rsquo;m rebooted Tech Powered Math in 2018 as a place for people pursuing a STEM education to get the best information that I can give them about this process. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-releasing-robotic-rover/ Thu, 12 Oct 2017 00:54:39 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-releasing-robotic-rover/ I&rsquo;ve been so busy lately that I haven&#8217;t found a chance to comment on Texas Instruments&#8217; very interesting announcement last month that they are release a robotic vehicle, the TI-Innovator Rover. The TI-Innovator Rover is designed to work with either with any TI-Nspire CX model or the TI-84 Plus CE. Check out the video below for a high level demonstration of the Rover in action. In addition to your graphing calculator, you&#8217;ll also need a TI-Innovator Hub. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/win-texas-instrument-graphing-calculator-genstemcontest/ Wed, 30 Aug 2017 02:03:01 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/win-texas-instrument-graphing-calculator-genstemcontest/ As they often do to kick off the school year, Texas Instruments is doing a back-to-school contest with some very cool prizes on the line. From now through Sept 25, they&#8217;re giving away TI graphing calculators each week to a couple of lucky winners. Additionally, the grand prize is $500 and trip for two to Dallas to Texas Instruments&#8217; HQ. To enter, visit the contest website where you can enter by taking a quiz about your STEM style quiz. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/contest-texas-instruments-nasa-search-stemnauts/ Tue, 25 Apr 2017 02:18:22 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/contest-texas-instruments-nasa-search-stemnauts/ Texas Instruments just launched a new contest that&#8217;s definitely worth taking a look at if you are a middle school or high school teacher. You&#8217;ll need to put together a team of 5 students and a teacher sponsor to work together to solve a series of puzzles, riddles and brainteasers that have been posted to the contest website. The contest is a partnership with NASA, and if you attempt the challenge, you&#8217;ll quickly find that the puzzles are all space themed. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hp-prime-smartphone-app/ Thu, 30 Mar 2017 01:04:25 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hp-prime-smartphone-app/ For those of you haven&#8217;t heard the news yet, HP recently released a new free version of the app based on their popular graphing calculator, the HP Prime (review). You can obtain get them on three different platforms: iOS, Android, and Windows 10. Just search for &#8220;HP Prime Free.&#8221; The apps are designed to mimic the functionality of the actual HP Prime. Having taken it for a spin on my Nexus 5X, I can tell you that it feels very much like original graphing calculator with a lot of the same functionality, but as per HP Museum, it is missing some cool apps such as Triangle Solver, Finance Solver, Linear Solver, and Quadratic Explorer, among others. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-innovator-ranger-demo-code/ Tue, 07 Mar 2017 02:32:38 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-innovator-ranger-demo-code/ A few weeks back, I added my review of the TI-Innovator. I had a couple of demos in that review, and I&#8217;ve been adding an explanation and code so interested teachers and students can try them out in their own classrooms. In this post, I&#8217;m taking the TI-Innovator Ranger for a spin. The Ranger technology is nothing new for Texas Instruments calculators, going all the way back to the TI-83 family of devices. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-innovator-hub-review-demo/ Thu, 16 Feb 2017 03:13:58 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-innovator-hub-review-demo/ I recently added a review of the TI-Innovator. I had a couple of simple demos in there, and I promised I&#8217;d show how I did them later. Here&#8217;s the first of two blog posts explaining one of those demos. This one is really simple, just playing a few notes from the original Super Mario Bros theme song using the TI-Innovator hub itself. If you are interested in doing your own experiment similar to this, it&#8217;s quite simple. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-innovator-review/ Thu, 09 Feb 2017 22:08:57 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-innovator-review/ Photo via Texas Instruments A few months back, Texas Instruments announced a new STEM education product they had developed that would encourage kids to develop coding skills right on their graphing calculators, the TI-Innovator. The Innovator would work with either the TI-Nspire CX family or the TI-84 Plus CE, the latest generation of Texas Instruments graphing calculators. I was very intrigued by the promotional materials and press release, but to be honest, I was not entirely clear what capabilities the TI-Innovator had. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/draw-mario-ti-nspire/ Wed, 04 Jan 2017 04:44:07 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/draw-mario-ti-nspire/ A few months back I had some time on my hands and did a post on how to graph Mickey Mouse with the TI-Nspire. Today I found myself in the same situation and decided to try my hand with the classic Nintendo character Mario on the Nspire. I imposed the same rules on myself as before, the goal was to plot using only functions/equations/relations available on the Nspire&#8217;s graphing menu and restricted domains. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/kindergartner-hour-of-code/ Tue, 29 Nov 2016 03:33:58 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/kindergartner-hour-of-code/ Longtime readers of this blog will know I&#8217;m a big fan of the Hour of Code, an initiative with the goal of getting every student to program a computer for at least one hour during the school year. In my last day as a teacher in the public schools, my math department colleagues and I completed it with our students and were impressed how much our high school students could pick up in one class period. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-innovator-hub-announcement/ Tue, 13 Sep 2016 01:18:55 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-innovator-hub-announcement/ UPDATE: I have posted a hands on TI-Innovator review. Continuing to build their brand as a way to teach and learn STEM skills in the classroom, Texas Instruments has announced exciting new hardware, the TI-Innovator Hub. The TI-Innovator was created using the TI LaunchPad™ Board technology and is designed as a classroom tool that introduces students to coding and engineering design. “The TI-Innovator allows students to get hands-on with technology and not even realize they are learning important STEM principles, like coding, that they need to be successful in the classroom today, in college tomorrow and in their careers in the future,” said Peter Balyta, Ph. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/free-cheap-texas-instruments-calculator-books/ Mon, 08 Aug 2016 21:14:24 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/free-cheap-texas-instruments-calculator-books/ This week, I&#8217;ll be running some special deals on Amazon for my books. If you haven&#8217;t picked up the books yet, or if you know someone who could benefit from them, this is a great deal to take advantage of. Each of my TI calculator books will have some kind of offer this week. Tuesday, August 9 My TI-Nspire Tutorials Vol 1 book will be free on Amazon this day. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-ti-84-tutorial-editions/ Fri, 05 Aug 2016 00:52:16 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-ti-84-tutorial-editions/ With the start of the 2016-17 school year already upon us in some parts of the United States, I’ve just released new editions of my Kindle tutorial books about the TI-Nspire and TI-84 Plus. Since the TI-Nspire has seen a couple of updates to its operating system over the last couple of years and the TI-84 Plus CE has been released, I’ve wanted to do this for a while, but have struggled to find the time. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/thoughts-illinoiss-move-parcc-sat/ Thu, 14 Jul 2016 00:28:47 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/thoughts-illinoiss-move-parcc-sat/ If you missed the news the other day, my home state of Illinois is partially opting out of their 5-year contract with the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test. While elementary grades will continue to give the test, high school students are done with it, and instead will receive the SAT as their free, state-mandated test. This leaves PARCC with only 8 states as full participants, not exactly the kind of number you&#8217;d like to see for a &#8220;national consortium. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/casio-prizm-fx-cg10-review/ Wed, 13 Jul 2016 02:30:46 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/casio-prizm-fx-cg10-review/ In this post: Color Graphing Calculator Who Is the Casio Prizm For? Why I Recommend the Casio Prizm Updated Casio Prizm fx-CG50 Bottom Line Casio Prizm Review Click here to see the Casio Prizm price on Amazon. Since its release in early 2011, the Casio Prizm has been a calculator that has caught the eye some of the some students and teachers traditionally focused on the Texas Instruments lineup of graphing calculators. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-graphing-art-mickey-mouse/ Wed, 06 Jul 2016 20:56:54 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-graphing-art-mickey-mouse/ Back when I was a Pre-Calculus teacher, one of the projects I used to assign during our conic sections unit was creating an art project out of equations, using circles, ellipses, lines, etc, and restricting their domains. It&#8217;s a fun way to reinforce how the various parameters for these equations influence the shape of their respective graphs. We did this on graphing paper, and told the students they could check a few things with their calculators if they wanted, but in recent years, the TI-Nspire CX (review) operating system has come a long way. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/stem-behind-sports/ Tue, 05 Jul 2016 11:47:15 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/stem-behind-sports/ Continuing their popular &#8220;STEM Behind&#8230;&#8221; series of classroom activities that feature interesting applications of mathematics and science with Texas Instruments technologies, TI has launched a new curriculum module, STEM Behind Sports. Previous modules in the series like STEM behind Hollywood feature the TI-Nspire CX, but STEM Behind Sports features the TI-84 Plus CE (review). Like other STEM Behind&#8230; activites, you can STEM Behind Sports can be downloaded from the Texas Instruments website. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hp-prime-review/ Wed, 22 Jun 2016 19:00:39 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hp-prime-review/ In this post: Designed for Teachers and Students | Why I like the HP Prime Biggest Improvements to the Prime | Bottom line HP Prime Review Click here to see the HP Prime price on Amazon. Understanding HP&rsquo;s Flagship, the HP Prime Several years ago, when HP released their latest calculator, the HP Prime, I posted a review here at Tech Powered Math. I wrote in that review that I liked the Prime and how HP was pushing the envelope with a new design and new features never before seen with their new calculator, but I was also left wanting more. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/universal-android-pumpkin-review/ Tue, 21 Jun 2016 21:02:23 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/universal-android-pumpkin-review/ &nbsp; I recently wrote about analyzing minivan prices with R. The other effect of our family purchasing a minivan was that I inherited my wife’s 2008 Ford Fusion, a fine vehicle, but one from an era before Bluetooth and other modern conveniences. I decided that while I was happy to drive a car with a few miles on it, I was not satisfied with the outdated stock stereo. I ended up purchasing a Pumpkin Quad Core 7 inch 2 DIN Universal Android 4. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/galloping-ghost-arcade-review/ Thu, 16 Jun 2016 21:05:19 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/galloping-ghost-arcade-review/ The Galloping Ghost arcade in Brookfield, Illinois Last Friday, a college buddy Jim and I made a pilgrimage to Brookfield to the Galloping Ghost Arcade. This is a little outside the sphere of what I usually write about, as this tech does not relate to mathematics or education, and it&#8217;s not even particularly new or &#8220;gadgety&#8221;, but I had such a great time that I’m going to indulge myself. I’m far from a hardcore gamer, but I’ve always been interested in games. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/florida-polytechnic-stem-nanotechnology/ Wed, 15 Jun 2016 21:00:03 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/florida-polytechnic-stem-nanotechnology/ Guest post by Florida Polytechnic University Director of Admissions Lauren Willison Quality of life has significantly improved thanks to tools developed by leaders in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. These high-performing minds combine technical skill with innovative ideas to find improvements and alternative solutions to some of the world’s largest problems. Engineering, in particular, is one STEM field that can take credit for many of our greatest inventions. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/reminiscing-illinois-state-math-team-championships/ Wed, 18 May 2016 21:22:07 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/reminiscing-illinois-state-math-team-championships/ A packed house prepares for a big day of competition and camaraderie A little over a week ago, the Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics held their annual state championship finals on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus. For the first time since I left teaching mid-year during the 2014-15 school year, I was able to attend, having missed last year for a family engagement. What a joy to be back on the campus of my alma mater, the place where I first learned that satisfaction could be found in solving challenging mathematical problems, once again watching young people take their first steps into that same world of ideas, competing with their friends, making lifelong memories. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-ce-golden-ratio-ti-84-ce-bright-white/ Tue, 10 May 2016 21:20:14 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-ce-golden-ratio-ti-84-ce-bright-white/ As if the TI-84 Plus CE didn’t have enough cool, stylish colors to begin with, there will soon be two new attractive colors available in the 84 Plus CE family, the Golden Ratio and Bright White. The Golden Ratio, is a limited edition, shiny, metallic gold finish, and Bright White is the “sleek” white that its name implies. “For us, it’s about providing the educational tools and resources to help students build a strong foundation in math and science, setting them up for success in the classroom, college, and beyond,” said Peter Balyta, Ph. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/book-review-bedtime-math-a-fun-excuse-stay-late-review/ Wed, 23 Mar 2016 20:58:13 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/book-review-bedtime-math-a-fun-excuse-stay-late-review/ Fresh off her 5th birthday, my oldest daughter has continued to be very interested in books at bedtime. She has also been showing an increasing interest in numbers: counting anything and everything, flash cards, and number apps on her Kindle Fire. Of course, I find this budding interest in math delightful, and while I don’t want to smother it, I have kept my ears pricked for ways to encourage her further. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-review/ Wed, 02 Mar 2016 02:00:35 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-review/ Click here to see the TI-84 Plus price on eBay. Long ago and far away (in the year 2010), I did a review of the TI-84 Plus Silver Edition graphing calculator. Things have changed quite a bit during that time for Texas Instruments calculators in general and for the TI-84 Plus platform in specific. Most importantly, TI released a major new upgrade to the TI-84 Plus family, the TI-84 Plus CE, a full color display edition of the calculator designed to bring the TI-84 Plus into the next decade. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-nasa-activity-fuel-fire-launches-tomorrow/ Thu, 18 Feb 2016 02:18:28 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-nasa-activity-fuel-fire-launches-tomorrow/ Tomorrow, Texas Instruments will add to mISSion imaginaTIon, their partnership with NASA, when they launch a new activity called &#8220;Fuel for the Fire.&#8221; TI was nice enough to give me an early preview of the Fuel for the Fire, including student and teacher handouts and the .tns file for the Nspire that makes up the bulk of the activity. This is a really rich activity that will force students to think, and offers some interesting simulations. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-cx-os-4-2-released/ Wed, 17 Feb 2016 02:14:34 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-cx-os-4-2-released/ TI-Nspire CX OS 4.2 has been released on the Texas Instruments website. You can find the release notes on the TI website. There are a few cool new features in this release, including the ability to automatically generate sliders for certain parameters in graphs and notes, manage the settings of connected handhelds through TI-Navigator (this will be very useful for teachers that work with inexperienced Nspire students), and a few other selected upgrades. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/united-states-map-act-sat-test-scores/ Wed, 20 Jan 2016 02:26:46 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/united-states-map-act-sat-test-scores/ The below map can be used to explore ACT scores by state from 2004-2015 for all 50 US states across all subscores, composite scores, as well as percentage of students tested in a given state. Similar data is available for SAT scores by state from 2011-2014. I will add more data as it becomes available. The plot is hoverable, zoomable, and scroll-able. You can also save any plot you create during your exploration as a . https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nasa-texas-instruments-team-stem-education/ Fri, 15 Jan 2016 03:09:26 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nasa-texas-instruments-team-stem-education/ Today, Texas Instruments announced a new partnership with NASA for STEM education that they are calling mISSion imaginaTIon. The new initiative launched with an online quiz about manned space missions, and there will soon be TI-Nspire activities with mISSion imaginaTIon. A year long STEM design challenge encourages students to work on four space-related challenges, and the winner will receive a video chat with a NASA expert and a TI-Nspire CX graphing calculator. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/farewell-zite/ Wed, 09 Dec 2015 02:16:33 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/farewell-zite/ Tonight, I Shed a Tear for the Passing of My Most Used App Today, Flipboard followed through on its stated timeline and threw the kill switch on Zite. While not the most well-known of the news aggregators, Zite was certainly one of the most beloved by those who used it (see Garner, Jennifer). Sadly for its fans, Flipboard acquired Zite in the Spring of 2014. “The sooner Zite goes away, the better,” said Zite CEO Mark Johnson. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nexus-5x-review/ Mon, 07 Dec 2015 22:01:24 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nexus-5x-review/ After two mostly great years with the original Nexus 5, I’ve taken the plunge and picked up a Nexus 5X. I enjoy the Nexus line because I love the customization and affordability of Android, but with Nexus, I’m less beholden to carriers when it comes to bloatware on the phone and waiting for the latest version of Android to be available for my phone. Like many Nexus owners, I decided to take a pass with last year’s Nexus 6 due to the cost and large size. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hour-code-2015/ Fri, 27 Nov 2015 20:28:31 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hour-code-2015/ We are just a couple of weeks away from the 2015 Hour of Code. Last year, I did the Hour of Code with all of my students on my last day as a teacher after 13 years in the classroom, and they loved it. If you are a math, science, or computer teacher, or are a parent looking to give your child a start on a new set of skills, you owe it to yourself to check out the Hour of Code website. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/christmas-math-gifts/ Wed, 25 Nov 2015 16:00:52 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/christmas-math-gifts/ Every year around this time, I enjoy putting together a series of recommendations of math gifts. As my kids are getting old enough to appreciate some of these gifts, I can now put together this list not only from the perspective of a teacher, but a parent. These math gifts vary in age appropriateness from young children to adults. They fall into the following categories: math games, math books, math novelty gifts, and electronic devices that can be used to encourage math learning. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/casio-twitter-infographic/ Mon, 23 Nov 2015 00:49:48 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/casio-twitter-infographic/ Use This Code to Share This Image On Your Site &lt;p&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Graphic courtesy of &lt;a href='https://www.techpoweredmath.com'&gt;Tech Powered Math&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;a href='https://www.techpoweredmath.com/casio-twitter-infographic/'&gt;&lt;img src='https://www.techpoweredmath.com/img/casio-infographic.png' alt='Casio on Twitter' width='900px' border='0' /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;/textarea&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/center&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; If you liked this post, be sure to check out my &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-twitter-infographic/&quot;&gt;Texas Instruments Twitter infographic&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt; https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-twitter-infographic/ Thu, 19 Nov 2015 02:36:08 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-twitter-infographic/ Use This Code to Share This Image On Your Site &lt;p&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Graphic courtesy of &lt;a href='https://www.techpoweredmath.com'&gt;Tech Powered Math&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;a href='https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-twitter-infographic'&gt;&lt;img src='https://www.techpoweredmath.com/img/ti-infographic.png' alt='Texas Instruments on Twitter' width='900px' border='0' /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;/textarea&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/center&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; If you liked this post, check out my infographic of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.techpoweredmath.com/casio-twitter-infographic/&quot;&gt;Casio calculators Twitter feed&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt; https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-webinars/ Wed, 07 Oct 2015 03:04:58 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-webinars/ My wife was good enough to pick up extra bed time duty with our kids tonight so I could take in the latest Texas Instruments T3 webinar, Behind Health with TI Technology. As is always the case with these webinars, the content was excellent, incorporating interdisciplinary content from science and statistics. This particular webinar focused on TI&#8217;s Stem Behind Health, which I talked about more in a previous post. The content in their latest module focuses on breast cancer. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/dell-i7352-3111slv-review/ Thu, 03 Sep 2015 02:51:50 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/dell-i7352-3111slv-review/ Image: BestBuy.com A few weeks ago, I had a bad experience with a member of the Lenovo Yoga 3 family. That left me on the verge of considering my first ever Mac for home use. After pricing Macs, I doubled down instead a picked up a Dell Inspiron I7352-3111SLV from BestBuy.com. As is often the case when I get my hands on a new electronics product, I thought I&#8217;d do a review of this PC for Tech Powered Math. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/lenovo-yoga-3-11-80j80021us-review/ Thu, 13 Aug 2015 13:00:31 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/lenovo-yoga-3-11-80j80021us-review/ A little less than a month ago, I picked up a Lenovo Yoga 3 11.6&#8243; 2 in 1 tablet from Best Buy. Unfortunately, this past weekend, I felt compelled to return it out of disappointment. Consequently, this will be one of the shorter reviews I&#8217;ve written. I had high hopes for this tablet. My brother has an entry level Yoga 2 tablet, and based on his experience and many positive reviews I had read, I was ready to jump in with the unique Yoga form factor. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/this-american-life-school-desegregation/ Tue, 11 Aug 2015 11:00:26 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/this-american-life-school-desegregation/ As the the one year anniversary of Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, MO, This American Life has completed a very thought provoking two part series on the state of school desegregation both in the St. Louis area specifically and the United States as a whole. If you haven&#8217;t caught these segments yet, I&#8217;d strongly encourage you to take a listen. They are both highly entertaining and incredibly informative whether you are the parent of a child on one side of a racially divided school or just a citizen interested in better understanding the challenges our educators face today. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/graphing-calculator-prices-amazon/ Mon, 10 Aug 2015 00:38:12 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/graphing-calculator-prices-amazon/ If you&#8217;re like me, you&#8217;ve noticed that prices on Amazon seem less stable than those in brick and mortar stores. There have been times I&#8217;ve visited Amazon for a specific product, noted the price, and when I checked back in two days later, the price had changed significantly. Check again a week later, and it&#8217;s different still. Until recently, this was just anecdotal for me. I wasn&#8217;t sure if what I thought was true was really true. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/first-calculator-friden-ec-130/ Thu, 06 Aug 2015 01:27:26 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/first-calculator-friden-ec-130/ I wish I could take credit for the amazing video that follows, but I can&#8217;t, so I just want to share it with everyone that follows Tech Powered Math. It&#8217;s from the YouTube channel TanRu Nomad, a great channel I&#8217;ve been subbed to for a while that covers retro games and computers. The video shows off a Friden EC 130 Calculator, the world&#8217;s first solid state calculator. There&#8217;s nothing I can say that can better explain or build on this video, so please watch and enjoy. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/alternative-to-four-year-degree/ Tue, 16 Jun 2015 21:00:57 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/alternative-to-four-year-degree/ Just a quick anecdote I wanted to share. A few weeks back, I was at possibly the last graduation party I’ll ever be invited to as a teacher of a former student. It was a great experience speaking with the recent grad and her friends, many of them also former students of mine, as the conversation was more relaxed and open than it typically is between teachers and students. As the conversation shifted to future plans, some of the students who are recent plans started sharing what universities they are headed off to and what they plan to major in. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/college-cost-infographic/ Mon, 15 Jun 2015 21:00:50 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/college-cost-infographic/ If you&#8217;re a current college student, this infographic about the rapid rise in the cost of college will come as no surprise to you. However, if you&#8217;re in your mid-30&#8217;s and have kids like me, you may be shocked to learn how rapidly the cost of tuition, housing, and books has risen in the last 15 years, and how much parents of young children need to save for their kids&#8217; education. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/windows-doesnt-recognize-ti-84-plus-ce-usb/ Fri, 01 May 2015 02:48:20 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/windows-doesnt-recognize-ti-84-plus-ce-usb/ I took the new TI-Connect for a spin tonight, and it is a big improvement over the old version. It&#8217;s faster, the UI is much easier to work with, and one could easily program from within it. However, I ran into a speed bump when I got started. My Windows 7 machine wouldn&#8217;t recognize my TI-84 Plus CE. I&#8217;m not sure if this a fluke, specific to my PC, something to do with the new Connect, or if there is some other explanation. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-ce-launch-models-require-upgrade/ Tue, 28 Apr 2015 13:00:54 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-ce-launch-models-require-upgrade/ UPDATE (5/7/2015): Texas Instruments has released the new version of their TI-84 Plus CE operating system, version 5.0.1.0012. It can be downloaded from education.ti.com. You&#8217;ll also need the new version of TI-Connect. If you run into any problems on the upgrade, TI customer support can help you out at 1-800-TI-CARES. Tomorrow, you&#8217;ll be able to read my review of the new TI-84 Plus CE. Prior to that, I wanted to share some of the latest information I&#8217;ve received about that model from Dale Philbrick, Director of Professional Development, Content and Systemic Programs for Texas Instruments. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-models-discontinued/ Mon, 27 Apr 2015 13:00:06 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-models-discontinued/ With a platform that&#8217;s been around as long as the TI-84, which is in and of itself the evolution of the TI-83 (launched in 1996), we&#8217;re bound to see models come and go. On Texas Instruments&#8217; official website, I&#8217;ve noticed that certain models related to the TI-84 Plus were no longer featured. It also appears that some are starting to become less plentiful for purchase online. I hadn&#8217;t noticed anything about this officially announced, so when I spoke with Dale Philbrick, Director of Professional Development, Content and Systemic Programs for Texas Instruments last week, I asked what he could tell me about that. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-ce-week/ Mon, 27 Apr 2015 03:14:23 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-ce-week/ It&#8217;s TI-84 Plus CE week here at Tech Powered Math. I&#8217;ve had a couple of weeks to interact with the new TI-84 Plus CE. I also recently had a nice informational chat with Texas Instruments&#8217; reps about some TI-84 Plus CE news and how the TI-84 product line is evolving. All that added up to more than I felt could be covered a single post, so I&#8217;ll be handling it in a three part series I&#8217;ll be rolling out over the next few days. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-stem-behind-health/ Tue, 31 Mar 2015 02:51:57 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-stem-behind-health/ It recently came to my attention that Texas Instruments launched a new initiative called STEM Behind Health. STEM Behind Health is designed to get students excited about health related careers. Activities from the initiative include a TI-Nspire document file as well as student worksheets and teacher notes. They were developed in conjunction with health care professionals and follow real patients and their health conditions. The first released activity is &#8220;Chelcie&#8217;s Story. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/dell-e2414hx-24-in-led-monitor-review/ Tue, 03 Mar 2015 10:00:01 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/dell-e2414hx-24-in-led-monitor-review/ In a variety of settings, I&#8217;ve started working with multiple monitors more regularly, and I&#8217;m finding myself rather addicted to it. Not too long ago, I decided, my blog cave needed a second monitor. However, it was something I wanted to do on a budget. I didn&#8217;t need a 4K quality monitor, just something to give me extra room to work with. What I settled on was the Dell E2414Hx 24 inch LED monitor. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/amazon-basics-wireless-mouse-review/ Wed, 18 Feb 2015 02:29:21 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/amazon-basics-wireless-mouse-review/ I recently picked up an Amazon Basics Wireless Mouse and wanted to do a quick review, and given how quick and easy it was to use, it will be a quick review, indeed. I primarily use this mouse with a MacBook Air Retina. While I&#8217;ve been very please with my introduction to the world of OS X, I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ll ever get used to just using a touchpad, regardless of the operating system, and I wanted an affordable mouse with no extra bells and whistles. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/parcc-calculator-rules-2015/ Fri, 06 Feb 2015 12:30:33 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/parcc-calculator-rules-2015/ I&#8217;ve really made no secret of the fact that I have my doubts about the long term viability of the PARCC test. Some of the sample items that have been released to the public are so difficult that they border on downright unfair. During my final 5 years as a high school math teacher, the math team I coached finished as the top public high school in Illinois in the 2A division each year, and there are items that I&#8217;m certain most of my math team students would have been unable to successfully complete. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-ce-announcement-tomorrow/ Mon, 26 Jan 2015 23:09:51 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-ce-announcement-tomorrow/ UPDATE: I have posted my TI-84 Plus CE Review It&#8217;s been a couple of years since Texas Instruments has announced a significant change to one of their major graphing calculator product lines, the most recent being the addition of color to the TI-84 line with the TI-84 Plus C. Tomorrow morning, TI will officially break their silence on a big update to that same extremely popular line of calculators with a new 84, the TI-84 Plus CE. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/obi202-review/ Fri, 09 Jan 2015 10:00:02 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/obi202-review/ Click here to get the OBi202 on Amazon with FREE shipping. The OBi202 allows free calls via Google Voice As my previous couple of posts have explained, I recently came up against the problem of having to choose between bad cell phone service in my home or bad service on my daily commute, depending on which provider I went with. The way I decided to remedy the problem was by porting my number to Google Voice. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/porting-cell-number-google-voice/ Wed, 07 Jan 2015 22:00:01 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/porting-cell-number-google-voice/ Why You&#8217;d Want to Port Your Number to Google Voice As I described in my previous post, A Plan to Deal with Bad Cell Phone Reception, a new commute recently forced me to deal with the fact that there was no single cell phone provider that offered both good service at my house and on my daily drive to work. The solution I came up with was to use Google Voice in order to have Google ring both my cell phone and a new VOIP Obi 202 phone line simultaneously. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/fix-bad-cell-phone-reception/ Mon, 05 Jan 2015 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/fix-bad-cell-phone-reception/ As I mentioned in a recent post, about a month ago, I made a big career change. Consequently, I&#8217;ve gone from a daily commute of 15 minutes to one of 45 minutes. My biggest frustration with the longer drive? My cell phone reception along the interstate has been spotty at best. I left cell phone contracts over a year ago and made the jump to the MVNO Straight Talk when I purchased a Nexus 5. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/encountering-rare-ti-nspire-prototype-in-wild/ Mon, 08 Dec 2014 13:00:59 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/encountering-rare-ti-nspire-prototype-in-wild/ I need to preface this story by saying that this is something that happened over 6 months ago. I took the pictures at the time but started my online data science studies shortly thereafter and just never got around to writing the story, but it was such an unusual thing that probably once a month I&#8217;ve continued to think about writing it up. During my years of teaching at my school, I&#8217;ve been the guy who troubleshoots all of the graphing calculator problems for teachers and students alike. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/teaching-hour-code/ Wed, 03 Dec 2014 12:31:15 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/teaching-hour-code/ My last day teaching in a high school classroom is this Friday. I&#8217;m not the kind to just mail it in on the last day, and yet, I don&#8217;t really want to go onto a new mathematical concept since a sub will be showing up Monday to deal with the aftermath from any absences or confusion from a Friday lesson. So what to do as a standalone lesson that is more of a supplement than core to the curriculum? https://www.techpoweredmath.com/classroom-culture-corporate-culture/ Sat, 29 Nov 2014 20:38:17 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/classroom-culture-corporate-culture/ If you&#8217;ve followed Tech Powered Math over the last year, you&#8217;ve probably suspected this day was coming. I&#8217;ve been pretty open about the fact that I&#8217;ve been exploring career options for some time now, first via some career coaching and over the last 6+ months by retraining via taking online courses (re)learning how to code. A couple of weeks ago, I accepted a new position that will take my career in a very different direction. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/responding-good-ti-bad-kids-stat/ Wed, 17 Sep 2014 01:24:34 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/responding-good-ti-bad-kids-stat/ Over at R-Bloggers a few days ago day, I came across a post from Norm Matloff, professor of computer science at UC-Davis. The post, Good for TI, Good for Schools, Bad for Kids, Bad for Stat, had been reposted from his blog, the Mad (Data) Scientist. Throughout this post and the one that preceded it, Statistics: Losing Ground to CS, Image Among Students, Matloff made the case for R in the AP Statistics classroom. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/win-classroom-set-ti-nspire-cxs-selfie/ Mon, 01 Sep 2014 20:40:06 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/win-classroom-set-ti-nspire-cxs-selfie/ Texas Instruments often does a cool back to school promotions, and they&#8217;ve got a great one this year. They are offering participants the chance to win a set of 30 TI-Nspire CX (or TI-84 Plus C) graphing calculators by having the best selfie. Contestants, who just have to be 13 years or older, need to post a picture of themselves using their favorite TI technology to Instagram or Twitter with the hashtag #TISelfieContest. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/second-editions-ti-nspire-tutorials/ Tue, 12 Aug 2014 13:00:26 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/second-editions-ti-nspire-tutorials/ With my long silence here on Tech Powered Math, I&#8217;ve hardly mentioned the fact that there have been two upgrades to the TI-Nspire operating system, OS 3.6 and OS 3.9. These upgrades have been incremental, not earth shattering, but they have pleasantly changed some aesthetics throughout the TI-Nspire environment. There have also been some minor changes as to how users interact in a graphing window. As a result, it seemed like it was good time to update my TI-Nspire Tutorials series of Kindle books. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/review-ti-92/ Thu, 31 Jul 2014 23:48:57 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/review-ti-92/ Looking to buy a TI-92 Plus? I recommend you find the best selection on a TI-92 on Ebay. When I started coaching our math team in 2007, I was shocked to find I&#8217;d inherited a closet full of TI-92&#8217;s just collecting dust. They were all in perfect working order despite being a decade old. Since it turned out they were allowed in our competitions, we set to work upgrading the operating systems, loading up apps, and training the kids on them. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/review-ti-30x-ii-vs-ti-30-multiview-buying-guide/ Wed, 30 Jul 2014 06:22:38 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/review-ti-30x-ii-vs-ti-30-multiview-buying-guide/ In this post: The Best Scientific Calculator for School TI-30X IIS Review TI-30XS Multiview TI-30X IIS vs TI-30XS Multiview Comparison Best Scientific Calculator for School A graphing calculator isn&rsquo;t a necessity for everyone&rsquo;s mathematical needs. For many students, they just want the best scientific calculator they can get. But buyer beware; even though the most popular scientific calculators can usually be purchased for under $20, there&rsquo;s a huge difference in the usability and capability of these calculators. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/dell-venue-8-pro-review/ Thu, 13 Feb 2014 04:08:43 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/dell-venue-8-pro-review/ About two months ago, I made a major change. After a couple of years of using an iPad 2 as my daily tablet driver, I switched to a Windows 8 tablet, the Dell Venue 8 Pro. This was a big change in many respects. Instead of iOS, I now had Windows 8.1. Instead of a 10-inch screen, I had an 8-inch screen. Instead of being in a completely touch driven environment, I was now in one designed to be as much at ease with a mouse and keyboard as with touch. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/change-leadership-texas-instruments-calculators/ Sun, 09 Feb 2014 19:45:52 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/change-leadership-texas-instruments-calculators/ New TI calculator chief Peter Balyta (left) On Friday, Texas Instruments announced a big change in leadership at the top of their calculator division. Melendy Lovett, who has been part of Texas Instruments for 20 years and has led the calculator division for a decade, is retiring. The new president of Texas Instruments&#8217; Education Technology division is Peter Balyta. Balyta is just 43 years old but has been with Texas Instruments for 14 years, and spent all of that time within TI&#8217;s calculator division. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-wont-turn-on/ Thu, 23 Jan 2014 19:14:00 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-wont-turn-on/ Math team season is upon us. I had an unusually large number of kids try out, and even after cuts, we had a record number of kids on the team, 32. When the start of the season nears, one of my preseason jobs is to get the team TI-Nspire CAS handhelds out of the closet, both to update to the latest OS, and to make sure they all still boot up. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/spidermans-dad-hp-calculator-fan/ Thu, 23 Jan 2014 03:22:54 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/spidermans-dad-hp-calculator-fan/ I was watching The Amazing Spider-Man for the first time last night (yeah, I know, but with two small children, I don&#8217;t get out much any more). I just about flipped my lid when I saw Peter Parker in his bedroom with what appeared to be an HP 48GX, or a closely related model. As a University of Illinois freshman engineering major in 1995, this very model was my graphing calculator. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/microsoft-wedge-mouse-unboxing-video/ Sun, 15 Dec 2013 20:05:12 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/microsoft-wedge-mouse-unboxing-video/ I&#8217;ve done a Dell Venue 8 Pro unboxing video and a Microsoft Wedge Keyboard unboxing video. The last video unboxing I&#8217;m planning for now is that of my new Microsoft Wedge Mouse. It&#8217;s a Bluetooth mouse that is optimized for Windows 8 and features Microsoft&#8217;s patented Bluetrack technology that is designed to work on just about any non-reflective surface. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/microsoft-wedge-keyboard-unboxing-video/ Sun, 15 Dec 2013 19:55:45 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/microsoft-wedge-keyboard-unboxing-video/ First came my Dell Venue 8 Pro unboxing video. Now I&#8217;ve got the first of two unboxing videos for accessories I picked up for my tiny tablet. This is the Microsoft Wedge Keyboard. It is a 10 inch Bluetooth keyboard optimized specifically for Windows 8. As you can see in the video, it&#8217;s a very sharp looking little keyboard that&#8217;s easy to pack up. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/dell-venue-8-pro-unboxing-video/ Sun, 15 Dec 2013 19:41:07 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/dell-venue-8-pro-unboxing-video/ I actually shot this unboxing video for my new Dell Venue 8 Pro a little over a week ago, but this is the first chance I&#8217;ve had to post it. My impressions are mostly favorable, but I&#8217;ll tell you that there are definitely some adjustments making two jumps at one time, first from iOS to WIndows 8.1 and second from a 10 inch tablet to an 8 inch device. In retrospect, it probably would have been easier to only make one jump at a time. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-os-3-6/ Wed, 04 Dec 2013 21:15:20 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-os-3-6/ UPDATE: Several of you posted more information about TI-Nspire OS 3.6 on the Tech Powered Math Facebook page. As usual Adriend Bertrand of TI-Planet already has a great story up on 3.6. Apparently, it was first available for download in mid-October. In addition to the changes I had already noticed. Readers pointed out some additional changes. The calculator app now alternates shading light and dark on equations to make them easier to read. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ipad-vs-windows-8-tablet/ Tue, 03 Dec 2013 04:19:47 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ipad-vs-windows-8-tablet/ It&#8217;s been a little over 2 years since I picked up my first tablet, an iPad 2, a &#8220;magical&#8221; device, as the boys in Cupertino frequently refer to it. As my wife can testify, my iPad has rarely left my side in the last during that time. Back in 2011, the appeal of my iPad was clear. It was highly portable, far more so than my laptop. It was fast, faster at what it was good at than my PC. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nexus-5-review-mvno/ Mon, 02 Dec 2013 03:06:39 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nexus-5-review-mvno/ A few weeks back, I explained why I was sacrificing my teacher discount on cell phone service to pick up a Nexus 5. In short, the Nexus 5, a high end phone with a mid-range price, allows me to buy service on a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO). These discount cell service providers resell service from one of the bigger carriers like Verizon or AT&amp;T. Their month to month plans are much cheaper than &#8220;on contract&#8221; plans. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-tutorials/ Tue, 26 Nov 2013 02:41:43 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-tutorials/ I&#8217;ve talked about it for a long time, run into many delays along the way, but I finally have found my way around to releasing my DVD on the TI-Nspire! Sticking with the same theme as the my TI-Nspire books, it&#8217;s called TI-Nspire Tutorials. Much like the books, I&#8217;ve aimed it at beginning to intermediate users of the TI-Nspire. I&#8217;m really excited about what users can learn from the DVD. The run time is almost two and half hours and is broken into three parts. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-stem-hollywood-update/ Sun, 24 Nov 2013 23:48:05 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-stem-hollywood-update/ Back the beginning of the school year, I reported on a new Texas Instruments initiative to create engaging classroom materials for the TI-Nspire. These modules brought out the mathematics and science behind popular Hollywood movies themes. TI calls the initiative &#8220;STEM Behind Hollywood.&#8221; Since I did the initial post about the first STEM Behind Hollywood module on Zombies, Texas Instruments has rolled out a couple of more modules. The first was &#8220;Earth Impact,&#8221; a scenario where students examine have to examine how scientists will attempt to change the trajectory of an asteroid on a collision course with earth. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/amazon-associates-illinois/ Wed, 20 Nov 2013 20:53:37 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/amazon-associates-illinois/ This is way off topic from what I usually post about on this blog (regular readers, I beg your indulgence), but I wanted to do a brief post as a public service to those in the internet marketing community. After more than 2 years of being shut out of the Amazon Associates program due to a short sighted state legislature and governor passing the so called &#8220;Amazon tax&#8221; here in Illinois, a few weeks back, the Illinois Supreme Court overturned the law. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/how-to-graph-derivative-ti-nspire/ Tue, 12 Nov 2013 03:18:06 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/how-to-graph-derivative-ti-nspire/ Recently, I was very honored to have the opportunity to speak at a professional development day at Illinois Central College. The math department their asked me to introduce them to the TI-Nspire, as they are starting to see a significant number of their students show up with the Nspire. In addition to a basic overview of the device, I presented the ICC math department with series of activities I might use in algebra, calculus, and statistics. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nexus-5-unboxing-video/ Sat, 09 Nov 2013 19:54:45 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nexus-5-unboxing-video/ UPDATE: I&#8217;ve posted my Nexus 5 review for MVNO&#8217;s. Here&#8217;s my unboxing video of the new Nexus 5 smartphone from Google. I was lucky enough to get my order in before it was back ordered for weeks, so it arrived earlier this week. I do plan to do a review once I&#8217;ve had a little more time to play around with the Nexus 5. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/teacher-discount-nexus-5/ Mon, 04 Nov 2013 02:15:44 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/teacher-discount-nexus-5/ UPDATE: Here&#8217;s my review of the Nexus 5 for MVNO&#8217;s. A couple of years ago, I did a post about teacher discounts on cell phone plans. Given the way most cell phone contracts work here in America, that means I&#8217;m almost up for renewal. Since I&#8217;m both a penny pincher and a gadget lover, I&#8217;ve spent way too much time over the last 6 months trying to decide how I could get the best device on the best plan at the best price. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ictm-wrap-up-thoughts-ccssparcc-apple-ti-nspire/ Tue, 22 Oct 2013 01:23:03 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ictm-wrap-up-thoughts-ccssparcc-apple-ti-nspire/ Since I had responsibilities at the ICTM conference last week that I haven&#8217;t had at past conferences, I wasn&#8217;t able to cover it in the same level of depth that I have when I attend an NCTM or T3. That&#8217;s fine, because as a state level conference, there wasn&#8217;t as much too see as one of those national conferences anyway. However, I do have a few closing thoughts to share from ICTM. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/zalman-usiskins-sharp-critique-ccss-parcc/ Sun, 20 Oct 2013 21:26:54 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/zalman-usiskins-sharp-critique-ccss-parcc/ Today&#8217;s the first chance I&#8217;ve really had to sit down and process all that I heard and saw at the ICTM annual meeting in Peoria. One of the most interesting talks I heard during my time at the conference was given my Zalman Usiskin of the University of Chicago. Usiskin was the closing keynote speaker, and he delivered a fairly tough critique of the Common Core State Standards, and probably even harsher review of the PARCC (Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) assessment that will be used to assess CCSS in about 20 states including Illinois. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/parcc-test-calculators/ Thu, 17 Oct 2013 22:09:17 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/parcc-test-calculators/ The Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics (ICTM) annual meeting kicks off tomorrow in my hometown of Peoria, Illinois. I’m actually the co-chairman of the meeting, so I’ll be there throughout, and I plan to do at least one post about the meeting. For the most dedicators math educators, there was actually a pre-conference today. I hadn&#8217;t planned on posting about that, but something came up this morning that I couldn&#8217;t pass up. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-microsoft-excel/ Thu, 10 Oct 2013 01:10:07 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-microsoft-excel/ As I&#8217;ve mentioned a couple of times on Tech Powered Math, I&#8217;m leading the charge on our new statistics class at my school. It&#8217;s the culmination of several years of effort, including a feasibility study, search for textbooks, curriculum adoption, and now implementation. It&#8217;s very exciting and exhausting at the same time. The class is serving as a capstone course for students who have come through the &#8220;standard&#8221; sequence of courses, but it has also attracted a significant number of &#8220;honors students&#8221; who are looking forward to the opportunity to take the AP Statistics test to earn college credit at the end of the year. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/freedompop-review/ Tue, 10 Sep 2013 11:37:58 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/freedompop-review/ I&#8217;ve been intrigued by FreedomPop, a provider of free 4G hotspot data, for some time now. I&#8217;ve wanted a mobile hotspot for a while, but most of the plans from the big providers I&#8217;ve looked at like Verizon and Sprint just seemed too pricey for what my needs. I simply need a bare bones plan in the 500 MB-1GB range for on the go data emergencies with my computer or tablet. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/google-chromecast-review-teachers/ Thu, 22 Aug 2013 02:53:04 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/google-chromecast-review-teachers/ While I don&#8217;t recommend the Chromecast, I do love the Apple TV as a presentation device. Click here to get it on Amazon. It&#8217;ll arrive with FREE shipping. As promised in a post a few weeks back, I am delivering my Google Chromecast review, with an eye towards how it performs as a presentation device. The Chromecast was a device I was extremely excited about. It costs just $35 and offers Airplay like capabilities that we have seen in Apple&#8217;s line of products. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/guerrilla-graphing-calculator-accessory-giveaway/ Mon, 12 Aug 2013 12:37:14 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/guerrilla-graphing-calculator-accessory-giveaway/ UPDATE: The contest is over. The winners are Carol of College Station, Texas, Melissa of Chillicothe, Ohio, and Donna of Evansville, Indiana. Thanks to everyone who participated! About a month ago, I did a review of Guerrilla Graphing Calculator Accessories. If you&#8217;re looking for the short version of that review, I think they&#8217;re going to be a hit this school this year. They fit Texas Instruments calculators perfectly, and they offer many cool, stylish designs. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/quick-hp-prime-update/ Sun, 11 Aug 2013 01:36:07 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/quick-hp-prime-update/ Update: &ldquo;If you are looking for the latest on the HP Prime, check out my HP Prime review. I mentioned about a week ago that if there was any HP Prime news that I&#8217;d be sure to update everyone. Today there was news. I heard from two different people regarding the HP Prime. One was an official source at HP, telling me that the HP Prime evaluation units have already shipped in Europe. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-stem-behind-hollywood/ Fri, 09 Aug 2013 20:30:59 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-stem-behind-hollywood/ Texas Instruments launched their Hollywood STEM initiative with a TI-Nspire Zombie activity Yesterday, Texas Instruments revealed that it has been hard at work creating a series of supplementary curriculum STEM activities connected to movies. STEM Behind Hollywood is TI&#8217;s new program of TI-Nspire activities. The first of these activities is Zombie Apocalypse, an activity inspired by zombie movies. The activity works on the TI-Nspire handheld, iPad app, or computer software. In addition to an interactive file that allows students to learn mathematics and science using the TI-Nspire, Texas Instruments has also bundled printable pdf files that include a student handout and teacher lesson plan. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/high-school-students-learn-computer-programming/ Fri, 09 Aug 2013 01:05:26 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/high-school-students-learn-computer-programming/ Playing games on my old gaming systems and the new ones on my smart-phone has entertained me for a long period of time, but I soon ask myself, “How did they make this?” You see an amazing app on the App Store and tell yourself that this app had great marketing, user-experience, and a beautiful design, but how did it all come to be? The underlying factor that is always neglected by the user is the programming behind it. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/back-to-school-gadget-guide/ Tue, 06 Aug 2013 18:33:43 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/back-to-school-gadget-guide/ &nbsp; Every year there are some great back to school gadget deals, but in 2013, the gadget makers seems to really be going all out. Rather than flood you with crazy number of deals and new products out there, I&#8217;m going to focus in on just a few. These are the gadgets and deals that I rank as the top for back to school for the 2013-14 school year. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/book-launch-thanks/ Tue, 30 Jul 2013 14:34:22 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/book-launch-thanks/ I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who helped me promote the book launch. I was thrilled to see TI-84 Plus Tutorials in the top 10 on Amazon&#8217;s computers and technology list throughout the weekend. It is so exciting for an self publisher like me to be able to continue doing this. I hope to continue releasing more educational products as time goes by. Among the many people I&#8217;d like to say thanks to: https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-cx-vs-ti-84-plus-c/ Mon, 29 Jul 2013 21:00:32 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-cx-vs-ti-84-plus-c/ Please buy your TI-Nspire CX on Amazon . With a new school year upon us, I&#8217;m bound to get a flood of questions from students about which graphing calculator is right for them. Since the new color TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition is now on the market, I&#8217;m assuming the question of the TI-Nspire CX vs. the TI-84 Plus C will be one of the biggest questions I get this school year. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/chromecast-for-teachers/ Thu, 25 Jul 2013 20:18:07 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/chromecast-for-teachers/ UPDATE: My Chromecast Review for Teachers has now been posted. &nbsp; Even in the midst of getting ready for the big book release today, something caught my eye yesterday that I couldn&#8217;t pass up doing a post about. If you missed it, the Google Chromecast was announced yesterday. The Chromecast is a device that should have existed a couple of years ago. It did, in fact. It was called the Apple TV, a device that let&#8217;s you beam content from your iPad, iPod, iPhone, or Mac to your television. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/book-ti-84-tutorials/ Thu, 25 Jul 2013 12:15:00 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/book-ti-84-tutorials/ Click here to get TI-84 Plus Tutorials on Amazon. I&#8217;ve been hinting at it throughout July, but I&#8217;m thrilled to officially announce that my next book is finally here. This time, I&#8217;m taking a crack at Texas Instruments&#8217; other ridiculously popular graphing calculator, the TI-84 Plus. The book is titled, TI-84 Plus Tutorials: The TI-84 Plus for Beginners. My latest book is now available on Amazon in Kindle format. If you are new to Kindle books, you should know that you do NOT need a Kindle device to read them. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/buy-used-graphing-calculator/ Fri, 19 Jul 2013 17:15:32 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/buy-used-graphing-calculator/ For a great selection of used graphing calculators, click here to see Ebay&rsquo;s full selection. While most end up buying a new calculator, some thrifty students (or their parents) end up buying a used graphing calculator. Much like buying a used car, the main advantage is depreciation. You can often buy a used graphing calculator for half of what a new one would cost. On the other hand, much like buying a used car, there are some risks. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/retro-review-ti-83-plus/ Tue, 16 Jul 2013 17:25:48 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/retro-review-ti-83-plus/ Looking for a TI-83 plus cheap? I can&#8217;t recommend it. You will be SO MUCH HAPPIER with a TI-84 Plus by clicking this link to Ebay. OK, I&#8217;ve had enough. It&#8217;s time for a rant. I&#8217;ve been watching the top 20 graphing calculator rankings on Amazon for a while now. What&#8217;s that? You&#8217;ve never spent time following the &#8220;power rankings?&#8221; Let me tell you. You&#8217;ve been missing out. It&#8217;s not the story you might think you&#8217;ve been missing out on: The TI-84 Plus has had a stranglehold on the top spot for years as the various iterations of the TI-Nspire have slowly climbed the ladder trying to knock it off. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84c-asymptote-detection/ Sat, 13 Jul 2013 01:36:59 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84c-asymptote-detection/ Left&#8211;TI-84+C Asymptote detection turned off. Right&#8211;Asymptote detection turned on. This isn&#8217;t at all a post I was planning to do, but again tonight I had another question on the Tech Powered Math Facebook page about the TI-84+C and asymptotes. If you press 2nd and FORMAT, you&#8217;ll find an option called &#8220;Detect Asymptotes&#8221; that can be turned on or off. The people I&#8217;ve heard from seem to assume that this feature will find and define asymptotes for users, but from my experience I don&#8217;t believe it functions this way. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/guerilla-graphing-calculator-cases-review/ Wed, 10 Jul 2013 20:52:16 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/guerilla-graphing-calculator-cases-review/ Please buy your Guerrilla Graphing Calculator accessories at Amazon. Recently I heard from a new company, Guerrilla Calculator Accessories, asking me to take a looking at their line of graphing calculator cases, protectors, covers and shields for Texas Instruments calculators. I thought, &#8220;Sure, how extensive a lineup could they possibly have?&#8221; Little did I know. About a week later, a case of accessories arrived at my door. The guys at Guerrilla have thought of just about every possible way a student might want to accessorize and protect their Texas Instruments graphing calculator. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/best-math-movies/ Mon, 08 Jul 2013 15:11:52 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/best-math-movies/ I&#8217;ve been thinking about putting together a list of the best math movies of all time for a while now. Such a list is sure to create some controversy, so I decided it was important to be as objective as possible. As a result, I created a couple of rules before I got started. The first rule might cause the most controversy. The movie had to feature a mathematician as a major character or plot point. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hp-50g-review/ Fri, 05 Jul 2013 14:30:56 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hp-50g-review/ Click here to buy your HP 50G on Amazon . HP graphing calculators haven&#8217;t had the highest profile the last few years, but that&#8217;s about to change with the release with the upcoming HP Prime-review. Despite the lack of new models, the HP 50g has continued to be a popular choice, in fact, the most popular graphing calculator choice among HP fans. Back in the late 90&#8217;s when I was an engineering student at the University of Illinois and my graphing calculator of choice was actually, an HP, the HP 48gx. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/top-10-mathematical-scandals/ Mon, 01 Jul 2013 13:43:40 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/top-10-mathematical-scandals/ While it may seem unusual to put the words &#8220;math&#8221; and &#8220;scandal&#8221; together in the same sentence, it&#8217;s not without precedence. In fact, as this list proves, throughout history, mathematics has had it&#8217;s fair share of scandals from cheaters to affairs to murders. In no particular order, here&#8217;s my breakdown of the top 10 mathematical scandals of all time. Steinmetz High School Crashes the U.S. Academic Decathlon Yeah, I know, it&#8217;s a high school competition. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-upgrade-to-ti-84-os-2-53/ Fri, 28 Jun 2013 21:05:30 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-upgrade-to-ti-84-os-2-53/ In February, OS 2.53 was released by Texas Instruments for the TI-84+. This is unquestionably the best set of upgrades ever issued for the calculator. If you&#8217;re a longtime 84 plus user, you&#8217;ll feel like you&#8217;ve been given a new calculator for free. This video illustrates the improvements and guides you through the upgrade. More recently, a less major update, OS 2.55 was issued, but everything in this video still applies. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/teacher-salary-student-performance/ Wed, 26 Jun 2013 14:52:09 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/teacher-salary-student-performance/ Saw this infographic on the relationship between teacher pay and student performance in the classroom, and I had to post it. You will want to share this one with your friends. Does teacher pay correlate with better student performance? In a word&#8211;yes! Source https://www.techpoweredmath.com/best-tablets-students-teachers/ Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:50:09 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/best-tablets-students-teachers/ Samsung&#8217;s Note tablets offer advanced note taking features other tablets lack. At the end of this post, I&#8217;ve listed the best selling tablets on Amazon (as of June 2013) with links to their Amazon listings, as of June. I have a few thoughts on these tablets both in general and from the standpoint of teachers and students. This is a post I intend to update every so often as new tablets are released and my opinions on the best tablets for students shift over time, so if you&#8217;re not in the market now, check back in a few months to see what&#8217;s new. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/infographicways-students-technology/ Thu, 13 Jun 2013 14:20:53 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/infographicways-students-technology/ Interesting infographic about how our students are using technology from Internet Innovation. Things sure have changed a lot since my first weekend at the University of Illinois back in 1995 when I discovered the internet for the first time on UI&#8217;s own Mosaic browser. I can tell you with almost absolute certainty that the 1 in 4 number about teens that own smartphones is higher in my own school district. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/buy-ti-84c-amazon/ Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:59:54 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/buy-ti-84c-amazon/ Click here to buy the TI-84 Plus C on Amazon. The all new TI-84 Plus C color calculator (review) has debuted on Amazon. Apparently, it&#8217;s been there for a while, since it&#8217;s already gathered quite a few customer reviews. Not only is the TI-Nspire CX there but also the TI-Nspire CX CAS. At the value these newer calculators provide, I&#8217;d find it hard to go with the older TI-84 feature set over a CX model, but I know there are some of you that are fiercely devoted to the TI-84 platform. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/google-apps-for-education-infographic/ Tue, 04 Jun 2013 13:00:34 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/google-apps-for-education-infographic/ If there was any question about how dominant Google Apps is becoming for in educational circles, let this infographic dispel those doubts. Among some of the highlights you&#8217;ll see below, the number of students at schools running Google Apps doubled from the fall of 2010 to 2012 all the way up to 20 millions students. And lest you think these are second tier schools, 7 of the 8 Ivy League schools are using Google Apps. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-offers-free-navigator-systems/ Wed, 29 May 2013 19:01:51 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-offers-free-navigator-systems/ Just like last year, Texas Instruments is once again offering free TI-Nspire CX Navigator systems to teachers who collect enough proofs of purchase from TI-Nspire CX&#8217;s. This year, they are requiring 60 of the purchase cards that come with the TI-Nspire CX. The deadline for submission is September 20, 2013. You&#8217;ll need to go through a bit of online training if you&#8217;ve never attend a T3 event in the past, but the required 3 hour investment is well worth the return. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/interview-nasa-education-chief-leland-melvin/ Thu, 09 May 2013 02:18:24 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/interview-nasa-education-chief-leland-melvin/ Back in March at the T3 conference in Philadelphia, I had a chance to interview Leland Melvin. Melvin is a former football player and former astronaut. Currently, he serves as the NASA Associate Administrator for Education, and he was the keynote speaker that opened up the T3 conference. Melvin was gracious enough to spend a few minutes answering questions for me after he delivered his keynote, speaking about space, NASA, the TI-Nspire, and why he is so passionate about education. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hp-talks-prime/ Wed, 01 May 2013 00:55:02 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hp-talks-prime/ Over the weekend, I submitted a series of interview question to HP about their new multi-touch calculator, the HP Prime. Today, I received a reply from Jason Smith, Product Manager, HP Calculators and Education Solutions. Below, I have shared the entirety of that response. There are several interesting nuggets in Smith&#8217;s response, including the exciting news that HP will provide Prime emulator software free to educators. If it appears that I failed to raise some obvious questions, I must point out that Smith politely sidestepped a fair number of my questions, perhaps because not all of the decisions about the Prime have been finalized yet. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hp-prime-youtube-video/ Thu, 25 Apr 2013 01:36:07 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hp-prime-youtube-video/ Update: &ldquo;If you are looking for the latest on the HP Prime, don&#8217;t miss my HP Prime review. With Texas Instruments and Casio making virtually all of the calculator news since I started Tech Powered Math in the summer of 2010, it’s sometimes been easy to forget that there is still a third major graphing calculator manufacturer, Hewlett Packard. Rumors started circulating a couple of weeks ago on the other side of the pond that HP has been quietly getting ready to play an ace they had up their sleeve. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-ipad-app-update-nctm-press-release/ Wed, 17 Apr 2013 01:51:56 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-ipad-app-update-nctm-press-release/ It appears that the crew in Dallas is having a busy week. Yesterday, Texas Instruments issued their first update of their new iPad app. The update purports to fix one of the specific problems I experienced during my initial TI-Nspire iPad app review, which was a crash during the use of the camera feature. I have tried to recreate that crash since updating the app, and I haven&#8217;t been able to, so it looks like they were successful in fixing the problem. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84c-review/ Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:01:04 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84c-review/ Click here to buy the TI-84 Plus C on Amazon! UPDATE: (2/10/16) Since I wrote this review a couple of years ago, Texas Instruments has discontinued the TI-84 Plus C. While it continues to be available at some retail outlets like Amazon, I suggest taking a look at the newer model, the TI-84 Plus CE. You can follow this link to my TI-84 Plus CE Review. With so much of the attention from Texas Instruments on the TI-Nspire line over the last 5 years or so, it was exciting news to learn that the TI-84+ family of calculators was getting a much needed face lift with addition of color. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/t3-stream-conciousness/ Fri, 15 Mar 2013 14:08:02 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/t3-stream-conciousness/ In honor of one of my favorite sports bloggers, Robert of alioneye.com, I&#8217;m doing a &#8220;stream of conciousness&#8221; post to wrap up my thoughts on last weekend&#8217;s T3 conference. There&#8217;s no method or plan to this. I&#8217;ve just had a lot of random thoughts about my time in Philadelphia, none of which would make a satisfying post in and of itself. Here goes nothing. &#8211;As tough as Philadelphia sports fans can be, I was expecting the locals in Philly to be a little rough around the edges. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/top-10-pi-day-2013-stories-web/ Thu, 14 Mar 2013 18:02:32 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/top-10-pi-day-2013-stories-web/ I decided not to write my own Pi Day post this year, but instead share some of the interesting stories from major news outlets. After all, I&#8217;m not likely to beat the quality of a story from USA Today, CNN, or the Huffington Post, so here are 10 of the best that I found. 1. White House Wishes Twitter a &#8220;Happy Pi Day&#8221; With Photo of Kid Stuffing Face With Pie&#8211;Huffington Post https://www.techpoweredmath.com/rumor-mill-college-board-change-rules-game/ Tue, 12 Mar 2013 23:41:32 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/rumor-mill-college-board-change-rules-game/ On the verge of College Board approval? It&#8217;s certainly a stretch to call what I do on Tech Powered Math journalism. However, whatever journalistic instincts that have developed in me in nearly three years of writing at Tech Powered Math have taught me that a great place to look for stories at conferences is among the exhibitors. On the exhibit floor, you can find new products, new textbooks, and interesting rumors. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/t3-day-3-roundup-vegas/ Tue, 12 Mar 2013 01:57:45 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/t3-day-3-roundup-vegas/ My day 3 roundup has been delayed by travel back home and the news that my basement was rapidly taking on water from the flooding that has hit central Illinois the while I was gone. So as I write this, I&#8217;m comfortably in my living room, making the occasional uncomfortable trip down to my basement office to vacuum water out of my office carpet. Such is the glamorous life of an educational technology blogger. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/t3-day-2-roundup/ Sun, 10 Mar 2013 03:19:40 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/t3-day-2-roundup/ My day two here in Philadelphia was jam packed with sessions, so much so that it feels really good to just hunker down in my room long enough to get a post up. The day kicked off with a session from the always entertaining TI-Nspire expert Tom Reardon. TI spokesperson and Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik was active throughout the conference today, and she made a &#8220;surprise&#8221; appearance at this session to present with Reardon. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/t3-day-1-roundup/ Sat, 09 Mar 2013 02:01:52 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/t3-day-1-roundup/ Today was the first day of the annual T3 conference here in Philadelphia. Texas Instruments is really playing up the fact that this is the 25th year for the conference, from highlighting teachers who have been at T3 from the beginning to offering $25 off the new TI-Nspire app this weekend. It is pretty crazy to think they&#8217;ve been at this since the late 1980&#8217;s, especially considering where calculator technology was at that time. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/t3-coverage-ti-nspire-app-sale/ Wed, 06 Mar 2013 02:55:08 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/t3-coverage-ti-nspire-app-sale/ The T3 conference is hitting Philadelphia this week, and I&#8217;ll be fortunate enough to be in attendance. Texas Instruments&#8217; annual showcase of technology and teaching runs Friday, March 8 through Sunday, March 10. Of course, they&#8217;ll be plenty of talk about the new TI-84+ C color graphing calculator (look for my review coming soon), and the just released TI-Nspire iPad app (review). As part of their promotion, Texas Instruments is slashing the price on the iPad app from its normal $29. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-ipad-app-review/ Mon, 04 Mar 2013 00:01:36 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-ipad-app-review/ Platform: iOS (specifically, iPad 2, iPad Retina, and iPad Mini) Age Range: Middle school through college Cost: $29.99 Tap here to get the TI-Nspire CAS iPad app on the App Store. After a hiccup with the initial launch, the TI-Nspire iPad app has been available on the App Store for a couple of weeks now. I&#8217;ve been playing around with it since it was released. There&#8217;s no doubt about it, this is a terrific first release. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-announces-ti-nspire-ipad-app/ Thu, 07 Feb 2013 14:00:31 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-announces-ti-nspire-ipad-app/ Update #1 (8:05 a.m.): This morning, I was informed by a representative of Texas Instruments that a security issue was discovered in the TI-Nspire iPad app overnight, and it has been pulled from the App Store. The TI development team is working to get the app back in the App Store as soon as possible. Update #2 (11:38 a.m.) I&#8217;ve received an official statement from Texas Instruments regarding the TI-Nspire app being pulled from the App Store: https://www.techpoweredmath.com/press-release-texas-instruments-ti-84-announcement/ Fri, 18 Jan 2013 15:01:06 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/press-release-texas-instruments-ti-84-announcement/ While it&#8217;s no secret that Texas Instruments has a new TI-84 Plus C Color graphing calculator coming out later this spring, they are finally making an official announcement to the press soon. A few hours from now, TI will distribute the press release that follows about what we can expect on the new TI-84 Plus C. If you have been following this story on Tech Powered Math, you are largely familiar with the overall story. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84c-website/ Mon, 17 Dec 2012 03:23:53 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84c-website/ Texas Instruments has launched a new website for the TI-84 Plus C. While they have yet to have links to it from their main site, you can check out the TI-84 Plus C site here. There are a few new tidbits there including the now firm hardware specs for those that are curious. You&#8217;ll also find a gallery of photos of the 84C, comparison chart of TI&#8217;s most popular models, the TI-84+ and TI-Nspire CX with the new TI-84+ C, and an FAQ section. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/color-casio-classpad-fx-cp400/ Fri, 30 Nov 2012 15:57:20 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/color-casio-classpad-fx-cp400/ Casio&#8217;s fx-CP400 Yesterday, Casio made a big announcement that it was continuing a trend of upgrading an existing graphing calculator line to color with a new ClassPad model. The Casio ClassPad 330 will no longer be the premier (and only) touchscreen graphing calculator on the market. A new model, the fx-CP400, will take its place at the top of the touchscreen hill. The color calculator trend is one that Casio kicked off two years ago when the Prizm was announced, moving beyond their fx-9860 GII. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/confirmed-texas-instruments-release-color-ti-84/ Tue, 13 Nov 2012 03:32:11 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/confirmed-texas-instruments-release-color-ti-84/ UPDATE: If you are interested in the TI-84 Plus C, please check out my TI-84+C Review. I was fortunate to receive a pre-release device from TI for review purposes. After word broke last week of a possible new graphing calculator from Texas Instruments, I reached out to TI, asking if they&#8217;d be willing to make any on the record comment about the rumors. Today, I heard from Texas Instruments Digital Content Manager Dale Philbrick, who gave me the first official public comments from Texas Instruments about their new device, the TI-84+ C graphing calculator. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/finding/ Mon, 12 Nov 2012 03:02:31 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/finding/ Friday&#8217;s post was the first on here in quite some time, and I&#8217;d like to offer a brief explanation. Essentially, I&#8217;ve felt forced to take some time away from my online adventures by a combination of poor health, a change of house, and a busy time at school. The health issue was a flurry of migraines like I&#8217;ve never experienced that started in September. After a couple of weeks of trying to struggle through, I ended up on an allergy prescription that successfully knocked the migraines down, but caused me to spend most of my waking hours wishing I was sleeping. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/color-ti-84-c-hoax/ Fri, 09 Nov 2012 15:29:24 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/color-ti-84-c-hoax/ Far from a hoax, the TI-84 Plus C is a real calculator. Check out my TI-84 Plus CE Review. &nbsp; UPDATE: 11:55 a.m. I have been contacted by a source who has worked for Texas Instruments and has asked to remain anonymous. He has provided credible information that the TI-84+ C Silver Edition is, in fact, a real calculator in development by Texas Instruments. You can see the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition information request form here. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-programming-book/ Thu, 27 Sep 2012 19:56:36 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-programming-book/ I wanted to give a shout out for a new project by Christopher Mitchell, or Kerm Martian as he’s known online. Mitchell is the man behind Cemetech, a site devoted to programming graphing calculators. He does magical things with graphing calculators, finding ways to use them that the engineers at Texas Instruments and Casio surely never expected them to be used. If you’ve followed Tech Powered Math for a while, you may remember my stories about some of Mitchell’s achievements, including Doom on the TI-Nspire and turning the TI-84+ into a web browser. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-points-free-navigator/ Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:28:55 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-points-free-navigator/ For those of you that are teachers, I wanted to make you aware that Texas Instruments has a special promotion going on right now that allows schools to earn a free wireless Navigator system. By collecting 60 of the cards that come in a TI-Nspire CX or TI-Nspire CX CAS package, you can get a free Navigator. You need to collect the entire card, not just the “TI points.” The program runs until November 15, 2012, and does require some online Navigator training (see this PDF on the TI website for more details). https://www.techpoweredmath.com/marble-math-review/ Tue, 18 Sep 2012 00:57:06 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/marble-math-review/ Operating System: iOS (iPad) Age range: 5-8 years old (Marble Math Junior) and 9-12 (Marble Math) Cost: $1.99 (as of 9/17/12) I haven&#8217;t done an app review in a while, but at the request of Artgig Studio, I&#8217;ve been taking a look at Marble Math. The simple concept behind this app reminds me a lot of the 1980&#8217;s classic game, Marble Madness. However, unlike that game, where you manipulated a marble through a series of obstacles with a trackball, this game requires you to guide your marble to whole numbers, decimals, fractions, and money in order to solve math problems. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-cx-contest-giveaway/ Mon, 03 Sep 2012 23:13:56 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-cx-contest-giveaway/ The contest has ended, and the winner was Erica Carnes of Ellicott City, MD. Congrats, Erica, and thanks to all who entered. Please continue to follow Tech Powered Math on Facebook to learn about future contests. &nbsp; The last month has been exciting for me as a new author. The first week my book, TI-Nspire &trade; Tutorials-Getting Started with the TI-Nspire Graphing Calculator. Volume 1, The TI-Nspire for Beginners, was on the market, it was downloaded over 800 times. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/review-texas-instruments-ti-89-titanium/ Wed, 29 Aug 2012 03:05:04 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/review-texas-instruments-ti-89-titanium/ Click here to check the TI-89 Titanium Price on Amazon. It&#8217;s been almost 2 years since I first reviewed one of my favorite graphing calculators with a computer algebra system, the TI-89 Titanium. The original TI-89, a smaller version of the old TI-92, was released in 1998 after Texas Instruments realized people didn&#8217;t want to have to pack a suitcase to bring their calculator to class. The TI-92 was a great calculator, but it was huge and because it had a QWERTY keyboard, it was banned from almost every standardized test (because for some reason the College Board feels that allowing calculator manufacturers to place keys in QWERTY format gives students an insurmountable advantage on the SAT). https://www.techpoweredmath.com/review-ti-89-vs-ti-nspire-cas/ Wed, 22 Aug 2012 03:00:12 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/review-ti-89-vs-ti-nspire-cas/ Click here to see the TI-Nspire CX CAS price on Amazon. Once again a new school year is upon us, and that requires a fresh look at the TI-Nspire CX CAS vs. TI-89 Titanium debate. In addition to this article, you may want to check out my standalone TI-Nspire CX CAS Review and my TI-89 Titanium Review. I wrote a post on this topic a couple of years ago, but with each passing year it has to be updated. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/review-ti-84-vs-ti-nspire-buying-guide/ Wed, 22 Aug 2012 01:30:37 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/review-ti-84-vs-ti-nspire-buying-guide/ Click here to see the TI-Nspire CX Price on Amazon. Another school year requires another update to my post comparing the TI-84 and TI-Nspire. With each passing year, the gap between the two seems to grow as the TI-Nspire gets update after update from Texas Instruments, and the TI-84 stays more or less the same. A year ago, the TI-Nspire CX was released bringing color, backlit screens to the platform, and this summer, all TI-Nspire models received a refresh with the release of TI-Nspire OS 3. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/tinspire-tutorials-volume-using-cas-like-champion/ Wed, 08 Aug 2012 01:53:01 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/tinspire-tutorials-volume-using-cas-like-champion/ I am pleased to announce the official release of my second TI-Nspire Tutorials book, TI-Nspire Tutorials Volume 2: Using the CAS Like a Champion. As the title suggests, volume 2 is focused on CAS features. I&#8217;m excited to offer it to anyone who wants to learn more about any version of the TI-Nspire CAS, whether you have the TI-Nspire CAS in CX, Touchpad, or Clickpad (although button sequences will differ if you have the original Clickpad). https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nexus-7-review-book/ Wed, 01 Aug 2012 19:17:48 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nexus-7-review-book/ The last month has been absolutely crazy for me, with trips across the country and moving into a new home. However, as the start of the new school year arrives, I hope to pick up the pace again. In the next few weeks, I&#8217;m planning to update my calculator recommendations for students, a post on the back to school sales on technology, and the release of my next couple of books. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nexus-7-tablet-unboxing/ Wed, 18 Jul 2012 03:00:21 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nexus-7-tablet-unboxing/ I&#8217;m one of the first to hop on board the Google Nexus 7 train. If you aren&#8217;t familiar with it, this is the first tablet from Google, manufactured by Asus. Over the last few years, Google has had a history of partnering with handset makers with its Nexus line of phones. The Nexus line always gets the best new operating system updates of Android first, and the Nexus 7 is no exception, as it ships with Android 4. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/poll-question-favorite-ebook-format/ Fri, 13 Jul 2012 15:26:49 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/poll-question-favorite-ebook-format/ I have a small favor to ask all of you who follow Tech Powered Math. I&#8217;ve added a new poll question to the sidebar (you&#8217;ll find it in the lower left corner), and it&#8217;d really help me out of you could take a couple of seconds to participate. I&#8217;m trying to get a handle on what eBook format most of you use. When my first book went to #2 on the Kindle best seller list for education books at one point last week, I realized there&#8217;s more interest in electronic resources for graphing calculators than I had been aware of. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/k5-learning-review/ Mon, 09 Jul 2012 17:35:15 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/k5-learning-review/ Click here to try K5Learning.com for free. The last couple of weeks, I&#8217;ve been looking at k5learning.com, a site designed to help elementary school children learn arithmetic facts. There is a lot to like with the site. It&#8217;s affordable, offers great features to help parents track learning, has fun games integrated, is professionally produced, and is available in both English and Spanish, one of the few sites in this genre that is bilingual. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-tutorials-volume-1/ Tue, 03 Jul 2012 15:53:45 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-tutorials-volume-1/ Click here to get TI-Nspire Tutorials Volume 1 on Amazon, FREE until July 7. As I promised back in June, my first eBook has hit the market. The title is a mouthful: TI-Nspire &trade; Tutorials: The TI-Nspire for Beginners, Getting Started with the TI-Nspire. The TI-Nspire Tutorials book is currently available exclusively on the Kindle market. I&#8217;m sure at some point I&#8217;ll get questions about iBooks, and while I&#8217;m looking into that, I wanted to start with the Kindle for a couple of reasons. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-upgrade-to-ti-nspire-os-2-0/ Fri, 29 Jun 2012 16:58:46 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-upgrade-to-ti-nspire-os-2-0/ I&#8217;m back from my Honduras trip, and hard at work looking at TI-Nspire OS 3.2. My first eBook on the TI-Nspire is nearing completion, and I have completely updated it to be consistent with 3.2, from button press sequence to screen captures. I have heard from some of you that you are having trouble updating to OS 3.2. I have had a video on YouTube for the last couple of years on how to update the Nspire OS, but the process has changed a little bit over that time. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-os-3-2-released/ Thu, 07 Jun 2012 19:08:29 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-os-3-2-released/ In the first major update to the TI-Nspire operating system since OS 3.0 came out a year ago in the Spring of 2011, Texas Instruments today released TI-Nspire OS 3.2. While less significant a leap forward than 3.0, which brought the ability to load pictures, 3D graphing, and cleared the way for the TI-Nspire CX release, 3.2 nonetheless offers important new features. The biggest change for most users will be in graphing. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/honduras-mission-trip/ Thu, 07 Jun 2012 15:52:31 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/honduras-mission-trip/ This is a very unusual post for Tech Powered Math, but I&#8217;m going to be &#8220;off the grid&#8221; for a couple of weeks. I want to explain why because I&#8217;ll be slower than usual at responding to emails, Tweets, etc. In a few days, I&#8217;ll be flying from St. Louis to Honduras as part of a mission trip with my church here in Peoria, Imago Dei Church. We are joining up with a ministry that is based permanently in La Esperanza, Honduras called Mercy International. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/mathtoons-logarithms-lite-ipad-app-review/ Wed, 06 Jun 2012 16:29:42 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/mathtoons-logarithms-lite-ipad-app-review/ Device: iPad/iPhone/iPod Age: High School Cost: [Free][1] Mathtoons Logarithms Lite is one of the most unusual yet catchy math education apps I&#8217;ve ever come across. It is a tutorial on how to go between the exponential and logarithmic forms of an equation. Users are instructed by cartoon characters that reminded me a bit of the Phineas and Ferb animation style. The animation is high quality, and so are the voice actors. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/3d-printer-video/ Wed, 16 May 2012 00:08:14 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/3d-printer-video/ I&#8217;ll be the first to say, this is a bit of a random post. I just wanted to show all of you one of the more unusual exhibits I had the opportunity to check out at the T3 conference in Chicago a couple of months back. It was a 3D printer from a company called Stratasys. You may never have even heard of a 3D printer, but it&#8217;s pretty much what it&#8217;s name indicates. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/morton-illinois-state-math-team-champions/ Wed, 09 May 2012 19:03:26 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/morton-illinois-state-math-team-champions/ The pace of my posts on TPM has slowed the last couple of weeks. There are multiple reasons for that, including other internet projects I&#8217;m working on, but the main reason has been I&#8217;ve been very focused on something special I&#8217;ve been doing at school. I don&#8217;t often post in specifics about my day job at Morton on here, but on Saturday something happened that was so exciting that I can&#8217;t pass it up. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-announces-tinspire-os-release-timeline/ Tue, 01 May 2012 15:30:40 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-announces-tinspire-os-release-timeline/ It&#8217;s only a minor deviation from the plan that Texas Instruments reps originally talked about at the T3 Conference back in March, but all of you TI-Nspire fans will have to wait just a bit longer for the release of TI-Nspire OS 3.2. The original discussions had indicated a mid to late May release of the operating system that will bring conic sections and &#8220;x=&#8221; graphing to the Nspire. On Saturday, TI released an email announcing that the official timeline is now a June release. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/leapfrog-leappad-reviews/ Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:00:16 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/leapfrog-leappad-reviews/ I finally got a chance to do a LeapPad review. It&#8217;s something I&#8217;ve wanted to take a look at for a while, and I finally realized that one of my friends has one. He was easily persuaded to loan it to me for a few days. The LeapPad has been a hot toy since last Christmas time, when it became difficult for a lot of people to get their hands on one. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/casio-prizm-tetris-3d-graphing/ Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:00:33 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/casio-prizm-tetris-3d-graphing/ I must admit that I&#8217;m not that good at keep up to date with the active community of graphing calculators hackers. I was interested to learn via an email update from the Cemetech staff that they have made significant inroads in their efforts to pimp out the Casio Prizm over the last couple of months. As Texas Instruments has continues to make the TI-Nspire line their premiere line of calculators, the hacker community has started to gain interest in the Casio Prizm, calculator that seems to generally be seen as more friendly to programming efforts. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/leapfrog-fridge-phonics-review/ Mon, 16 Apr 2012 15:00:04 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/leapfrog-fridge-phonics-review/ Click here to get the Fridge Phonics toy from Leapfrog.com. In a bit of a change from the kinds of reviews I normally do on Tech Powered Math, I&#8217;m reviewing an educational toy for little kids. My wife and I had our first child 16 months ago, and she&#8217;s starting to get interested in these kinds of toys, so I plan to add more Leapfrog educational toy reviews as well as toys and games from other &#8220;edutainment&#8221; manufacturers. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/baby-ti-nspire-calculator-picture/ Fri, 13 Apr 2012 00:02:43 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/baby-ti-nspire-calculator-picture/ Just for fun, I thought I&#8217;d post this picture of my daughter&#8217;s early love affair with the TI-Nspire CX. It&#8217;s actually from the beginning of the school year and got quite a rise out of my friends when I posted it on Facebook. I don&#8217;t know why I never got around to posting it here. Anyway, in the months since, she has proven to be a quick study, rapidly moving through Pre-Calculus and on to AB Calculus. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/when-am-i-ever-going-use-this-math/ Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:00:34 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/when-am-i-ever-going-use-this-math/ Any math teacher can tell you that students constantly ask the question: &#8220;When are we ever going to use this?&#8221; Here&#8217;s an infographic that attempts to answer that question. &nbsp; by Column Five Media. &nbsp; https://www.techpoweredmath.com/how-to-change-ti-nspire-cx-battery/ Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:45:38 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/how-to-change-ti-nspire-cx-battery/ Click here to get a new TI-Nspire rechargeable battery on Amazon. I&#8217;ve put together simple video tutorial on how to change the rechargeable battery on the TI-Nspire CX (or CX CAS). You won&#8217;t need anything but a set of mini screwdrivers and a new battery. As I say in the video, this is a fairly simple procedure which I&#8217;ve done many times without any problems. However, any time you take the calculator apart, there is a chance something could go wrong, so proceed at your own risk. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/infographic-americas-education-report-card/ Thu, 05 Apr 2012 15:04:15 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/infographic-americas-education-report-card/ This week&#8217;s Infographic Thursday brings us a look at how America is doing in education when compared with the rest of the world. by ejfox. &nbsp; https://www.techpoweredmath.com/wolfram-linear-algebra-course-assistant/ Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:02:50 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/wolfram-linear-algebra-course-assistant/ Device: iPad, iPhone Cost: $4.99 Ages: College I first became familiar with Wolfram Course Assistant app reviews last summer. These apps are essentially customized interfaces for Wolfram Alpha, Wolfram&#8217;s amazing &#8220;computational knowledge engine.&#8221; The apps strip down Wolfram Alpha to the specific functions that are needed for a particular course. They also often provide a custom interface for those functions. A recent Course Assistant release from Wolfram is Linear Algebra. I have to go all the way back to the Spring of 1998-99 school year for my experience in linear algebra, but a lot of terms and computations came flooding back as soon as I opened this app. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/interview-kevin-giffhorn-enotebook/ Tue, 03 Apr 2012 23:53:51 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/interview-kevin-giffhorn-enotebook/ Running a math technology blog, I get requests for app reviews on a regular basis. One of the more innovative educational apps I&#8217;ve seen in recent months has been eNotebook, from WeLearn Educational Software. eNotebook is an app that turns your iPad into an electronic notebook, allowing you to use an iPad to write on PowerPoint, Word, and PDF files. I was very interested to learn that eNotebook was created by a current high school math teacher, who is also the founder of WeLearn, Kevin Giffhorn. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/enotebook-ipad-app-review/ Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:45:49 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/enotebook-ipad-app-review/ Device: iPad Cost: $4.99 Ages: High school and up I&#8217;ve been working with the eNotebook app off and on for a couple of weeks now but haven&#8217;t had the chance to write about it until now. eNotebook was developed by a math teacher, Kevin Giffhorn, for students that want the ability to take their notes right on their iPad. It has a simple integration feature into Safari and email that allows you to send files in Powerpoint, PDF, or Word format to the app, where you can take notes right on top of them. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/mathblaster-apps-for-ipad/ Mon, 02 Apr 2012 19:19:25 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/mathblaster-apps-for-ipad/ Device: iPad/iPhone Cost: $2.99 Ages: Elementary school through early middle school This post is the start of another &#8220;App Week,&#8221; so be sure to keep checking back for a couple of more reviews as the week goes along. Last week I posted a video on YouTube about the Math Blaster iPad apps, and I wanted to get a quick post up on them here on Tech Powered Math. I took a look at two of the Math Blaster apps, HyperBlast and Zapper. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/apple-texas-instruments-form-alliance/ Sun, 01 Apr 2012 11:01:31 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/apple-texas-instruments-form-alliance/ Update: Much to my surprise, this April Fools joke came true just a year after I wrote this with the release of the TI-Nspire iPad app. I&#8217;m getting word from a source at Texas Instruments that within the next 24 to 48 hours we can expect to hear an official announcement of a blockbuster alliance being formed with Texas Instruments and Apple. Both companies are going to get significant penetration into an area of the market they previously didn&#8217;t have access to. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/infographic-nctm-vs-nsta/ Thu, 29 Mar 2012 02:16:30 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/infographic-nctm-vs-nsta/ In honor of the start of the NSTA convention in Indianapolis, I created an infographic of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Twitter account vs. the National Science Teachers Association Twitter account. Of course, math and science are peas from the same pod, not competitors, so it&#8217;s all in good fun. It&#8217;s actually interesting to see that there are a lot of similarities between the two accounts. If you&#8217;d like to add this infographic to your website or blog, please use the embed code at the bottom of this post. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/march-2012-tinspire-giveaway/ Sun, 25 Mar 2012 21:20:09 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/march-2012-tinspire-giveaway/ UPDATE: The contest has ended. The winner was John Carroz of Bellevue, WA. Congratulations, John! To enter, the TI-Nspire contest page on Tech Powered Math&#8217;s Facebook page. Back when I did the Math Blaster giveaway, I promised everyone I was going to make an effort to do more contest giveaways. Today, I&#8217;m continuing what I hope will become a monthly trend. For the next few weeks, I&#8217;ll be accepting entries for a TI-Nspire giveaway. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/leapfrog-coupon-code/ Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:43:17 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/leapfrog-coupon-code/ Leapfrog has announced their latest coupon code, and it&#8217;s a great deal. For the rest of March through April 4, 2012, you can get free shipping plus 10% off on all games and books when you order through the link below. Just follow the link and enter coupon code EASTER10. You can get a great deal and have a little something special from the Easter Bunny for your little one. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/flexbooks-free-digital-textbooks/ Mon, 19 Mar 2012 13:00:02 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/flexbooks-free-digital-textbooks/ With all of the buzz about iBooks vs. Amazon&#8217;s digital books, you may have missed the latest on Flexbooks. Flexbooks are free digital textbooks from CK-12, a non-profit organization that&#8217;s dedicated to bringing the ideals of the open source movement to education. Essentially, anyone can customize and download a Flexbook on a variety of topics. Schools have the option to use them as they are or supplement and edit them. They can be used in digital format for computers and almost any tablet, including the iPad and Kindle Fire, or they can be printed out. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-repairs/ Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:00:41 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-repairs/ Is your TI-Nspire beyond repair? Click here to check prices on a new or used TI-Nspire on Ebay. A former student of mine missed school last Friday and came back with a pretty crazy picture. Apparently, she was in a pretty horrific car accident where her car flipped twice. As you can see in the picture, it wasn&#8217;t a pretty picture. Fortunately, she walked away as she had no major injuries, and she only missed a day of school. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/visualizing-pi/ Wed, 14 Mar 2012 12:00:05 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/visualizing-pi/ Happy Pi Day! This week&#8217;s infographic takes a look at visualizing the number pi from a variety of angles. &nbsp; https://www.techpoweredmath.com/lua-scripting-demo-tinspire-3-2/ Mon, 12 Mar 2012 11:57:53 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/lua-scripting-demo-tinspire-3-2/ As I mentioned in my previous post, TI-Nspire 3.2 has Lua scripting support. While I&#8217;m no programming guru (pretty much limited to GW-Basic and Fortran), I know there are a lot of people who will be excited about the opportunity to program with Lua for the Nspire. There are also a lot of people like myself who will be interested in using what others develop. Video demo follows. The first 10 seconds or so are pretty shaky (sorry), but if you hang in there, it gets better fast. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/infographic-gre-vs-old-gre/ Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:00:10 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/infographic-gre-vs-old-gre/ Thinking of taking the GRE? Check out Kaplan test prep. They offer proven prep classes for the new GRE in both classroom and online formats for all levels of budgets. What is the Difference Between the New GRE and the Old GRE? This week&#8217;s infographic is about the changes made to the new GRE vs. the old GRE. If you are thinking of going to grad school, you need to be aware of these changes. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/new-ipad-education/ Wed, 07 Mar 2012 23:23:01 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/new-ipad-education/ The much awaited iPad 3 was announced today, but apparently it&#8217;s not called iPad 3 after all. Instead, it&#8217;s the &#8221; new iPad.&#8221; Apple seems to want to break with the practice of incremental numbering of their iPads. I can understand the logic (do we really want to talk about the iPad 11 down the road?) but still hope there&#8217;ll be a simple way to keep the generations straight going forward. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/vernier-labquest2-sneak-peak/ Tue, 06 Mar 2012 14:09:58 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/vernier-labquest2-sneak-peak/ While the T3 conference was all about the latest Texas Instruments tools and techniques, there was an exhibition floor with representatives and gadgets from other companies as well. One of the most noteworthy was Vernier, a company that both makes products that work in tandem with TI technologies as well as their own standalone technologies. Vernier focuses on data collection sensors, everything from simple digital thermometers to near frictionless sleds, that are designed to let students collect and analyze real data. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-os-3-2-demo/ Mon, 05 Mar 2012 18:02:09 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-os-3-2-demo/ I&#8217;m going to have stories continuing to trickle out of my time at T3 in Chicago for a while. Along with the announcement of Mayim Bialik as their new spokesperson, the folks at TI had another big announcement, TI-Nspire OS 3.2 is on the way. There are three very noteworthy improvements that come with OS 3.2. First, graphing with conic sections is finally available. This is one of the few remaining things that was fairly simple to do on the TI-84 (via an app) but impossible on the TI-Nspire. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/arrival-chicago-for-t3/ Sat, 03 Mar 2012 04:31:55 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/arrival-chicago-for-t3/ I arrived in Chicago for Texas Instruments&#8217; T3 convention a few hours ago and immediately headed off to a very nice VIP cocktail hour. Of course, Mayim Bialik was in attendance, and I did have an opportunity to briefly exchange pleasantries. As you can imagine, just about everyone wants to talk to her, so she&#8217;s very much in demand. I will have an opportunity to do a short interview with her tomorrow, and I&#8217;m looking forward to asking her more about her decision to become a spokesperson for Texas Instruments and what she hopes to accomplish via that partnership. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-t3-conference-coverage/ Fri, 02 Mar 2012 12:00:23 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-t3-conference-coverage/ A last minute scheduling change means that I will be in Chicago for Texas Instruments&#8217; T3 International Conference this weekend. While I don&#8217;t know all that I&#8217;ll be doing at the conference, my contacts at TI have shared with me a couple of interesting items to report in advance of my arrival in Chicago. Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik First, TI has secured a major star to attend the conference. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/stem-major-reasons/ Thu, 01 Mar 2012 15:12:57 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/stem-major-reasons/ It&#8217;s time for another edition of Infographic Thursdays. Today&#8217;s topic: Why are students majoring in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)? As always, your comments are on this topic are encouraged below the graphic. &nbsp; https://www.techpoweredmath.com/happy-birthday-tinspire-cx/ Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:00:09 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/happy-birthday-tinspire-cx/ The TI-Nspire CX is an amazing but still underused tool for math educators. If you didn&#8217;t realize it, this past Saturday marked the one year anniversary of the public announcement of the TI-Nspire CX, Texas Instruments&#8217; full color graphing calculator. For those of you just learning about it, you might enjoy reading my TI-Nspire CX review, or even the story where I broke the announcement of the TI-Nspire CX right here on Tech Powered Math. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ibooks-vs-textbooks/ Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:00:23 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ibooks-vs-textbooks/ For the foreseeable future, I&#8217;m planning a new segment called &#8220;Infographic Thursdays,&#8221; where I post an infographic on a topic related to math, education, technology, or some combination of the three. Today, the graphic is on Apple&#8217;s iBooks vs. traditional paper textbooks, and as you&#8217;ll see, there is some question as to the economics that Apple is claiming. Incidentally, I&#8217;ve only started looking into Apple&#8217;s iBooks. Whether it lives up to Apple&#8217;s claims of economics may be up for a debate, but at a minimum, Apple is once again leading a debate about where technology is headed. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/graphing-calculators-mathematics-competitions/ Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:00:53 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/graphing-calculators-mathematics-competitions/ As it is once again math competition season in my part of the world, I thought it would be nice to do a post on graphing calculators and mathematics competitions. While I realize this post may only appeal to a small segments of my readers, it is something I&#8217;m passionate about, and it may be helpful for new math team coaches out there. I do feel as though I can speak from a position of some authority on this subject. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/microsoft-pc-presidents-day-deals/ Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:24:38 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/microsoft-pc-presidents-day-deals/ If you missed out on the some of the great deals on computers that were around at Christmas time, you can get in on the President&#8217;s Day deal through the Microsoft store this weekend. Starting today, they are offering $150 off their entire lineup of Windows PCs. This deal only goes through Monday, February 20th, so you do have to hustle to take advantage. Click here to get $150 off of any PC at the Microsoft store. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/send-graphing-valentine/ Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:32:26 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/send-graphing-valentine/ Because nothing says &#8220;I Love You&#8221; like a graph, the guys over at A Better Calculator (Desmos) have developed a way for you to send a Valentine to your loved one via their online graphing calculator. I&#8217;ve already sent one off to my wife, who will no doubt laugh at what a dork I am (while probably melting just a little inside as well). It&#8217;s only here for a short time, so check it out here. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/infographic-can-tech-save-education/ Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:56:27 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/infographic-can-tech-save-education/ Amazing infographic from OnlineEducation.net. I&#8217;d love to hear all of your thoughts. Can Apple save education? And how do other technology companies such as Google, Microsoft, Wolfram, etc., fit into the equation. This is an important conversation. Please comment below and share this post with your friends who care about the future of education. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/free-math-resources/ Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:00:21 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/free-math-resources/ For the last few weeks, I&#8217;ve been scouring the web with Google, listening to reader suggestions, and searching through others&#8217; lists of resources, trying to find the top free math resources online. I was not surprised to learn that there are a ton of free math resources out there. Sorting through them has been no small task, and while I&#8217;d love to pretend this list is all-inclusive, I&#8217;d be a liar if I tried to make that claim for a number of reasons. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/contest-win-3-month-membership-mathblaster-com/ Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:34:31 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/contest-win-3-month-membership-mathblaster-com/ UPDATE: The contest has ended. The random.org random number generator selected Marianna Ballard as the winner. Congratulations, Marianna! Thanks to everyone who entered. I am planning to make contests a more regular part of Tech Powered Math, so be sure to follow on Facebook or Twitter to stay up to date on my giveaways. &nbsp; I recently reviewed MathBlaster.com and was incredibly impressed by the scope and variety of the games as well as the professional polish and fun factor. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/mathblaster-com-review/ Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:45:30 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/mathblaster-com-review/ While I barely remember it today, the original Math Blaster, released in the late 1980&#8217;s was a popular game designed to teach kids math that showed up in the computers at my elementary school and countless others. The Math Blaster series has continued to be popular for over two decades. Today, Knowledge Adventure handles the franchise and offered me the opportunity to take a look at the latest incarnation of Math Blaster at MathBlaster. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/iphone-calculator-app-giveaway-january-2012/ Tue, 24 Jan 2012 02:43:56 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/iphone-calculator-app-giveaway-january-2012/ UPDATE: The contest has ended. Twitter winners @sunian314 @hasama36 @matt1888a and @tsclausing. Facebook winner was Jacob Petefish. You will need to follow me on Twitter or friend me on Facebook to receive your prize code via private message. &nbsp; I recently reviewed AbleMath, a new graphing calculator for the iPhone/iPod touch. The creators of AbleMath have generously offered 10 copies of AbleMath for me to give away here at Tech Powered Math, which I am doing in this contest. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ablemath-graphing-calculator-app-review/ Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:00:58 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ablemath-graphing-calculator-app-review/ Device: iPhone Function: Graphing Calculator Ages: High school and up I haven&#8217;t taken a look at a graphing calculator app since my old review of the top 6 calculator apps for the iPhone. However, at the request of the developers at AbleMath, I hopped on over the App Store to see what their new AbleMath Graphing Calculator can do. What I Like About AbleMath AbleMath offers some features that I haven&#8217;t seen in other iPhone calculators. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-riemann-sums/ Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:35:19 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-riemann-sums/ In preparation for AP Calculus the other day, I was struggling with how to get the TI-Nspire to work Riemann sums as easily as the TI-84 does, since we typically use a program on the 84. After some time, I had come to the conclusion I&#8217;d either have to write a program myself or just accept the fact that it wouldn&#8217;t be as simple as it is with the TI-84. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/suggest-free-math-resources/ Fri, 13 Jan 2012 01:21:35 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/suggest-free-math-resources/ UPDATE: My list of free math resources is now complete. I&#8217;m putting together a list of free math resources you can access online, and I&#8217;m inviting all Tech Powered Math readers to participate in making the list. I&#8217;m not sure yet if this will be a top 10, top 20, or even top 100 list. It&#8217;ll depend on how much participation I get from all of you. You can suggest resources to me in a variety of ways. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/algebrator-reviews/ Thu, 12 Jan 2012 02:26:54 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/algebrator-reviews/ Click here to get the best price on Algebrator by Softmath. The last few days I&#8217;ve been playing around with Softmath&#8217;s product for helping students learn algebra: Algebrator. There seems to be a lot of curiosity about this product, so I wanted to do an Algebrator review to let my readers know what the product about. As of the writing of this review, it costs $58.99, a reasonable cost for software of this type, but enough that you&#8217;ll probably want to know a little more about the software before investing in it. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/best-math-technologies/ Fri, 06 Jan 2012 01:30:21 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/best-math-technologies/ I’ve been thinking about the technologies that pushed the way we use and learn mathematics forward the most over the history of man. Here are my picks for the top 10 in the order they were invented. I’m not a historian, so take it for what it’s worth, and I’ll warn you that I almost entirely relied on Wikipedia for historical information. In other words, this is not a research paper. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/christmath-miracle-canned-food-drive/ Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:18:55 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/christmath-miracle-canned-food-drive/ Jimmy Stewart has nothing on my 4th hour calculus class. Every year at my school the math department does a canned food drive to get food for the local food pantry in our town. It&#8217;s become a really big deal; we&#8217;ve been told it provides enough food to stock the pantry for several months. As an incentive to the students, we offer them a little extra credit for the first 15 cans they bring in (5 points, which translates to roughly a 1% bump in their grade). https://www.techpoweredmath.com/top-5-calculator-hacks-time/ Mon, 12 Dec 2011 23:34:11 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/top-5-calculator-hacks-time/ UPDATE: A couple of days after this post originally went up, I was made aware of a new hack that deserved inclusion on this list, expanding it to a top 6. Probably every single student (and just about every teacher) who has picked up a graphing calculator has asked themselves how far the technology can be pushed. What are the limits of a graphing calculator? Without much encouragement from Texas Instruments (actually quite the opposite), a dedicated hacker community has developed over the last few decades to attempt to answer this question. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/reflex-math-review/ Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:50:22 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/reflex-math-review/ Over the last couple of weeks, I&#8217;ve been looking at a system called Reflex Math, designed to help kids learn arithmetic facts. The stated goal of Reflex Math is to gain &#8220;math fact fluency.&#8221; Reflex is designed to help students achieve fluency through an interactive system of games and puzzles. Egyptian Conniption Reflex is a cloud based system, meaning there&#8217;s nothing to download to your computer. As long as you have an up-to-date browser, Reflex runs right in that browser. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/leapfrog-deals-christmas-2011/ Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:47:54 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/leapfrog-deals-christmas-2011/ LeapFrog LeapPad Tablet I know the Leappad is turning out to be a really hot math gift this Christmas. Leapfrog is offering a lot of great deals on their website this Christmas, including specials on the Leappad. I&#8217;m going to continue to try to keep this page updated with the latest Leapfrog offers (there are new ones all the time). The deals include free shipping, percent off discounts and more. Here are the latest offers, including a &#8220;Cyber Monday is back&#8221; special. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/big-kid-firefighter-app-review/ Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:00:11 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/big-kid-firefighter-app-review/ Devices: iPad, iPhone Topics covered: Numbers, letters, shapes, and basic spelling and arithmetic Cost: $2.99 (but free for a limited time) Ages: 4-7 Big Kid Life Fire Fighter is the second app I&#8217;ve had a chance to look at by Fingerprint Digital, a new educational app company. Previously, I looked at Fingerprint Play Maker. Big Kid Fire Fighter is a very different app, and quite a bit more complex. Like other Fingerprint apps, you have the ability to check your child&#8217;s progress via the parent center at any time, and you and your child can send voice or text messages of encouragement back and forth. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/fingerprint-playmaker-app-review/ Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:00:53 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/fingerprint-playmaker-app-review/ Devices: iPad Topics covered: Numbers, letters, shapes, and basic spelling and arithmetic Cost:[ $2.99 (but free for a limited time)][1] Ages: 4-8 A brand new app in the iOS Appstore that I&#8217;ve had the opportunity to take a look at over the last week is Play Maker, by Fingerprint. Fingerprint is a new player in the educational app market. They were founded former LeapFrog executive Nancy MacIntyre. Having had the chance to look at a couple of launch titles for Fingerprint, I&#8217;d have to say the thing that sets them apart from other apps I&#8217;ve looked at is the level of customization and interaction for parents. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/fingerprint-digital-apps-nancy-mcintyre/ Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:00:45 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/fingerprint-digital-apps-nancy-mcintyre/ This week a new app company, Fingerprint Digital, has gone public with a series of educational apps targeted towards children between the ages of 3 and 8. The company was founded by Nancy MacIntyre, a former Leapfrog executive who saw the opportunity to create a platform for a network of edutainment apps within iOS. Fingerprint is aiming to make a splash with the new apps by giving away $1,000,000 worth of downloads of their apps (valued at $2. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/microsoft-store-black-friday-deals/ Thu, 24 Nov 2011 12:52:50 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/microsoft-store-black-friday-deals/ Among the litany of Black Friday deals, Microsoft is kicking off the holidays with some pretty amazing special deals as well at the online Microsoft Store. All of these deals begin today (Thanksgiving) and most run through the end of the holiday weekend on November 28. They should appeal to teachers and students alike as they include an Asus Netbook for under $200 and Microsoft Office market down significantly from its regular price. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/wolfram-alpha-adds-flight-data/ Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:31:22 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/wolfram-alpha-adds-flight-data/ Have you ever looked for a simple way to track a flight someone you know is on? It&#8217;s not always as to find that in-flight data as you might think, particularly if you are looking for a way to do so on the go. The ever popular Wolfram Alpha has added flight data. With roughly a 10 minute data delay, you can see where any flight is currently located. The Wolfram Alpha blog has demonstrated both how this can be used for tracking the flights that you have friends, family, or colleagues on as well as used to track yourself in flight. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-algebra-formulas-document/ Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:00:53 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-algebra-formulas-document/ This TI-Nspire document has a number of formulas that are useful for algebra. In it you will find formulas for exponents, factoring, the equation of a line, and general formulas such as midpoint, distance, and slope. As with all TI-Nspire documents, it will work on any version of the calculator including TI-Nspire grayscale or CX and TI-Nspire CAS or non-CAS. If you find this document to be useful, be sure to like it on Facebook. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/casio-prizm-workshop-chicago-2011/ Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:46:34 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/casio-prizm-workshop-chicago-2011/ While Texas Instruments&#8217; T3 workshops tend to get a lot of publicity, if you are a teacher using Casio products, you should know that the Casio team is also striving to provide professional development opportunities for teachers. In particular, they are working towards helping teachers learn how to teach with the Casio Prizm (review) color graphing calculator. If you are in the Midwest and use Casio products, you should consider signing up for a Prizm workshop being held on December 10, 2011, from 8:30-11:30 a. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-t3-registration-2012-chicago/ Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:00:08 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-t3-registration-2012-chicago/ Texas Instruments has opened registration for their annual T3 International Conference. The conference dates are March 2-March 4, 2012. The conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago. T3 conferences feature professional development on the latest Texas Instruments technology from the TI-Nspire CX to the TI-Voyage 200. Having attended the T3 International Conference back in 2007, I can tell you that it&#8217;s a first class event. You get to hear from world class speakers, who share all kinds of ideas about how to utilize technology in the classroom. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/red-ribbon-week/ Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:37:00 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/red-ribbon-week/ So if you haven&#8217;t heard, it&#8217;s Red Ribbon Week, which is a time for students to celebrate a drug free lifestyle. It&#8217;s observed at many high schools across America, including the one I work at. For 2011, the theme of Red Ribbon is &#8220;Free to Be Drug Free.&#8221; Part of Red Ribbon Week at our school is a door decorating contest. With no prompting from me, my 5th hour Pre-Calculus class decided to turn the door into a TI-Nspire CX. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-trigonometry-formulas-document/ Tue, 25 Oct 2011 18:48:38 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-trigonometry-formulas-document/ The first formula sheet document I am releasing for the TI-Nspire is one for trigonometry formulas. There are quite a few trig identities for students to memorize, so I hope this will serve as a good reference for you. This file will work for any up-to-date version of the TI-Nspire, including CAS or non-CAS, CX or grayscale. The table of contents follows below. Click here to get my TI-Nspire Trig Formulas Document. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-formula-cheat-sheets/ Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:16:23 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-formula-cheat-sheets/ Over the next few weeks, I&#8217;m going to be releasing a series of TI-Nspire formula &#8220;cheat sheets.&#8221; Of course, cheat sheet is just a nickname for this kind of document, don&#8217;t actually use them to cheat. Having the formulas on your graphing calculator can serve as a very valuable study guide when you are either trying to memorize the formulas or to use as a reference when working on practice problems. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/buy-motorola-xoom-family-edition/ Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:00:15 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/buy-motorola-xoom-family-edition/ The Motorola Xoom Family Edition is only available at Best Buy. Click here to buy the Motorola Xoom at Bestbuy.com. The tablet wars continue and are especially heating up in the student segment. To be a student friendly tablet, the device needs to be both easy to use and affordable, and having a few extra kid &#8220;perks&#8221; doesn&#8217;t hurt either. With that in mind, Motorola has released the Motorola Xoom Family Edition. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ios-5-review/ Tue, 18 Oct 2011 13:30:38 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ios-5-review/ I was among the thousands that found it extremely difficult to update my iPad to iOS 5. There was a time last Friday when it was basically a coaster. After struggling with it for a few hours, I was able to make the upgrade work, and it is a nice improvement. I wanted to get up a quick post to highlight a few of the features I&#8217;m enjoying. Having been an Android user for a couple of years, I am a little surprised how long it took for iOS to get some of the features it now has in version 5. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ios-5-crash-burn/ Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:12:06 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ios-5-crash-burn/ I expected to have a post up by now reveling in the glory of iOS 5 for my iPad, since it appears to have some features that would be pretty darn nice for both students and teachers. Unfortunately, my iOS 5 upgrade has been a major fail to this point. After hours of downloading, iTunes succeeded in wiping iOS 4 right off of my iPad 2 and promptly crashing it, meaning I had absolutely nothing on the iPad. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/sad-farewell-steve-jobs/ Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:00:59 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/sad-farewell-steve-jobs/ I was sitting in a church meeting on Wednesday night when I received a jarring text from my wife with the news that Apple founder Steve Jobs had died. From a 3rd grader using an Apple IIe to a teacher using an iPad 2, the company Jobs founded has had a profound impact on my educational experience. While I&#8217;m not an Apple fanboy, I am certainly an Apple admirer, and I have especially admired what Jobs did with with his time at Apple. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ipad-textbooks/ Thu, 06 Oct 2011 13:00:54 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ipad-textbooks/ More and more schools are looking at adopting the iPad. College students are using the tablet as a device that can bring together gaming, social, and academics. Teachers are picking them up as device that&#8217;s simpler to transport to and from school than a laptop. With the iPad increasingly being seen as a technology that fits well with academics, the question naturally turns to the question of textbooks on the iPad. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/iphone-4s-announced-ios-5-arrives-week/ Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:00:02 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/iphone-4s-announced-ios-5-arrives-week/ Click here to order the new Apple iPhone 4S. The much anticipated iPhone 5 press conference was today, but to the surprise of many, the iPhone 5 was not announced. Instead, Apple&#8217;s new phone is the iPhone 4S. This appears to be a more modest update than many people were hoping for. Instead of a full makeover, the changes are more subtle. There&#8217;s new dual core processor and voice control (catching up with Android). https://www.techpoweredmath.com/virtual-nerd-school-sale/ Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:00:58 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/virtual-nerd-school-sale/ Virtual Nerd is offering fantastic back to school 2011 program. The discounts go all the way up to 61% off for a 3-month package of tutoring. If you haven&#8217;t heard about them, I encourage you to read my Virtual Nerd review. They have a really slick user interface that goes beyond what other online math tutoring services offer. Here are the sale prices. Click here to visit Virtual Nerd and take advantage of these special prices while they last. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-navigator-networked-computers/ Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:01:55 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-navigator-networked-computers/ Texas Instruments has just announced a major update to their TI-Nspire Navigator system to allow Navigator to work with schools in a one-to-one computing environment. As was the case with the TI-Nspire CX, Texas Instruments was willing to fill me in on the details of the new Navigator system prior to today&#8217;s press release. Last Friday, TI-Nspire captain Mark Fry talked with me what the new Navigator system is capable of. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/supposed-ti-36x-pro-error/ Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:51:57 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/supposed-ti-36x-pro-error/ Got an uncharacteristic number of hits on the site yesterday for the search &#8220;TI-36X Pro&#8221; yesterday and couldn&#8217;t figure out why until I saw a post on another site and a Youtube video about a &#8220;bug&#8221; in the TI-36X Pro. I&#8217;m not going to post the links to those sites in part because the author of the complaint has needlessly chosen to remain anonymous and because the article itself never explains the error and is confusing a lot of people. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/mathcounts-reel-math-challenge/ Thu, 29 Sep 2011 13:00:36 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/mathcounts-reel-math-challenge/ MATHCOUNTS, a foundation best known for their nationwide popular middle school math contests, has announced the start of a new math challenge for students. The new contest, known as the Reel Math Challenge, is quite different from traditional math contests, which typically focus on written or oral exam questions. With the Reel Math Challenge, student teams of four create a math video designed around a problem. The video needs to teach viewers about the problem and demonstrate a real world application of the concept involved. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/amazon-kindle-fire/ Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:29:56 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/amazon-kindle-fire/ Click here to pre-order the Kindle Fire at Amazon.com Amazon ended months of speculation about their plans for a tablet when they announced the Kindle Fire. The Fire is a 7-inch tablet built less with designs on knocking off the iPad and more with the intent of expanding Amazon&#8217;s current advantage in the e-reader sphere, and certainly going after the Nook. The Kindle Fire is an Android tablet that has WIFI, but no camera, microphone, or 3G. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/text-tutor-app/ Tue, 27 Sep 2011 13:00:03 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/text-tutor-app/ Device: Android Phones Grade Level: Pre-Algebra through Calculus Cost: App is free, but must purchase credits to use One of the most interesting new math education apps I&#8217;ve seen in recent weeks is not for the iPad but for Android. It&#8217;s called Text a Tutor, and it allows you to receive help on math problems from tutors via your phone. I was somewhat skeptical when I was contacted by the publishers of the app, but their FAQ addressed many of my questions and concerns. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/amazon-tablet-announcement-wednesday/ Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:00:27 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/amazon-tablet-announcement-wednesday/ UPDATE (9/28/11) The new tablet has been announced as the Kindle Fire. For almost a year, there have been rumors that Amazon is working towards a goal of a tablet. Numerous sources have revealed that Amazon is holding a press conference on Wednesday. The speculation is that Amazon will be announcing its new tablet at that time. Of course, Amazon already has a tablet, and a very popular one, the Kindle. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/free-shipping-leapfrog-leappad-tablet/ Fri, 23 Sep 2011 13:00:17 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/free-shipping-leapfrog-leappad-tablet/ LeapFrog LeapPad Explorer Tablet LeapFrog is offering free shipping on their popular new tablet for kids, the LeapPad Explorer when you buy a bundle that includes games. If you&#8217;re not familiar with the LeapPad, it brings many popular iPad features like apps, games, microphone, and camera to kids in a more rugged and affordable manner. Games can be purchased in traditional cartridges or downloaded as apps by having the tablet connect to your computer. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-t3-webinar-2011/ Thu, 22 Sep 2011 17:57:48 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-t3-webinar-2011/ Earlier this week, Texas Instruments announced a fall series of free webinars for educators. The series is a part of their T3 program (Teachers Teaching with Technology). The webinars are about an hour long each and are going to be available on demand after their original broadcast. You can get a certificate of attendance that might be applicable towards professional development hours in some states. Looking at the schedule of T3 Webinars, Texas Instruments continues to make the drive towards moving from the TI-84 platform to the TI-Nspire platform. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/kaplan-act-sat-review-discount-code/ Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:00:20 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/kaplan-act-sat-review-discount-code/ UPDATE: Since this post, I&rsquo;ve done full Kaplan ACT &amp; SAT Prep review. Kaplan has announced they are discounting their &#8220;Classroom Anywhere&#8221; classes for ACT and SAT prep in September and October. It is a $100 discount from their normal cost of $499. The discount ends on October, so you must enroll by October 31 to take advantage of the special price. You will also need to follow the link above and use the discount code &#8220;100AW&#8221; to get the discount. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nxtapp-4-kids/ Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:00:29 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nxtapp-4-kids/ Devices: iPad, iPhone Grades: Elementary Cost: $.99 After recently reviewing NxtApp for the iPad, I wanted to give another app by Icon a try, NxtApp 4 Kids. NxtApp 4 Kids was actually their first app, which has turned out to be very popular. It&#8217;s easy to see why it&#8217;s a hit. The same game play I enjoyed on NxtApp is featured on NxtApp 4 Kids, but with a few differences that make it more age appropriate for younger kids. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/desmos-online-graphing-calculator-upgrade/ Mon, 19 Sep 2011 13:00:49 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/desmos-online-graphing-calculator-upgrade/ It&#8217;s been a couple of months since my original review of the Desmos graphing calculator. Desmos CEO Eli Luberoff was dropped me a line to let me know that his team has been hard at work, adding many of the features I was hopeful would show up soon after I wrote my original review. The calculator is so chocked full of features now that it&#8217;s honestly hard to keep track of which ones showed up when, so my apologies to the Desmos team if anything I mention was available prior to these latest upgrades. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/halloween-math/ Thu, 15 Sep 2011 01:34:49 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/halloween-math/ Here&#8217;s hoping all of you math teachers (and home school parents) out there have a very spooky Halloween with your classes. I know it&#8217;s one of the favorite holidays for many kids. I also wanted to alert you to a set of Halloween activity sheets that might help you out this Halloween season. Kids Halloween Activities is a set of printable math games and activities that is perfect for any elementary or middle school teacher or homeschooler. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/worlds-largest-proof-wins-prize/ Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:00:28 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/worlds-largest-proof-wins-prize/ I need to start this story with a disclaimer. While I learned a bit about groups during my abstract algebra class in my junior year of college, that class was definitely very abstract to me. In other words, I&#8217;m unlikely to be able to answer any questions in the comments for this one. That said, the story of one of the men behind the world&#8217;s largest proof on the New Scientist is an interesting one. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hmh-fuse-app-common-core/ Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:00:51 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hmh-fuse-app-common-core/ HMH Fuse, the innovative textbook from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, now has more editions. Previously, HMH Fuse had both Algebra I and Geometry textbooks. Jump on over to the app store now, and you will find the Common Core editions of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt&#8217;s Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II textbooks have been added to the lineup, bring the grand total of HMH Fuse titles to five. As was the case with the first two textbooks, you can find a full chapter available free to try out. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/doceri-app/ Fri, 09 Sep 2011 13:00:46 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/doceri-app/ Device: iPad Cost: Free App, $50 for software license for computer Grade Level: Any, app is designed for teachers This year, my school finally equipped my room with a Smart Board. As such, my interest in virtual whiteboards in education has increased quite a bit, so has my curiosity about alternatives. One such alternative is the Doceri app for the iPad. Essentially, Doceri turns your iPad into a remote screen for your computer. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nxtapp-ipad-review/ Thu, 08 Sep 2011 13:00:32 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nxtapp-ipad-review/ Devices: iPad, iPhone Cost: $.99 Grade Level: Upper elementary through high school Here&#8217;s a simple but surprisingly fun app. NxtApp is aptly named. Your job is simply to solve the next number in a sequence of numbers. The app classifies the sequences as Add or Subtract, Multiply or Divide, Powers, and combinations of the previous categories. As a Pre-Calculus teacher, I feel like my students should be pretty comfortable with concepts like arithmetic and geometric sequences as well as simple sequences generated by quadratic equations before they ever make it to my class (at least informally). https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-os-3-1-release/ Wed, 07 Sep 2011 18:29:19 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-os-3-1-release/ Just got off the phone with a customer service representative at Texas Instruments headquarters in Dallas. I was trying to get help for a problem with press-to-test mode that&#8217;s plagued several of my students&#8217; calculators already this year. Basically, taking the calculator out of press-to-test mode can, in some cases, cause a bootup error (you will know it if you see it by a triangle with an exclamation point). I&#8217;ve seen this happen three times so far this school year, always to older grayscale Nspires on OS 3. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/screenchomp-app/ Wed, 07 Sep 2011 13:00:55 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/screenchomp-app/ Device: iPad Grades: Elementary and up, especially targeted at teachers Cost: Free Here&#8217;s an app I got really excited about when I first realized what it was capable of. ScreenChomp is a very simple concept that&#8217;s actually quite powerful. It turns your iPad into a digital whiteboard, capable of recording not just what you draw on the iPad, but also the audio of what you are saying. While that&#8217;s nice enough, it&#8217;s what you can do with the video that&#8217;s very exciting. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/motion-math-zoom-ipad-app/ Tue, 06 Sep 2011 13:00:51 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/motion-math-zoom-ipad-app/ Device: iPad Grade Levels: Elementary through Middle School Cost: $3.99 A recent math app release that caught my eye for younger students trying to understand the number line and place value is Motion Math Zoom. This app is simple in its design but works on a lot of levels. The premise is simple enough to begin. You start with a number that has a frog sitting at each whole number location on the line. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/sketchpad-explorer-app/ Mon, 05 Sep 2011 13:38:11 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/sketchpad-explorer-app/ Device: iPad Cost: $3.99 (but free until Oct. 31, 2011) Grades: 3rd-College From the maker of Geometer&#8217;s Sketchpad, Key Curriculum Press, comes a new geometry app, Sketchpad Explorer. If you&#8217;ve ever used Geometer&#8217;s Sketchpad, you&#8217;ll feel right at home on Sketchpad Explorer. To completely oversimplify, Geometer&#8217;s Sketchpad is a piece of software that allows you to do geometric constructions. Create a rectangle by defining four right angles, the drag the corner with the mouse, and you can see an infinite number of examples of rectangles. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/virtual-nerd-boot-camp/ Fri, 02 Sep 2011 13:23:19 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/virtual-nerd-boot-camp/ Virtual Nerd is holding what they&#8217;re calling a boot camp, to help kids start of the school year right. The idea is that kids may have lost some of their math skills over the summer and by exercising those brains, students will get back into shape. It&#8217;s a five week program that starts with an assessment quiz to determine where the student&#8217;s current strengths and weakness are. You then get a 5 week program designed to help you improve your skills, complete with their Dynamic Whiteboard, videos, and practice problems. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ipad-app-week/ Thu, 01 Sep 2011 13:26:09 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ipad-app-week/ In honor of the arrival of my iPad 2, Labor Day will mark the start of iPad App week here at Tech Powered Math. I&#8217;ll be reviewing a different math/education app each day for the week of September 5, so be sure to check in each day. If you haven&#8217;t subscribed yet, you can do so through the Facebook, Twitter, or RSS icons at the top of the screen. I&#8217;m going to try to get a mix of different levels from elementary school through high school, so I hope there will be something for everyone. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hp-12c-special-edition-hp-15c-re-release/ Thu, 01 Sep 2011 10:37:44 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hp-12c-special-edition-hp-15c-re-release/ UPDATE: (9/1/11) I&#8217;d be lying if I said it wasn&#8217;t tough waiting for confirmation on this story. When I originally reported it all the ay back on April 17, I assumed I&#8217;d barely beat the rush of posts on other blogs and message boards. Instead, for the first couple of months, I was out there by myself, as there was no news whatsoever. Today, however, I&#8217;m pleased to say official confirmation has finally come from HP, pretty much exactly as I originally reported it, other than a delay on the timeline. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/free-prizm-math-challenge/ Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:50:19 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/free-prizm-math-challenge/ Casio is sending students back to school with a couple of cool contests on Facebook that offer the opportunity to win cool prizes, including the Casio Prizm graphing calculator. The first is the Casio Prizm Sweepstakes. Simply like this page on Facebook, and you&#8217;ll be entered to win. The winner gets a graphing calculator kit autographed by Mythbusters Kari Byron and Grant Imahara, most likely signed during their special appearance on behalf of the Prizm at the NCTM meeting in Indianapolis. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/dell-inspiron-n4030-deal/ Tue, 30 Aug 2011 20:10:14 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/dell-inspiron-n4030-deal/ I know there are a lot of people doing their back to school shopping right now, and for many of you that includes a new computer. I just came across this deal that I wanted to pass along, which the best one I&#8217;ve seen so far this school year. The Microsoft Store is offering the Dell Inspire N4030 for $399. No word on how long this one will last, just that it&#8217;s a &#8220;limited time offer. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/buy-speak-and-math-spell/ Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:29:44 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/buy-speak-and-math-spell/ Buy Speak and Math on Ebay. After my look at Texas Instruments Little Professor a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to also give a shout out to another educational toy from my childhood, TI&#8217;s Speak and Math and Speak and Spell games. These games came a long a few years after the Little Professor, so they are a little more advanced, as you might expect. The most noteworthy differences between these games and the Little Professor are that they are much bigger and, as the name suggests, they speak to you. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nintendo-ds-math-games/ Thu, 25 Aug 2011 13:12:51 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nintendo-ds-math-games/ Please buy your Nintendo 3DS on Amazon and get free shipping! Video games have been a popular way for parents to encourage kids to learn math for a couple of decades now. It&#8217;s easy to see why. Today&#8217;s kids don&#8217;t remember a time before even portable game systems, and it&#8217;s often hard to pry those systems out of their hands. The Nintendo DS seems to especially have especially caught on as a system for educational games. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/beau-math-dog/ Tue, 23 Aug 2011 13:24:23 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/beau-math-dog/ While a number of news outlets have reported on Beau, the dog who can do math, the Missoulian is one of the few to have a complete story and video up (which is at the bottom of this article). The owner of Beau claims to have taught him how to do simple addition and subtraction as well as a few story problems and even scoring for some games. Beau just indicates his answers with barks. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/sketchpad-explorer-ipad-app-free/ Tue, 23 Aug 2011 01:23:06 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/sketchpad-explorer-ipad-app-free/ I wanted to let you all know that I&#8217;ve just heard from Key Curriculum Press, maker of the very popular Geometer&#8217;s Sketchpad software. They have released a new app for the iPad called Sketchpad Explorer. Sketchpad Explorer offers users access to a large amount of Geometer&#8217;s Sketchpad material on the web. I&#8217;m planning an &#8220;App Week&#8221; for Tech Powered Math very soon, so a Sketchpad Explorer review is on the docket. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hp-discontinue-calculator-division/ Sun, 21 Aug 2011 14:54:28 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hp-discontinue-calculator-division/ Will an HP exit leave TI and Casio as the last graphing calculator makers? Last week&#8217;s announcement that HP was shutting down WebOS may have significant consequences in the mathematics community. The original shock was that the TouchPad has been eliminated from HP&#8217;s plans just a couple of months after its launch, with a national advertising campaign still going on (at least as of this weekend). But read beyond the headlines at all, and you&#8217;ll realize that this announcement was far more significant. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/mental-math/ Sun, 21 Aug 2011 01:31:48 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/mental-math/ Mental math is one of those skills you either love to show off or dread that you might be forced to use in public. It doesn&#8217;t matter whether you are 8 years old or 48 years old. We all know mental math skills are important. You don&#8217;t want to pull out your calculator for every arithmetic fact you come up against. And yet, for some people, mental math just doesn&#8217;t come naturally. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ipad-turkish-schools-touchpad-dies/ Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:02:07 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ipad-turkish-schools-touchpad-dies/ Apparently, this tablet thing is really taking off. While I expected tablets, specifically the iPad, to make significant inroads in schools this year, I have to admit I&#8217;m surprised by the volume of stories on tablets in school already this year, specifically the iPad, of course. The latest news has Apple, Intel, and Microsoft all competing over a 15 million tablet deal to make their popular devices for kids in Turkey. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/mcgraw-hill-this-math-art-contest/ Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:00:08 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/mcgraw-hill-this-math-art-contest/ Textbook publisher McGraw-Hill is sponsoring a contest with $174,000 of prizes on the line called, &#8220;This Is My Math.&#8221; Starting on September 15, teachers of K-5 students can submit their students math artwork. Notably, the artwork must be submitted in digital form. The kids have a chance to explain their artwork, which is a pretty significant factor in the judging&#8211;40%. Contest entries must be submitted by October 29. Beginning on November 11, the public can vote on their favorite entries. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/google-doodle-celebrates-fermats-birthday/ Wed, 17 Aug 2011 12:02:47 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/google-doodle-celebrates-fermats-birthday/ Fermat&rsquo;s famous quote, paraphrased in a 21st century context Google is celebrating Pierre De Fermat&#8217;s birthday with one of the trademark Doodles. The Doodle features a blackboard with Fermat&#8217;s Last Theorem. If you&#8217;re not familiar with the story of Fermat&#8217;s famous theorem, it&#8217;s a good one. To oversimplify, Fermat claimed in one of his notebooks that if you took the Pythagorean theorem and substituted larger integers than two for the exponents, there were no &#8220;non-trivial&#8221; integer solutions to the problem. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/educational-implications-google-acquiring-motorola/ Tue, 16 Aug 2011 21:34:46 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/educational-implications-google-acquiring-motorola/ Google grabbed headlines yesterday with the announcement that they would be paying a whopping $12.5 billion for Motorola. Here&#8217;s the story from the Associated Press. This acquisition will potentially have a big impact on educators down the road as tablets continue to make inroads in schools. It sets the stage for Google and Apple to move into an all out brawl between Android and iOS as they struggle for control of the mobile space of phones and tablets. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/teacher-discounts-ti-nspire-cx/ Mon, 15 Aug 2011 21:54:15 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/teacher-discounts-ti-nspire-cx/ For the next two weeks, Texas Instruments is giving teachers a $50 discount on the TI-Nspire CX. You&#8217;ve only got until the end of August to take advantage, so be sure to get your coupon fast. And if you haven&#8217;t seen it yet, check out my TI-Nspire CX review. &nbsp; From the Texas Instruments email announcing the deal: Save $50 when you make a TI-Nspire™ CX purchase Hurry – offer ends August 31st! https://www.techpoweredmath.com/born-bad-math/ Fri, 12 Aug 2011 17:43:02 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/born-bad-math/ The Huffington Post is just one of numerous media outlets reporting on a Johns Hopkins research study about number sense in pre-schoolers. Essentially, the study showed that even though the kids hadn&#8217;t learned much in the way of in the way of formal mathematics, it was possible to measure their number sense abilities already. Further, those with better number sense also scored highly on tests that would predict the kids&#8217; future mathematics ability. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/wolfram-mathematica-virtual-conference-2011/ Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:12:45 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/wolfram-mathematica-virtual-conference-2011/ Wolfram, maker of Mathematica and the popular Wolfram Alpha app, has announced a free virtual conference on Mathematica. The conference is designed for a variety of types of Mathematica users. In fact there are five tracks for the conference. Track 1&#8211;Discover Mathematica Track 2&#8211;What&#8217;s New in Mathematica Track 3&#8211;Applying Mathematica in Industry and Research Track 4&#8211;Applying Mathematica in Education Track 5&#8211;Developing on the Mathematica Platform This is a free conference, but seats are limited. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/brainetics-review/ Thu, 11 Aug 2011 14:38:11 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/brainetics-review/ I have to admit this is one of the first reviews I&#8217;ve done based on the recommendation of a student. Last spring, one of my students came in completely psyched about a present her parents had given her, Brainetics. I&#8217;d never even heard of Brainetics, so she had to get me up to speed. It turns out that Brainetics is a DVD program designed to teach kids how to do complex math mentally. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/sesame-street-math-season-42/ Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:49:05 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/sesame-street-math-season-42/ Wipe that shocked look off your face, Big Bird. It turns out that Sesame Street, the children&#8217;s show probably best known for encouraging reading skills is getting a increased focus on mathematics and science for the upcoming season. According to an article on the Examiner.com, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, the Count (of course), and the rest of the gang will be embracing the STEM curriculum (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) in season 42. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/buy-texas-instruments-little-professor/ Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:28:50 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/buy-texas-instruments-little-professor/ Click here to buy the Texas Instruments Little Professor on Ebay. Little Professor&ndash;LCD version One of the earliest electronic toys I had (and certainly my first math toy) was the Texas Instruments Little Professor. While I&#8217;ve heard some people refer to it as a child&#8217;s calculator, that&#8217;s really not an accurate description. It was a handheld device that quizzed you on simple math problems. The problems were all simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ed2go-reviews/ Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:12:44 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ed2go-reviews/ Click here to visit Ed2Go and see their latest course offerings . I&#8217;ve been studying dozens of reviews of the Ed2Go online classes. It seems pretty clear that there are two competing schools of thought, and from what I&#8217;ve read online, the members of those schools are pretty consistent. Students of the Ed2Go.com classes seem to really love them. College professors are less than thrilled. Here&#8217;s a look at the reasons behind each. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/review-texas-instruments-ti-nspire/ Thu, 28 Jul 2011 16:00:02 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/review-texas-instruments-ti-nspire/ Please click here to buy your TI-Nspire on Amazon. Although I&#8217;ve &#8220;refreshed&#8221; this article about the original TI-Nspire Grayscale (black and white) to include information on the latest operating system upgrades and a little bit on the CX release, I suggest you check out my new TI-Nspire CX Review to learn more about the latest TI-Nspire model. The TI-Nspire CX is a huge upgrade that includes a color screen, backlighting, and a new slim design. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/buy-canon-x-mark-1-calculator-mouse/ Wed, 27 Jul 2011 20:36:44 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/buy-canon-x-mark-1-calculator-mouse/ Buy the Canon X Mark 1 Calculator Mouse on Canon.com.Canon Xmark 1 Calculator Mouse It&#8217;s been a whole year since I originally wrote about the Cannon X Mark 1 Calculator Mouse back in the summer of 2010, the perfect marriage of a calculator and mouse. Well, we waited for the originally announced release in November 2010 which never came. I assumed that Canon had discontinued the project altogether. And all of a sudden, the X Mark 1 Calculator Mouse is back in the news. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-web-browser-gossamer/ Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:55:48 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-web-browser-gossamer/ I never cease to be amazed by the ingenuity of the Texas Instruments hacker/programmer community. TechCrunch is reporting the release of a web browser for the TI-83/TI-84 family of graphing calculators. This is far from an official Texas Instruments release. Chris Mitchell, &#8220;KermMartian,&#8221; a Ph.D. student at NYU, has named his creation Gossamer. This a text based browser on the order of Lynx, if any of you can remember that far back. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/wolfram-launches-computational-document-format-cdf-files/ Fri, 22 Jul 2011 15:17:17 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/wolfram-launches-computational-document-format-cdf-files/ Wolfram is on fire. While the company behind Mathematica has been a presence in high level mathematical circles for over a decade, Wolfram&#8217;s flurry of activity over the last year or so has been truly amazing. First came a mobile version of Wolfram Alpha, their popular web application, followed shortly by the Wolfram course assistant apps. Now comes the release of a new document format, the Computational Document Format or CDF. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-cx-vs-casio-prizm/ Mon, 18 Jul 2011 19:48:44 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-cx-vs-casio-prizm/ Please click here to buy your TI-Nspire CX on Amazon . TI and Casio have taken very different approaches with their color calculators I&#8217;ve heard the question many times over the last few months: &#8220;What&#8217;s better, the TI-Nspire CX or Casio Prizm?&#8221; It&#8217;s a natural comparison. They&#8217;re the world&#8217;s first full color graphing calculators, both with the capability to graph on photographs, both released within a few months of each other in 2011. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/npr-fibonacci-podcast/ Mon, 18 Jul 2011 14:33:27 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/npr-fibonacci-podcast/ NPR put up a nice podcast on Weekend Edition this past Saturday about Leonardo da Pisa&#8217;s (aka Fibonacci) &#8220;Book of Calculation.&#8221; Most of us are familiar with Fibonacci&#8217;s famous sequence of numbers that became known as the Fibonacci numbers, where any number in the sequence after the first two is found by adding the previous two: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, &#8230; I have to admit, I wasn&#8217;t aware until I heard this podcast what an impact Fibonacci had on the ability of regular people to do arithmetic. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/update-hp-touchpad-calculator-webos-3-0-2/ Sun, 17 Jul 2011 02:53:35 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/update-hp-touchpad-calculator-webos-3-0-2/ Just recently had up an article that the HP TouchPad was released without a calculator. Now PreCentral is reporting that TouchPad owners have nothing to worry about. The release of webOS 3.0.2 is on the way. By the end of July, the TouchPad will have apps for Amazon MP3, the Kindle, and, yep, a new native calculator app is on the way. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/updates-posts-facebook-comments/ Thu, 14 Jul 2011 16:59:18 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/updates-posts-facebook-comments/ Apologies in advance if you are a &#8220;long time&#8221; TPM reader, but I&#8217;m going to be running a series of updates to old articles over the next couple of weeks. A lot of my articles that include information on the TI-Nspire have outdated information in them due to the release of TI-Nspire OS 3.0 and the CX versions, such as the TI-89 vs. TI-Nspire CAS article. These posts still get dozens of views each day, so I want them to have the most current information, and I&#8217;ll be updating the posts to reflect that as well as re-dating them when I republish. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/schooltab-tablet-for-schools/ Thu, 07 Jul 2011 19:02:24 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/schooltab-tablet-for-schools/ Listen to what tech savvy consumers, students, teachers, and even graphing calculator designers are saying about today&#8217;s graphing calculators and there&#8217;s a common theme: Why are we buying graphing calculators when &#8220;there&#8217;s an app for that&#8221;? The iPad was just the start as we now have the HP Touchpad, Galaxy Tab, and Motorola Xoom just to name a few. There are already great calculators for Android and iOS, so why are we buying dedicated devices that can only do math? https://www.techpoweredmath.com/buy-leapfrog-leappad-tablet-math/ Wed, 06 Jul 2011 13:08:10 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/buy-leapfrog-leappad-tablet-math/ Buy the LeapPad Tablet at Leapfrog.com. LeapFrog LeapPad Tablet Apparently, it&#8217;s tablet day here at TPM. While the HP TouchPad may be a toy for older kids, the LeapFrog LeapPad Tablet is one for the younger kiddos. I&#8217;ve been impressed by the reputation LeapFrog products have built in the past. They consistently put out electronic learning devices that have the video game or gadget feel, so they appeal to kids. On the other hand, the learning that goes on continues to earn LeapFrog top marks from educators. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hp-touchpad-released-calculator-app/ Wed, 06 Jul 2011 13:05:29 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hp-touchpad-released-calculator-app/ HP Touchpad Buy the HP TouchPad on Amazon. HP has finally released their new tablet, the HP TouchPad. With Android and iOS dominating, WebOS (the OS of the HP TouchPad) has become for the forgotten mobile OS, and that&#8217;s unfortunate. I had a Palm Pre for about a week at the end of 2009 and enjoyed WebOS immensely. Unfortunately, the phone itself seemed flimsy and I returned it. HP bought out Palm in large part to get its hands on WebOS. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/virtual-nerd-review/ Tue, 05 Jul 2011 14:00:21 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/virtual-nerd-review/ Visit the Virtual Nerd website to subscribe. While I was at the NCTM annual meeting in Indianapolis, I saw a whole host of online math programs touted as a way to improve student learning. There was one that stood out, Virtual Nerd. Once I saw it in action, I knew I had to do a Virtual Nerd Review. Virtual Nerd is free for teachers, so I recently signed up for a free teacher account myself to review Virtual Nerd&#8217;s features in more depth. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-cx-unboxing/ Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:33:17 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-cx-unboxing/ Please click here to buy your TI-Nspire CX on Amazon . UPDATE: My TI-Nspire CX CAS review is now up. Finally, the wait is over. My TI-Nspire CX CAS has arrived from the Bach Company. Tonight I put together a TI-Nspire CX unboxing video. I have to say that I don&#8217;t expect the majority of these calculators to arrive this way. Mine arrived packaged in a box, the same way some of our Texas Instruments equipment arrives at school when we make an official educational order. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/casio-clemson-center-academic-training/ Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:01:29 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/casio-clemson-center-academic-training/ It was announced that yesterday that Casio has named Clemson as its Center of Academic Training. Dr. Bob Horton will oversea Clemson&#8217;s involvement in the center. I got to meet &#8220;Dr. Bob&#8221; at the NCTM annual meeting in Indianapolis. He&#8217;s been very involved with Casio for years and could be described as a &#8220;Casio guru,&#8221; as both an advocate of and an expert in the use of Casio calculators in the classroom. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/wolfram-course-assistant-ipad-app-review/ Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:00:10 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/wolfram-course-assistant-ipad-app-review/ Wolfram announced the release of their Course Assistant Apps a&nbsp;couple of months back, designed to help students with their math and science courses. I was curious to see what was in these apps and how they might help a student, so I decided to pick a couple of the apps up on iTunes to take them for a test drive. As I am a high school teacher, I purchased the Algebra and Pre-Calculus Course Assistants since they seemed to be the courses I&rsquo;d have the greatest familiarity with. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/desmos-free-online-graphing-calculator/ Thu, 23 Jun 2011 16:13:59 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/desmos-free-online-graphing-calculator/ There&#8217;s a new online graphing calculator out there that I think may soon top the National Library of Virtual Manipulative graphing calculator for top browser based grapher. There are tons of graphing calculators online, but frankly, most of them aren&#8217;t worth much. They&#8217;re either incapable of more sophisticated graphs, difficult to use, or just plain ugly. Startup Desmos has launched a graphing calculator that offers a lot of power and flexibility, as well as being simple to use. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/houghton-mifflin-harcourt-math-textbook-ipad-apps-review/ Tue, 21 Jun 2011 16:23:53 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/houghton-mifflin-harcourt-math-textbook-ipad-apps-review/ Back in April, I attended the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics annual meeting in Indianapolis. In addition to taking in a number of professional development sessions, I was able to spend significant time on the exhibition floor, checking out the best of what math education products are just out and soon to be released. One of the most exciting technologies I saw was the new Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, &nbsp;math textbooks for the iPad. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-cx-cas-shipping-update/ Mon, 20 Jun 2011 20:35:05 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-cx-cas-shipping-update/ Quick update on the TI-Nspire CX CAS, as I know a lot of you are waiting to hear more on the release date for the CAS version. I actually pre-ordered mine from the Bach Company back in April at the annual NCTM meeting. I hadn&rsquo;t received mine yet, so last Friday, I contacted the Bach Company to see what the latest was and promptly received this update: We just received word this morning that TI is shipping the new CX CAS this week. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/wolfram-alpha-ipad-app-review/ Fri, 17 Jun 2011 16:29:21 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/wolfram-alpha-ipad-app-review/ Not too long ago, I reviewed Mathematica 8 from a novice&rsquo;s perspective. About that time it started becoming clear that,Wolfram, maker of Mathematica, was starting to get interested in app development. Their first major app was an iOS version of Wolfram Alpha, available on both the iPhone and iPad as well as Android. If you&rsquo;ve never heard of Wolfram Alpha, I suggest you start by check out the Wolfram Alpha site, which has been around for years. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/tech-powered-math-2-0-launch/ Fri, 17 Jun 2011 04:06:36 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/tech-powered-math-2-0-launch/ If this is your first trip to the site since the re-launch, welcome to Tech Powered Math &ldquo;2.0&rdquo;. It was about this time last year that I launched Tech Powered Math. What a wonderful first year it turned out to be to launch a math technology site. I was writing about the TI-84 vs. the TI-Nspire when Casio changed the game by announcing their Prizm, the world&rsquo;s first color graphing calculator. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/statistics-probability-dvd/ Tue, 14 Jun 2011 18:35:36 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/statistics-probability-dvd/ To get the best price on Jason Gibson&rsquo;s award winning Math Tutor DVD series,&nbsp;visit the Math Tutor DVD website. Yet another post in my series&nbsp;reviewing Math Tutor DVD. In this post, you can see some samples from the Statistics and Probability DVD&rsquo;s. This is a little different from most of the other DVD&rsquo;s in the series. Most of the others would be just as appropriate for a high school class as a college class. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/physics-dvd/ Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:42:23 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/physics-dvd/ To get the best price on Jason Gibson&rsquo;s award winning Math Tutor DVD series,&nbsp;visit the Math Tutor DVD website. Here&rsquo;s another post in my series reviewing Math Tutor DVD. Finally,&nbsp;I&rsquo;m turning to the sciences. As I&rsquo;ve mentioned before, before Math Tutor DVD creator Jason Gibson was churning out this popular series, he was an engineer. As a result, he&rsquo;s had quite a bit of experience in science classes like physics and chemistry. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/casio-prizm-guided-tours/ Mon, 06 Jun 2011 19:59:49 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/casio-prizm-guided-tours/ If you haven&#8217;t seen it yet, Casio recently launched a Guided Tours site for the Casio Prizm. On this site, you&#8217;ll find about 10 videos guiding you through the basics of the Casio Prizm, including most of the icons that an average user will utilize. It&#8217;s a simple to navigate site with a sharp look and feel that should get new Casio users up to speed in a hurry. Full disclosure, the voice you&#8217;ll hear on the videos for this new site is mine. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-36x-pro-review/ Wed, 18 May 2011 03:02:28 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-36x-pro-review/ The amazing TI-36X Pro is now available for sale on Amazon Click here to see Amazon&rsquo;s best price on this great calculator . A couple of months ago, I was flipping through a math teacher supply catalogue, looking at the pictures of the new TI-Nspire CX and Casio Prizm, when something caught my eye. It was an add for a scientific calculator that I had never seen. &#8220;TI-36X Pro Scientifc Calculator with calculus, available soon,&#8221; read the headline. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-cx-released-amazon/ Wed, 11 May 2011 22:42:41 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-cx-released-amazon/ I&rsquo;ve been religiously checking ever day for the last several weeks to see if the TI-Nspire CX is listed on Amazon. Until today, the pattern was always the same. Search for &ldquo;TI-Nspire CX,&rdquo; autocomplete beating me to the punch before the first few letters are out (making me thing many others are doing the same), and then the same 5 or 6 products, none of them the TI-Nspire CX.&nbsp; Today, it was different. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/trigonometry-pre-calculus-dvd/ Fri, 06 May 2011 15:28:26 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/trigonometry-pre-calculus-dvd/ To get the best price on Jason&rsquo;s Gibson&rsquo;s Trigonometry and Pre-Calculus DVD, click here. After a big break, I&rsquo;m resuming my series profiling Jason Gibson&rsquo;s Math Tutor DVD tutoring program. This time, I&rsquo;ve got information on his Trigonometry and Pre-Calculus DVD&rsquo;s. This is one of the shorter sets in the series&#8211;just two disks and five hours. That said, you&rsquo;ll find that the topics that give most students problems are covered. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/upgrade-ti-nspire-to-ti-nspire-cas/ Tue, 03 May 2011 02:38:58 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/upgrade-ti-nspire-to-ti-nspire-cas/ (https://www.techpoweredmath.com/review-ti-89-vs-ti-nspire-cas/) I&rsquo;m kind of obsessive about checking my analytics report to see what people are searching for. Lately, I&rsquo;ve noticed the search coming from time to time &ldquo;how to upgrade ti-nspire to ti-nspire cas.&rdquo; This one makes me chuckle a bit (sorry if you arrived here on that search phrase and I&rsquo;m chuckling at your expense). I would never put anything past the resourceful hackers/programmers at sites like ticalc.org an Ominmaga. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-36x-pro-arrives/ Sat, 30 Apr 2011 01:48:44 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-36x-pro-arrives/ UPDATE: I have completed my TI-36X Pro review. Still no word on the arrival that everyone is waiting for, the TI-Nspire CX. In the meantime, however, Texas Instruments has provided me with another 2011 Spring arrival to take a look at, the TI-36X Pro. As far as I know, you can&rsquo;t find this in stores yet. Since it&rsquo;s not a graphing calculator the 36X Pro is much less hyped.&nbsp;in fact, I got puzzled looks from some of the Texas Instruments reps I spoke to at NCTM when I asked about it. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-83-ti-86-emulators-android/ Thu, 28 Apr 2011 02:05:42 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-83-ti-86-emulators-android/ &nbsp; UPDATE (4/27/11)  Doug contacted me to let me know has released a new version of his popular emulator app. To keep the app legal, it does not actually contain the calculators. You&#8217;ll need to find the download the ROM files separately if you want to use the calculators (kind of like the NES and other game emulators). The new app, called Andie Graph, will run ROMS for the TI-82, TI-83, TI-85, and TI-86. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/sell-graphing-calculator/ Wed, 27 Apr 2011 21:42:48 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/sell-graphing-calculator/ So the end of the school year (and your math class) is upon you, and you&#8217;re looking for a few extra bucks to take head out for a night on the town. Or maybe you&#8217;ve decided it&#8217;s time to ditch that old TI-83 in favor of a new color TI-Nspire CX. Or possibly you&#8217;re a parent who&#8217;s last child has finished their last math class and you&#8217;d like to recoup some of the money you invested in a graphing calculator for your kids. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/price-updates-casio-prizm-ti-nspire-cx/ Wed, 27 Apr 2011 01:56:33 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/price-updates-casio-prizm-ti-nspire-cx/ Just a quick update on the pricing structure for the Casio Prizm (review) and TI-Nspire CX (review). When I was at NCTM, there was more information on both calculators and their prices. First, Casio was letting everyone know that there&#8217;s going to be a price cut on the Prizm for back-to-school this coming year. That means that around July, you should be able to find the Prizm in stores for around $99. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nctm-lessons-casio-prizm/ Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:28:10 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nctm-lessons-casio-prizm/ As I promised at my presentations at NCTM last week, I am posting the Word files for worksheets I handed out. I know not everyone who stopped by was able to pick up a copy, especially at the second presentation, because by then the crowds had really picked up. I really appreciate everyone who took the time to listen. If you are a teacher, feel free to use these handouts with your class. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nctm-day-four-ipad-books-3d-printin/ Sun, 17 Apr 2011 21:49:32 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nctm-day-four-ipad-books-3d-printin/ The 2011 NCTM annual meeting is over, and I have arrived back home in Illinois. Sorry it took me a while to get this post up, but the return trip took most of Saturday. Indianapolis was a great choice for the convention. It&rsquo;s so easy to move around downtown via their system of skybridges that allow you to walk for blocks at a time without ever being exposed to bad weather. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nctm-day-3-mario-casio-booth-nspire-cx-interview/ Sat, 16 Apr 2011 01:13:49 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nctm-day-3-mario-casio-booth-nspire-cx-interview/ Another day has come and gone at NCTM, and frankly, I&rsquo;m beat. I&rsquo;ve been on my feet for the better part of two days. I&rsquo;m looking forward to a little shut eye tonight. Tomorrow is a short day, so I&rsquo;m planning to sleep in a little later. Today, TI talks to me about the CX, Super Mario Bros disappointments, a search for geometry books, and the Casio booth is hot. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nctm-day-two-casio-vs-ti-booths/ Fri, 15 Apr 2011 01:23:02 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nctm-day-two-casio-vs-ti-booths/ Day two of the NCTM conference in Indianapolis has come and gone. For me, day two was marked by the incredible battle of the Prizm and TI-Nspire CX displays as well as learning about geometry software for the classroom and a number of cool new websites. Battle of the Booths Well if you had any doubt that Casio and Texas Instruments were taking this whole Prizm vs. Nspire CX thing seriously, one look at their booths in the exhibition hall would remove it. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nctm-mythbusters-flatland-3d/ Thu, 14 Apr 2011 01:38:17 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nctm-mythbusters-flatland-3d/ Day one at the annual NCTM meeting in Indianapolis is in the books. It was definitely challenging to get here as all roads leading to Indy are apparently ripped to shreds right now. It seemed like no matter what Google Maps tried to get me here, I ran into another closed road or on ramp. At one point, I even managed to end up at the Indianapolis airport, which is nowhere near the convention. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nctm-2011-annual-meeting-coverage/ Sun, 10 Apr 2011 20:08:36 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/nctm-2011-annual-meeting-coverage/ If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you know that I&rsquo;ll be covering the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) 2011 Annual Meeting this week, April 13-16, in Indianapolis. I have never had the opportunity to attend the NCTM meeting before this year, and I&rsquo;m excited to check out all it has to offer. NCTM&rsquo;s meeting is&nbsp;an opportunity to catch up on the latest ideas and trends in math education while accumulating a number of those all important professional development credits necessary for recertification. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-os-3-0-released/ Thu, 07 Apr 2011 19:46:21 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-os-3-0-released/ After about 6 weeks of hype, TI-Nspire OS 3.0 has finally arrived. I was a bit surprised when I learned Texas Instruments was going to release OS 3.0 before the new color TI-Nspire CX was available. I suppose it could make the CX release seem a bit anticlimactic. That said, I&rsquo;m glad TI went this route. I appreciate when tech companies make the product available as soon as it&rsquo;s ready to go. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-3-0-science-review/ Sat, 02 Apr 2011 03:44:55 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-3-0-science-review/ I recently had my second briefing about the TI-Nspire CX and Nspire OS 3.0 with Mark Fry, Texas Instruments&rsquo; product line strategy manager for the TI-Nspire. While my first briefing back in February focused on the announcement of the Nspire CX and the broad range of new capabilities coming to the Nspire line, this time Fry focused in on giving me an overview of the science capabilities of Nspire 3. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/autism-speaks-light-blue/ Tue, 29 Mar 2011 01:23:08 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/autism-speaks-light-blue/ If you haven&rsquo;t heard, World Autism Awareness Day is April 2. To raise awareness, the people behind Autism Speaks are having something called the Light It Up Blue campaign, which encourages people to help raise awareness of their efforts to diagnose and find answers to questions about this condition that is still not fully understood. If you want to participate, they are encouraging people to wear blue on Thursday and Friday, change a light at your home or place of business to blue, donate to the cause, or event just &ldquo;like&rdquo; their website on Facebook. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/pre-ap-calculus-workshop/ Thu, 17 Mar 2011 13:36:11 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/pre-ap-calculus-workshop/ Kind of a random post here, but I spent Tuesday at a pre-AP Calculus workshop hosted at Triton College in River Grove, IL. My school added AP Calculus a year ago. Obviously, we have been slow to the Advanced Placement party (not sure why the hesitation&#8212;definitely not coming from the math department). As a Pre-Calculus teacher, I was very interested to see what sorts of topics the College Board would emphasize in a Pre-AP conference. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/science-tools-announcement-ti-nspire-cx/ Sat, 12 Mar 2011 22:33:37 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/science-tools-announcement-ti-nspire-cx/ Texas Instruments didn&#8217;t stop with the announcement of the TI-Nspire CX. Now comes the announcement that users will have access to upgraded science tools for all TI-Nspire handhelds running OS 3.0. When the Nspire CX was announced a few weeks back, sharp eyed readers may have noticed a new icon at the bottom of the Nspire CX&#8217;s display, an Erlenmeyer flask. That addition is another new key feature, a fully dedicated app known as Vernier DataQuest, which allows users to collect data using a variety of scientific data collection devices. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/geometry-dvd/ Thu, 03 Mar 2011 19:35:18 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/geometry-dvd/ For the best price on Jason Gibson&rsquo;s Geometry DVD Tutor, click here. Continuing my series looking at the options available with the MathTutorDVD.com sequence of math DVD&rsquo;s, I&rsquo;m looking at the Geometry DVD. Geometry can be a tough subject for a lot of students. It&rsquo;s a big change from algebra, involving more visual reasoning and logical thinking. As a result, a lot of parents find their child needs a little extra help with some geometry tutoring. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/algebra-dvd/ Tue, 01 Mar 2011 18:13:54 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/algebra-dvd/ For the best price on &nbsp;Jason Gibson&rsquo;s award winning MathTutorDVD.com&rsquo;s Algebra DVD&rsquo;s, click here. Continuing with my profile of Jason Gibson&rsquo;s Math Tutor DVD series, this post outlines the highlights of his Algebra DVD&rsquo;s. There are actually several Algebra DVD courses in the Math Tutor DVD series: Algebra I, Algebra II, Advanced Algebra, and Matrix Algebra, which a lot of schools call Linear Algebra. MathTutorDVD.com&rsquo;s Spectrum of Algebra DVD Courses That&rsquo;s quite a range of courses. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/calculus-dvd/ Sun, 27 Feb 2011 20:44:35 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/calculus-dvd/ To get the best price on Jason&rsquo;s Gibson&rsquo;s Calculus DVD, click here. A while back, I wrote a Math Tutor DVD review of Jason Gibson&rsquo;s math tutorial DVD series. Now, I&rsquo;m going to try to get a few overviews of the individual math courses on DVD. First up is Math Tutor DVD&rsquo;s calculus DVD. Whether you&rsquo;re taking AP Calculus (AB or BC), or any of the standard college calculus courses, this calculus tutoring DVD series covers the lessons you&rsquo;re going to learn. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-announces-color-ti-nspire-cx/ Fri, 25 Feb 2011 06:03:47 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-announces-color-ti-nspire-cx/ Please buy your TI-Nspire CX on Amazon . UPDATE: I have posted my TI-Nspire CX Review When I contacted Texas Instruments a few weeks back to ask about an FCC filing TI had made involving WiFi for the TI-Nspire Navigator system, I had no idea that my inquiry would lead me to a web conference with the product line strategy manager for the TI-Nspire, Mark Fry. What was being presented in the blogosphere as just an improvement to the TI-Nspire&#8217;s Navigator system turns out to be much, much more. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/printable-math-games-ebook/ Fri, 18 Feb 2011 03:22:18 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/printable-math-games-ebook/ I&rsquo;ve been looking for a set of printable math games for a while, and I recently purchased the ebook, Making Math More Fun Games Collection, and I wanted to get a review up. This is actually not one ebook but a collection of several. Advantages of Printable Math Games for Kids It&rsquo;s a common scenario: You&rsquo;re a parent trying to find quick math activities to encourage your child. Or maybe you&rsquo;re an elementary school teacher that needs to find a way to practice math skills, reasoning or logic in a fun way. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/kindle-math/ Sun, 13 Feb 2011 22:22:03 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/kindle-math/ If you are planning to buy an Amazon Kindle for your math studies, you should head on over to Amazon&rsquo;s website to buy your Kindle. With so many options to help learn math in a technology age, you may have overlooked using the Amazon Kindle for math. Opinions I&rsquo;ve read have been mixed on using a Kindle for math, but I think that&rsquo;s easily explained. Most people have looked at using traditional textbooks ported to the Kindle. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hp-smartcalc-300s-review/ Thu, 10 Feb 2011 23:47:18 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hp-smartcalc-300s-review/ Looking for an HP Smartcalc 300s? Please buy the SmartCalc on Amazon. I recently decided to try to add a few reviews of some other non-graphing calculators. Since I&#8217;ve looked a lot at Hewlett Packard&#8217;s lineup of calculators a lot recently, I thought it made sense to start with an HP SmartCalc 300s review. Who Is the HP SmartCalc 300s Designed For? The HP SmartCalc is a scientific calculator. That means if you need a graphing calculator, you&#8217;ll need to look elsewhere. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/mathematica-review/ Wed, 02 Feb 2011 22:54:00 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/mathematica-review/ In 1986, Stephen Wolfram joined the faculty of the University of Illinois. He immediately began developing Mathematica, and it was released in 1988. By the time I arrived on the University of Illinois campus as a freshman in 1995, Wolfram was a local legend and Mathematica had become a part of the U of I math department culture. Curriculum and Mathematica (or C&amp;M) sections of calculus were all the rage but somewhat controversial. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/casio-prizm-arrives-unboxing/ Tue, 25 Jan 2011 04:06:12 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/casio-prizm-arrives-unboxing/ UPDATE: My Casio Prizm review is now live. It&rsquo;s finally here! I&rsquo;ve been promising everyone the first in depth hands on Casio Prizm review, and the Prizm has finally arrived. Casio&rsquo;s been trying to get me one to evaluate for a while, but they&rsquo;ve hit a few delays, but tonight it arrived. My goal is to get an &ldquo;unboxing&rdquo; video up tomorrow and a review of the Prizm later in the week. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-73-explorer-review/ Sun, 23 Jan 2011 19:56:19 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-73-explorer-review/ Click here to buy the TI-73 Explorer on Amazon and get free shipping. If you are looking into Texas Instruments line of graphing calculators, you&#8217;ve probably noticed that almost everything but the TI-Nspire ends with an &#8220;80-something.&#8221; Recently, I&#8217;ve reviewed the TI-83 plus, the TI-84 plus, and the TI-89 Titanium. However, there is a noticeable exception to this rule, the TI-73 Explorer. It seemed like it was time to get a TI-73 review up. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-82-review/ Sat, 22 Jan 2011 20:24:54 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-82-review/ Please click here to see TI-82 prices on eBay. One of the longest running calculators of all time is the Texas Instruments TI-82. The TI-82 has been around since 1993 and has been so popular that Texas Instruments has continued to add features and upgrade it to the TI-83, TI-83 plus, and finally TI-84 plus. I felt like it was time to do a TI-82 review since there&#8217;s a lot of confusion out there about this calculator compared to the later calculators like the TI-83. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/new-os-ti-84-255-mp/ Fri, 14 Jan 2011 01:26:39 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/new-os-ti-84-255-mp/ Just received an email from marketing at Texas Instruments alerting me that they released a new operating system for the TI-84 plus a couple of days ago. The newest release for the TI-84 is 2.55MP. This new TI-84 OS offers templates (or &ldquo;wizards&rdquo; as TI calls them) for statistics features, such as regressions and statistics. The email also said users have the ability to paste these commands back to the home screen so they can be used in other calculations. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-voyage-200-review/ Tue, 11 Jan 2011 16:22:38 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-voyage-200-review/ Please click here to buy the TI-Voyage 200 on Amazon. Probably the most powerful graphing calculator on the market today is the TI-Voyage 200. The TI-Voyage is the phoenix born from the ashes of the TI-92. After a nice run by the TI-92, Texas Instruments decided it needed a makeover. So it slimmed it down, upped the processing power, gave it a stylish new case, and designed it to run on lighter AAA batteries instead of AA&#8217;s, and, Presto! https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hp-39gs-hp-40gs-review/ Tue, 11 Jan 2011 00:58:20 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hp-39gs-hp-40gs-review/ After recently taking a look at HP&#8217;s top of the line calculator (see my HP 50g review), I am now turning my attention to reviewing their entry level models. The HP 39gs and HP 40gs are an affordable alternative to the Texas Instruments lineup of calculators. Who are the HP 39gs and HP 40gs designed for? In reviewing the HP 39gs and 40gs, I found them to be extremely affordable, entry level calculators. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hp-graphing-calculator-reviews-coming/ Sat, 04 Dec 2010 17:23:15 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/hp-graphing-calculator-reviews-coming/ Just wanted to let you guys know that you can expect reviews of some of the top HP graphing calculators in the coming weeks. Hewlett Packard has been helpful to provide me with loans of the HP 39gs, HP 40gs, and HP 50g. It&rsquo;ll take me some time to get these reviews put together because I&rsquo;m not familiar with any of these calculators yet. The last time I worked with an HP graphing calculator was in my college days when my primary calculator was an HP 48gx. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-studycard-ap/ Mon, 29 Nov 2010 04:32:24 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-studycard-ap/ Just wanted to write a quick post about the StudyCard app for the TI-83 plus and TI-84 plus. Got some inquiries about ACT and SAT StudyCards after I wrote The Top 6 TI-84 Plus Apps, and I wanted to talk a little bit more about the app. There are so many possibilities with the StudyCard app it could make your head spin. To review, the app basically turns your TI-84 into a virtual flash card computer. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/my-math-tutor-dvd-review/ Sat, 20 Nov 2010 00:24:18 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/my-math-tutor-dvd-review/ Click here to check the price on Jason Gibson&rsquo;s award winningMath Tutor DVD series . Lately, I&#8217;ve noticed people searching TPM for information about Math Tutor DVD. I try to respond to what readers are looking for, so I wanted to get a Math Tutor DVD review up. Frankly, I didn&#8217;t know much about it, so I had to do my homework. I had heard it was a popular math video series with homeschoolers, but I didn&#8217;t know much more than that. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-discontinues-ti-84/ Tue, 16 Nov 2010 16:00:09 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-discontinues-ti-84/ Please click here to get your TI-84 Plus on Amazon. UPDATE (11/16/10) TI-84+ SE not discontinued in North America As promised, I am continuing to update the original story below. Today, I received an email from Dale Philbrick, marketing manager for mathematics at Texas Instruments. Mr. Philbrick says that the internet rumors of the demise of the TI-84+ Silver Edition are unfounded and that Texas Instruments has no plans to discontinue the Silver Edition in North America at this time. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/graphing-calculator-uses/ Sun, 14 Nov 2010 05:16:37 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/graphing-calculator-uses/ With the recent announcement of the Casio Prizm, graphing calculators have been getting publicity they don&rsquo;t normally see. Gizmodo, Wired, Mashable, and many of the other major tech sites/blogs have run articles on the Prizm, and I&rsquo;ve noticed a common theme in the comments on those articles. A number of people are questioning graphing calculator use. I&rsquo;m somewhat used to this. On my Youtube channel, I get these same questions and comments, and on rare occasions they even come from parents of my students. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/math-nspired-update-includes-algebra-ii-calculus/ Wed, 20 Oct 2010 22:02:36 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/math-nspired-update-includes-algebra-ii-calculus/ Texas Instruments today announced a significant update for their Math Nspired website.&nbsp;If you&rsquo;re not familiar with Math Nspired, it&rsquo;s a resource site for the TI-Nspire, primarily for math teachers, but to a lesser extent for students. There are a variety of lessons, activities, and tutorials for teachers and students on the site.&nbsp;This latest update is a release of resources for Algebra II and Calculus classes. Previously, all of the lessons were for Algebra I and Geometry. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/goodbye-father-fractal-benoit-mandelbrot/ Tue, 19 Oct 2010 19:09:10 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/goodbye-father-fractal-benoit-mandelbrot/ I don&rsquo;t know how many of you caught the news last week that Benoit Mandelbrot had passed away at the age of 85. If you&rsquo;re like me, you probably don&rsquo;t know much about Mandelbrot, but you may be familiar with fractals, and specifically, with his famous discovery, the Mandelbrot set. Fractals are mathematical structures of infinite complexity. No matter how much you zoom in on one, you will always find more structures and designs within it. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/online-math-tutoring/ Thu, 14 Oct 2010 03:25:46 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/online-math-tutoring/ In this article: Online tutoring | Tutoring expectations | Recommended services So you (or your child) are experiencing some struggles in your math class this year. Don&#8217;t panic. You are not alone, and it doesn&#8217;t mean you&#8217;re not a great student. Every year in the classes I teach, I see some very bright students experience struggles in their math classes. A lot of times it&#8217;s a transition issue. Going from algebra to geometry can be tough. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/review-texas-instruments-ti-navigator/ Wed, 13 Oct 2010 00:59:40 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/review-texas-instruments-ti-navigator/ Click here Click here to buy the TI-Navigator on Amazon. I got a chance to check out TI-Navigator up close and personal over the weekend as part of the TI User group I&rsquo;m a part of. Texas Instruments has put together an impressive product here, with far greater capabilities than I was expecting. Essentially, TI-Navigator gives a teacher the ability to connect their computer to an entire classroom of TI-84 plus or TI-Nspire calculators. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/online-act-sat-test-practice-kaplan/ Sun, 10 Oct 2010 23:14:43 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/online-act-sat-test-practice-kaplan/ Kaplan is one of the best known names in test prep classes for getting students the extra ACT and SAT practice they need. What is probably less known is that Kaplan now offers online test prep in addition to the traditional classroom courses that they have offered for decades. If you&rsquo;re anxious about the math test (or any part really) on the SAT or ACT, you might want to consider taking advantage of this type of service for some extra math practice for the test. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/casio-prizm-announced/ Fri, 08 Oct 2010 13:49:19 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/casio-prizm-announced/ UPDATE: It is now possible to buy a Casio Prizm. To get highly anticipated calculator, click here to buy your Casio Prizm on Amazon. UPDATE: My Casio Prizm review is now live. You float into classroom, hovering over the desks. All around you, colors are radiating throughout the classroom You make your way to the teacher&#8217;s desk, where you see a TI-Nspire Clickpad. Suddenly, in a flash of color, the Nspire transforms to a new calculator you&#8217;ve never seen before with amazing new capabilities. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/android-app-inventor-education/ Mon, 27 Sep 2010 11:48:09 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/android-app-inventor-education/ With Google&rsquo;s beta release of Android App Inventor over the summer came the promise that &ldquo;normal people&rdquo; would suddenly be able to crank out high quality Android apps without writing a single line of code. App Inventor is a visually based development environment, so rather than write code, developers use a series of icons to create apps. As with most Google products, App Inventor is &ldquo;in the cloud,&rdquo; meaning you use it through your browser, not a program you install onto your computer. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/south-africa-study-math-cell-phone/ Fri, 24 Sep 2010 12:14:23 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/south-africa-study-math-cell-phone/ The Associated Press reported on Thursday about an unusual experiment occurring out of necessity in South Africa. With students preparing for required graduation exit exams just less than a month a way, droves of them are turning for MXit, a popular instant messaging service, for assistance. Specifically, the students are using MXit to get answers to their math questions. Tutoring by cell phone was made necessary following a nationwide strike of South African teachers just before the all important exams. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/review-casio-classpad-330/ Fri, 24 Sep 2010 03:24:54 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/review-casio-classpad-330/ Please click here to buy your Casio ClassPad on Amazon. In 2003, the original Casio ClassPad 300 was a revolutionary device. Released near the height of the PDA craze, it&#8217;s stylus interface and high resolution screen (for the time) brought many of the popular features of &#8220;Palm Pilot&#8221; type devices to students and teachers in the classroom. Since 2007, the ClassPad 330 has been the latest version of the ClassPad series. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/top-6-apps-ti-84-plus/ Wed, 22 Sep 2010 21:43:42 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/top-6-apps-ti-84-plus/ What Are the Best Apps for the TI-84 Plus? PLYSMT2 PuzzPack Studycard Guess My Coefficients Conics Solve It! If you&rsquo;ve just picked up a new TI-84 plus, one of your first questions is probably, &ldquo;What are the best apps this thing?&rdquo; There are many. In fact, the TI-84 Plus (especially Silver Edition) comes loaded with a lot of junk you&rsquo;ll probably never use because many of the preloaded apps are for languages you don&rsquo;t speak. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/kaplan-sat-act-pratice-test-question/ Wed, 22 Sep 2010 01:25:05 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/kaplan-sat-act-pratice-test-question/ UPDATE: Since this post, I&rsquo;ve more posted a more recent review of Kaplan ACT &amp; SAT Prep. When you&rsquo;re prepping for the SAT or ACT, one of the best things you can do to improve your score is work on practice math problems.&nbsp;Kaplan is now providing a free tool for getting ACT or SAT practice problems online. Kaplan&rsquo;s SAT Quizbank&nbsp;and ACT Quizbank allow students to get practice test problems with a lot of flexibility. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/review-casio-fx-9750gii/ Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:56:04 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/review-casio-fx-9750gii/ Please click here to buy your Casio fx-9750GII on Amazon . Casio&#8217;s 9750 series is the budget alternative in a lineup of Casio graphing calculators that is already the affordable alternative to Texas Instruments. The 2009 release of the the 9750GII introduced USB, making it even easier to upgrade your calculator&#8217;s operating system and upload apps. The natural comparison is the 9750GII vs. the 9860GII, its more powerful (and more expensive) bigger brother. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/review-casio-fx-9860gii/ Sat, 18 Sep 2010 15:27:23 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/review-casio-fx-9860gii/ Please click here to buy your Casio fx-9860GII on Amazon . I&#8217;ve been a Texas Instruments guy for a long time. Most teachers are. TI has had the corner on the educational market for over a decade. That said, I&#8217;ve seen more Casio&#8217;s popping up in my classroom in recent years, and I recently decided it was time to investigate. I&#8217;ve spent a lot of hours over the last month investigating the question of Casio vs. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/lesson-tables-ti-84/ Fri, 17 Sep 2010 12:04:18 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/lesson-tables-ti-84/ The table feature allows you to quickly scroll the an x vs. y chart on your TI-84. This can be useful as early as first year algebra for students that are just learning to graph. It&#8217;s even more helpful to calculus students using their calculator to help find a limit. The end of the video demonstrates a quick method for using the table&#8217;s &#8220;ask&#8221; feature to help find a limit. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-tables-on-the-ti-nspire/ Fri, 17 Sep 2010 12:04:14 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-tables-on-the-ti-nspire/ The table feature allows you to quickly scroll the an x vs. y chart on your TI-Nspire. This can be useful as early as first year algebra for students that are just learning to graph. It&#8217;s even more helpful to calculus students using their calculator to help find a limit. The end of the video demonstrates a quick method for using the table&#8217;s &#8220;ask&#8221; feature to help find a limit. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ap-calculus-calculators/ Sat, 11 Sep 2010 20:52:18 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ap-calculus-calculators/ A lot of students (and teachers) are surprised to learn that the rules for calculators on the Advanced Placement test are actually a lot different from other standardized tests like the ACT and SAT. The surprising difference is that regardless of whether you are taking AB calculus or BC calculus, the only calculators allowed on the AP test are graphing calculators. That&rsquo;s right, a simple scientific or four-function calculator is prohibited on the AP test while a TI-89 is perfectly legal. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/facebook-math-education/ Fri, 10 Sep 2010 18:55:31 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/facebook-math-education/ The Hill&nbsp;is reporting that on Thursday math students and educators gained a new ally in the quest for better math education in America&#8211;Facebook.&nbsp; On Thursday, the popular social networking site sent a letter to Congressional leaders asking for more funding for math, science, and technology education, expressing concerns that if action isn&rsquo;t taken, America will fall behind its competitors in these key areas. Excerpts from the letter follow: The shortage of students entering STEM careers has long been recognized in Washington, Silicon Valley, and beyond. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-jailbreaks-the-ps3/ Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:13:37 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-84-jailbreaks-the-ps3/ The process of &#8220;jailbreaking&#8221; or &#8220;rooting&#8221; devices such as iPods, iPhones, Android phones, and PlayStations has become increasingly popular among the tech savvy because it allows users greater freedom to install apps and perform customizations normally available only to developers. The amount of time and the procedure the process requires can vary from hours sitting at a computer to seconds on a website. Now comes word that hackers have found a way to jailbreak the Sony&#8217;s PS3 using something very familiar to Tech Powered Math readers&#8211;a TI-84+ (silver edition not required). https://www.techpoweredmath.com/intersection-graphs-ti-nspire/ Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:43:38 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/intersection-graphs-ti-nspire/ In this video lesson, you&#8217;ll learn how to find the intersection of two graphs on the TI-Nspire graphing calculator. The two functions graphed here are a line and parabola, but you could use this same approach for the intersection of two lines, or virtually any functions the TI-Nspire can graph. It&#8217;s also certainly possible to have more than two functions graphed at a time. You just have to let the Nspire know which two functions you are trying to find the intersection of. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/intersection-graphs-ti-84/ Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:43:33 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/intersection-graphs-ti-84/ In this video lesson, you&#8217;ll learn how to find the intersection of two graphs on the TI-84+ graphing calculator. The two functions graphed here are a line and parabola, but you could use this same approach for the intersection of two lines, or virtually any functions the TI-84 can graph. It&#8217;s also certainly possible to have more than two functions graphed at a time. You just have to let the 84 know which two functions you are trying to find the intersection of. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/lyric-probability-processor/ Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:04:14 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/lyric-probability-processor/ Since the first electronic computers were developed over 60 years ago, they have operated in a fundamentally similar way.&nbsp;Lyric Semiconductor recently announced a new kind of computer processor that is a shocking change in the math behind computers. You may know that computers &ldquo;speak&rdquo; binary, meaning that at a fundamental level, they operate on the base two number system, a series of 0&rsquo;s and 1&rsquo;s. The reason for this is that those 0&rsquo;s and 1&rsquo;s can be easily translated into what sort of amounts to a long list of yes/no or true/false questions for the computer to crunch. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/new-pi-world-record/ Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:19:11 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/new-pi-world-record/ All hail Shigeru Kondo, the new king of pi! According to The Daily Telegraph, Mr. Kondo, a systems enginer, has broken the world record for the most digits calculated of pi, finding the ratio of a circle&rsquo;s circumference to diameter to a mind-blowing 5 trillion places. For those unfamiliar with pi, it is an irrational number, meaning that when expressed in decimal form, its decimal continues forever without ever reaching a repeating pattern. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-review-ti-92/ Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:47:38 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-review-ti-92/ Click here for my written review of the TI-92. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/act-sat-backup-calculator/ Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:47:26 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/act-sat-backup-calculator/ One of the rules students tend to overlook for the ACT and SAT is the backup calculator rule. Both tests allow you to bring a backup subject only to the rule that you can&rsquo;t have both calculators out at once. This means as long as you&rsquo;ve got one of the calculators under your desk, you are completely within the rules. This is a rule you really can&rsquo;t afford to overlook for two reasons: https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-solving-polynomial-equations-on-the-ti-84/ Sat, 28 Aug 2010 16:37:02 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-solving-polynomial-equations-on-the-ti-84/ When you are solving a quadratic equation, you have a lot of options. You can factor, complete the square, or use the quadratic formula. But what about polynomials with a degree (highest exponent) that is higher than two? These can be difficult to factor with the types of factoring you learn in a high school algebra class. This video lesson explains how you can use an app included with the TI-84+ Silver Edition to solve a polynomial equation. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/lesson-solve-polynomial-equations-ti-nspire/ Sat, 28 Aug 2010 16:34:08 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/lesson-solve-polynomial-equations-ti-nspire/ When you are solving a quadratic equation, you have a lot of options. You can factor, complete the square, or use the quadratic formula. But what about polynomials with a degree (highest exponent) that is higher than two? These can be difficult to factor with the types of factoring you learn in a high school algebra class. This video lesson explains how you can use the built in features features of a TI-Nspire to solve a polynomial equation. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/math-problems-twitter/ Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:54:26 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/math-problems-twitter/ If you&rsquo;re looking for some great math practice problems, Twitter can be one place to turn. It&rsquo;s also convenient since you&rsquo;re probably logging in to tweet on a regular basis anyway. Here are some &ldquo;Tweeters&rdquo; to consider if you&rsquo;re looking for some extra practice or a challenge. Description: TheNational Council of Teachers of Mathematics tweets primarily high school level problems. Questions go out in the morning, answers at night. Example Problem: How many different rectangles can be drawn using the hour marks on a clock&rsquo;s face as vertices? https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-microsoft-math-add-in-for-word-and-onenote/ Sun, 22 Aug 2010 23:14:01 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-microsoft-math-add-in-for-word-and-onenote/ Click here for our article on the Microsoft Mathematics Add-in for Word 2010 and OneNote. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/calculator-spy-camera/ Sat, 21 Aug 2010 13:36:41 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/calculator-spy-camera/ Here&rsquo;s a gadget that we didn&rsquo;t see coming: a calculator that doubles as a spy camera. If you&rsquo;d like to keep tabs on anyone from your babysitter to your colleagues, this device delivers. The calculator copies the design and functionality of a Casio DS-5500, so it is a usable calculator. It records at 640 x 480 resolution at 30 frames/second. Apparently, it can also take 1280 x 960 pictures, for those of you that plan to use it as a replacement for your digital SLR. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/microsoft-math-add-in-for-word-and-onenote/ Fri, 20 Aug 2010 22:34:46 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/microsoft-math-add-in-for-word-and-onenote/ Click here for my video of the Microsoft Mathematics Add-in for Word 2010 and OneNote. On Tuesday, Microsoft released the Mathematics Add-in for Word 2010 and OneNote users.&nbsp; If you&rsquo;ve never used equation editor or a previous release of the mathematics add-in, it gives significant mathematical capabilities to Word.&nbsp; Teachers (myself included) love it for writing quizzes, tests, and worksheets.&nbsp; Students will appreciate the ability to easily make their assignments and papers look more professional. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-definite-integrals-ti-84/ Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:39:54 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-definite-integrals-ti-84/ Teaching calculus students how to do integration goes way beyond the scope of a short article or video. The basics of taking a definite integral on the TI-84+, however, are pretty straightforward. This video lesson covers how to find a definite integral on a TI-84 plus both within the home screen and within a graph. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-definite-integrals-ti-nspire/ Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:39:51 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-definite-integrals-ti-nspire/ Teaching calculus students how to do integration goes way beyond the scope of a short article or video. The basics of taking a definite integral on the TI-Nspire, however, are pretty straightforward. This video lesson covers how to find a definite integral on a TI-Nspire both within the home screen and within a graph. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/million-dollar-question-does-p-np/ Sun, 15 Aug 2010 20:36:51 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/million-dollar-question-does-p-np/ In an age where we are surrounded by computers that solve problems of almost unimaginable complexity in a matter of seconds, students of math may be surprised to learn that there is an entire category of problems generally believed to be &ldquo;unsolvable&rdquo; by computers. &nbsp;The class of P problems can be solved in &ldquo;polynomial time,&rdquo; while NP problems are solved in &ldquo;nondeterministic polynomial time.&rdquo; At the risk of oversimplifying, P problems can be solved by a computer fairly quickly. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-top-6-calculator-apps-for-the-iphone/ Fri, 13 Aug 2010 18:52:36 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-top-6-calculator-apps-for-the-iphone/ Click here to read our full article on the Top 6 calculator apps for the iPhone. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/top-6-calculator-apps-for-the-iphone/ Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:46:53 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/top-6-calculator-apps-for-the-iphone/ Click here to watch my video review of the top 6 calculator apps for the iPhone. My recent article on the top 6 calculator apps for Android was a big hit, and since then I’ve been getting search inquiries about iOS. You asked for it, so here it is. I&#8217;ve searched out Apple’s app store for my favorite 6 calculator apps for the iPhone and iPod touch. Since there was a wide disparity in cost of apps, I set the ground rule that we were searching for apps that cost less than $5. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/win-a-ti-30x-multiview/ Wed, 11 Aug 2010 17:09:27 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/win-a-ti-30x-multiview/ UPDATE: CONGRATULATIONS TO JOE, SENIOR AT MORTON HIGH SCHOOL, THE WINNER OF OUR FREE CALCULATOR CONTEST! It&#8217;s no secret from our recent review of the TI-30 series that TPM feels the best entry level calculator Texas Instruments has on the market is the TI-30 X Multiview. Now, we&#8217;re going to send one student head back to school with a free Multiview. Sometime between now and Labor Day, why not enter our contest? https://www.techpoweredmath.com/canon-announces-x-mark-i-calculator-mouse/ Mon, 09 Aug 2010 16:44:42 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/canon-announces-x-mark-i-calculator-mouse/ UPDATE (7/27/11): After hearing nothing for a year, Canon has announced they will release the Cannon X Mark 1 Calculator Mouse in August 2011. Buy the X Mark on Canon.com. &nbsp; The gadget world was all a twitter over the weekend as Canon announced the creation of the X Mark I, a combination mouse-calculator-numeric keypad. This bluetooth mouse features large, PC sized buttons. With all the gadget gurus falling all over themselves to report the excitement of this new device (Engadget called it &#8220;magical&#8221;), apparently no one is asking, &#8220;Haven&#8217;t we been here before? https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-basic-graphing-features-of-the-ti-nspire/ Mon, 09 Aug 2010 15:18:27 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-basic-graphing-features-of-the-ti-nspire/ This video lesson covers and introduction to graphing on the TI-Nspire. Inputting equations, tracing functions, and adjusting the graph window, and using zoom features are all explained as well as find a maximum, minimum, or x-intercept. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-basic-graphing-features-of-the-ti-84/ Mon, 09 Aug 2010 15:02:43 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-basic-graphing-features-of-the-ti-84/ This video lesson covers and introduction to graphing on the TI-84+. Inputting equations, tracing functions, and adjusting the graph window, and using zoom features are all explained. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/interview-with-open-scical-creator-matt-stack/ Fri, 06 Aug 2010 16:11:03 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/interview-with-open-scical-creator-matt-stack/ Open SciCal Earlier this week, Matt Stack made headlines when he announced he had created an entirely open source software and hardware graphing graphing calculator. For those unfamiliar with the concept, &ldquo;open source&rdquo; means that the programmers who write the computer code make it public for anyone to tweak, improve, or customize. This differs greatly from commercial software efforts where code is a carefully guarded secret. The news of Matt&rsquo;s creation, Open SciCal, was quickly picked up and reported on by Wired and Gizmodo among others. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-review-ti-89-titanium-vs-ti-nspire-cas/ Tue, 03 Aug 2010 19:18:31 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-review-ti-89-titanium-vs-ti-nspire-cas/ Click here for our in-depth written review of the TI-89 tianium vs. TI-Nspire CAS. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/resource-nlvms-free-online-graphing-calculator/ Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:02:02 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/resource-nlvms-free-online-graphing-calculator/ Click here for my video of NLVM&rsquo;s free online graphing calculator. It&rsquo;s easy to find interactive graphing calculators websites, but finding a free, easy to use graphing calculator applet that&rsquo;s not buggy is more of a challenge. One of the best is hosted at Utah State University&rsquo;s NLVM site, the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives. If you&rsquo;re not familiar with it, NLVM is an extensive collection of interactive applets for students and teachers. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-resource-nlvms-free-online-graphing-calculator/ Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:02:02 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-resource-nlvms-free-online-graphing-calculator/ Click here to read our article on NLVM&rsquo;s free online graphing calculator. In addition to our article, we wanted to bring you a video demonstration of the grapher. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-review-ti-84-vs-ti-nspire-buying-guide/ Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:16:04 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-review-ti-84-vs-ti-nspire-buying-guide/ Click here for my in depth written TI-84+ vs. TI-Nspire buying guide. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-imaginary-and-complex-numbers-on-the-ti-84/ Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:23:53 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-imaginary-and-complex-numbers-on-the-ti-84/ Imaginary numbers can be a source of confusion when they are first introduced to a student, but they don&#8217;t have to be. Basically, we are trying to deal with the problem of the square root of a negative number. When we take the square root of negative one, the number is called i. This video lesson includes a brief explanation of complex numbers and a tutorial on how to use your TI-84+ to do calculations involving complex numbers. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-imaginary-and-complex-numbers-on-the-ti-nspire/ Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:23:53 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-imaginary-and-complex-numbers-on-the-ti-nspire/ Imaginary numbers can be a source of confusion when they are first introduced to a student, but they don&#8217;t have to be. Basically, we are trying to deal with the problem of the square root of a negative number. When we take the square root of negative one, the number is called i. This video lesson includes a brief explanation of complex numbers and a tutorial on how to use your TI-Nspire to do calculations involving complex numbers. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-releases-ti-nspire-os-2-1/ Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:08:21 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/texas-instruments-releases-ti-nspire-os-2-1/ Texas Instruments has done a nice job of consistently releasing updates for its TI-Nspire handheld. But with OS 2.0 released in April, it is surprising to see OS 2.1 released just 3 months later, not that I&rsquo;m complaining. A quick review of features on the official TI-Nspire OS site reveals that there are almost as many updates for teachers using Nspire Teacher Software as there are for those using an actual handheld. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-the-top-6-calculator-apps-for-android/ Sat, 24 Jul 2010 03:03:17 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-the-top-6-calculator-apps-for-android/ NOTE: for our in-depth written review of the best calculator apps for Android, click here. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/top-6-calculator-apps-for-android/ Sat, 24 Jul 2010 01:56:42 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/top-6-calculator-apps-for-android/ The Samsung Galaxy S, Droid X, MyTouch 3G Slide, Evo 4, the list goes on and on. Many of the hottest smartphones on the market today run on Google&#8217;s Android OS. With each new device released for Android, the buzz about the system grows. A quick search of &#8220;calculator&#8221; on the Android Market returned about a thousand results, far than most people would like to sort through. You&#8217;ll find dozens of tip calculators, BMI calculators, mortgage calculators, love calculators, and more that are probably not what you are looking for. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-solving-a-system-of-equations-with-the-ti-84/ Fri, 02 Jul 2010 21:03:56 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-solving-a-system-of-equations-with-the-ti-84/ When you are given multiple equations and multiple variables, a graphing calculator can be a lifesaver. New versions of the TI-84+ come with a pre-installed app the makes these problems a snap. This video lesson covers solving systems equations by the elimination, or linear combination method, before covering how to use the TI-84 plus to solve. The lesson does require you to have the PLYSMT2 app installed on your TI-84. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-solving-a-system-of-equations-with-the-ti-nspire/ Fri, 02 Jul 2010 02:51:09 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-solving-a-system-of-equations-with-the-ti-nspire/ When you are given multiple equations and multiple variables, a graphing calculator can be a lifesaver. Since the introduction of OS 2.0 on the TI-nspire, this is something you can do easily on your calculator. This video lesson review the &#8220;elimination&#8221; or &#8220;linear-combination&#8221; method before going on to explain how to solve these problems on your nspire. If you don&#8217;t yet have OS 2.0, you&#8217;ll need to get it for this lesson. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-degrees-minutes-seconds-on-the-ti-nspire/ Thu, 01 Jul 2010 20:42:27 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-degrees-minutes-seconds-on-the-ti-nspire/ If you’re a student of geometry or trigonometry, you’ve probably come across problems involving degrees, minutes, and seconds. This is an alternative to measuring in decimal degrees, and it works a lot like time. The conversion rates are: 1 degree = 60 minutes 1 minute = 60 seconds. As a result, 1 degree = 3,600 seconds. If you want to convert from degrees, minutes, seconds to decimal degrees, you can divide by 60 and 3600 for minutes and seconds respectively. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-degrees-minutes-seconds-on-the-ti-84/ Thu, 01 Jul 2010 20:33:49 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/video-lesson-degrees-minutes-seconds-on-the-ti-84/ If you’re a student of geometry or trigonometry, you’ve probably come across problems involving degrees, minutes, and seconds. This is an alternative to measuring in decimal degrees, and it works a lot like time. The conversion rates are: 1 degree = 60 minutes 1 minute = 60 seconds. As a result, 1 degree = 3,600 seconds. If you want to convert from degrees, minutes, seconds to decimal degrees, you can divide by 60 and 3600 for minutes and seconds respectively. https://www.techpoweredmath.com/contact/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.techpoweredmath.com/contact/ We are here to help you Are you curious about something? Do you have some kind of problem with our products? As am hastily invited settled at limited civilly fortune me. Really spring in extent an by. Judge but built gay party world. Of so am he remember although required. Bachelor unpacked be advanced at. Confined in declared marianne is vicinity. Please feel free to contact us, our customer service center is working for you 24&frasl;7.