Fun and Games On A Graphing Calculator

Did you know that with many graphing calculators, you don't have to be stuck doing solely rigorous and often monotonous calculations? With today's technology, many calculators allow you to download programs that enable you to play games! Perfect for playing during homework breaks, when you have some down time, or to kill the time you spend in class not listening to your Russian calculus teacher, I will outline a few things you can do on your graphing calculator that will finally put the fun in Fundamentals of Linear Algebra.

Before I go into all the games you can play and where you can find them, you should know that the majority of gaming programs on the market today for graphing calculators are only functional with those sold by Texas Instruments. In fact, the best calculators for calculator games are the TI-83 and TI-84 graphing calculators. Although there are other brands that gaming programs have been written for, Texas Instruments has an 80% share of the calculator market and therefore more games are written for their calculators.

With that, it really all comes down to preference when picking the games you want on your graphing calculator. Category-wise, you can pick games spanning from classic arcade games like Asteroids and Frogger to sports games like baseball and basketball. A chess aficionado? There's a calculator game for that. Have a blackjack addiction? There's a calculator game for that, too. For access to over 3,000 calculator games, search for “TI-83/84 Plus Basic Games” on the search engine of your choice. From there, click on any search result of your choice and you'll be minutes away from downloading any game you like. Why draw the attention of your teacher talking to a friend or sleeping when you're bored during class? With thousands of games just moments away from being on your graphing calculator, you can both not pay attention and work on your hand-eye coordination all while passing yourself as an attentive student! It's a win-win any way you cut it.