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Calculator Review

Texas Instrument calculators TI-83 and TI-84 are recommended for completing the activities in this module. Guidebooks for using these calculators can be found on the Texas Instruments website:

> Texas Instrument opens in new window

(Once on the homepage, go to Products > Calculators and Education Technology > Downloads > Guidebooks.)

For accessibility, the TI-84 Plus with the Orion add-on is recommended.

Here is how you can set up a random number generator.

  • Set up the random number generator on a graphing calculator to generate a number from 1 through 100. (see screen shots below)
  • If the numbers 1, 2, 3 or 4 are generated, this means a hurricane occurred.
  • If any other numbers 5 – 100 are generated, no hurricane occurred.

Here are screen shots on how to set up the graphing calculator as a random number generator.

This is a screen shot from the graphing calculator. It shows the probability menu, with 5: random integer being selected.

Press MATH, right arrow to PRB, and select 5:randInt(

This means a random integer generator.

This is a screenshot from the graphing calculator. It shows the home screen with the command to generate random integers from one to one hundred

In the randInt( feature, the first number is the lowest number to generate, and the second number is the highest number to generate.

randInt(lowest, highest)

When you press the ENTER button, a number is randomly generated.