Graphing calculators

For in-depth TI-84 Plus CE guide, see TI-84 Plus cookbook. You should be able to do nearly everything on that page and some additional features on your GDC.

Major revision 2026-06-21. Last edited 2026-06-28. Re-organized and clarified crieria for calculator ratings.

Contents

• Approved calculators
• Choosing a calculator
  • navigation and layout
  • data input / output
  • functionality
  • variants
    • TI-84
    • TI-Nspire
    • Casio
• Principles
• Examples
• Settings
• Storage
• Be careful entering expressions
• Be careful interpreting answers
• What to know?
  • graphing
  • solver
  • statistics
  • probability
  • financial
  • sequences (lists)
  • storage and general use
  • arithmetics
• Further reading

Approved calculators

IB will include questions that can only be solved using a graphing calculator, and will deliberately assess student’s familiarity with a graphing calculator to carry out multi-step calculations.

For IB Math, approved calculators include but not limited to

• TI-84 Plus: all
• TI-Nspire: CX, CX II, CX II CAS, including -T and -C models
• NumWorks
• HP Prime
• Casio fx-9860GII, fx-9860GIII, fx-9750GIII, Graph 35+ EII
• Casio fx-CG20, fx-CG50, Graph 90+E
• Casio fx-CG100, fx-1AU, Graph Math+

Prohibited calculators include

• TI Voyage 200
• TI 89
• TI-Nspire CX CAS, TI-Nspire CAS
• HP 38-95
• Casio Classpad
• Casio fx-CG500
• Casio Graph 100
• Casio fx-2.0
• Casio fx-9970
• calculators not updated to the latest OS

IB did not or does not approve HP Prime for AI HL. It appears that a particular calculation on HP Prime requires taking an extra 2 minutes to manually apply the formula.

Otherwise, the above are all sufficient for any IB exam that requires a graphing calculator. Many advanced features (such as computer algebra system, implicit graphing, python) are disabled on the exam; see Use of Calculators in IBDP examinations 2026.  It is often your way of entering expressions and approach that matters.

Very few undergraduate classes allow graphing calculators. There is argument to buy a calculator second-hand or rent one, though only go through reputable vendors or people you trust.

A scientific calculator may be brought to the exam if it does not have any banned features, such as cross product. IB recommends bringing extra batteries instead of extra calculators. Your school may provide a few backup calculators. If so, be sure to use them a few times during revision.

Calculator manuals, including lids with hot-keys, cannot be brought into the exam room.

Choosing a calculator

Many models will offer emulators for free or with a trial period 30 to 90 days. You can use them to get a feel of different models. The Nspire emulator (student software) will make it appears as though it is touch-screen; it is not.

Keep in mind that retail prices do not consider IB disabling the advanced features on the exam.

Here are some key differences in the calculators under IB exam mode, from most to least important metrics. Ratings are out of 5.

A calculator that you can use well is better than one you struggle to use. You can easily test out calculators using emulators without having to first learn all the math. We need to enter the calculations correctly, easily, and efficiently.

After that, the CPU speed matters somewhat, for a couple of slow but rare calculations. Anything slower than TI-84 Plus CE would put the student at a big disadvantage. Anything faster than Nspire CX feel instantaneous on most features. TI-84 can set Xres. Setting it to 4, for instance, would graph 1/4 of the points, effectively improving graphing speed 4-fold.

The model release date affects how long the company is willing to support this product, both in terms of software updates and hardware maintenance. AAA can be more readily replaced than battery packs, if necessary.

Popularity affects how easy it is to find resources. Similarly, how familiar your teacher is with the calculator may also impact your choice. The Casio models have very similar user interface, but the TI-84 Plus CE and the TI-Nspire CX (II) have very different user interface.

Many of these observations are based on emulators, which may unexpectedly differ from the real physical calculator.

Characteristics are bolded in each row when more advantageous than the alternative. Features may be released as part of OS updates. IB may change which features are allowed on exams. These are from most to least impactful in each section.

navigation and layout

These outline the different organizations of calculator buttons and layouts. The preferences are highly dependent on the user. You are strongly encouraged to try out the calculators using the emulators.

TI-84 Plus CE has specific buttons that behave as apps on other models. Most of these buttons provide menu options that then inserts some expression. The core graphing feature is slightly less complete compared to other models, and there are a few downloadable apps that augment the features but cannot all be used at the same time. As a whole TI-84 is easy to use, just not in every single aspect. TI-84 Evo is more self-contained and app-based, like most other models.

TI-Nspire is a powerful study tool. Its “pages” allow clustering calculations for later review. It features an A-Z (non-QWERTY) keyboard, with the common functions and symbols mostly hidden in menus. By allowing variables of multiple characters long, it requires explicit multiplication signs. It uses a smaller font than TI-84 to fit more content on the screen, but sometimes this leads to clutter. It allows using up and down arrows to increment / decrement, so it created a tab button to navigate between fields. There is a touch pad to move to different parts of the screen. More effort is needed to be familiar with all the ways to navigate and where things are.

Casio fx-9860GIII and fx-CG50 are similar models with CG50 on color screen and better hardware. As a compensation for the larger font size, it will allow you to edit the calculation history, so it encourages a sequence of shorter calculations over a long one. It provides page down G↔T F6 as a convenience to navigate menus. The menu selectors Trace F1 to G-Solv F5 are right underneath the abbreviated options. fx-CG100 switches to a more traditional vertical venu. Many specialized calculations are based on filling out a form. There are a few instances where you need to memorize syntax.

Nearly every operator you need is on the HP Prime physical keypad. The screen is touch-screen. Certain apps are more cluttered. The screen may suggest “autocomplete” that you can press, to aid data entry. The number of physical and on-screen buttons can be overwhelming at times. The help button is very comprehensive and serves as a reminder of how to use anything and everything.

NumWorks is more willing to use math notations in its functions, which makes them more self-explanatory. Navigation uses a small set of buttons compared to other models. This means it is easy to learn to navigate, but it can take more key presses (most of which are repeated pressing of arrow keys). Overall, the design is simple and elegant.

data input / output

From most to least important, these impact the number of steps frequently needed.

Casio and NumWorks can find up to 10 roots to an equation in a single step. This is useful because IB may give extraneous or multiple roots.

NumWorks will automatically update the zoom to show as much of the graph as possible by default. Some models can automatically move the graph upon tracing on the current zoom, but only NumWorks can automatically set a good initial zoom.

Casio will re-run past calculations when an edit is made, making it easy to correct mistakes from even many steps ago.

IB recommends keeping all available precision for intermediate values. The ans is very useful. Also when a point of interest is found, TI-84, Casio, and HP will also automatically update X and Y. All models have ways to reuse other results.

Casio, on occasion, will only produce 4 decimal places and will round down. It may require navigating variables 5 layers of menu deep to view the full precision. TI-Nspire has a similar problem, but it has settings to changing number of significant figures displayed.

The following are minor considerations that may impact how smooth it is to perform a single step.

TI-84 by default overwrites starting from the cursor. Nspire requires explicit multiplication signs between variables, and between variables and brackets. Eg. ax(x+3) should be entered as a·x·(x+3).

When function names are tokens, a single delete operation will remove the function. Meanwhile text functions allow editting the individual letters of the name of the function to switch between similarly-sounding functions.

functionality

From most to least impactful, these are key differences that collectively make up around 15% of all calculations. Features beneath spreadsheet are minimally consequential.

variants

Some of the following information regarding version differences and specs are taken from Wikipedia.

TI-84

Here are the key differences between the common variants of TI-84 Plus.

TI-Nspire

Here are the key differences between the common variants of TI-Nspire.

Casio

Here are the key differences between the common Casio graphing calculators. Casio calculators use AAA batteries.

Compared to the TI-84 and TI-Nspire series, the interface in the above Casio models are highly similar, including with Casio scientific calculators.

Principles

There are key approaches to using your graphic display calculators (GDC).

1. IB accepts writing down the equation in math notation (if not given), a rough graph sketch, and a table of values as showing work. Do just enough work by hand so you can enter it into your calculator.
2. In over 95% of the time, how well you set up and use the calculator matters more than its speed and functionality. Explore your calculator well in advance of mocks and exams.
3. Enter data once, correctly, in a way that is reusable. Where possible, reuse past expressions and results stored on calculator.
4. No need to estimate or guess, except to set certain parameters or an initial guess.
5. Check your data entry and solution before moving on to the next question.

Examples

Examples are rolled out slowly. Current list of pages supporting TI-84 Plus CE, TI-Nspire, Casio, HP Prime, NumWorks:

• Data lists and frequency distributions
• Euler’s numerical method (HL)

Settings

After your calculator is reset, or set to exam mode. You should change the following settings, or at least know how to change them.

1. Change so the input wraps across lines or stay in pretty math (recommended).

2. Change between radians and degrees. First answer the questions requiring degrees. Then stick with radians for the rest of the exam.

3. Change function plotting from continuous/connected to dotted. This can speed up most graphing, but not graphing of definite integrals with a variable in the limits of integration, so that should always use solver. The change can be set in mode or at a per-function level. Also change it so graphs are plotting simultaneously not sequentially

4. Nspire users should change power standby from 5 minutes to 30 minutes.

5. TI-84 users should change Xres to 3.

Storage

Graphing calculators allow you to store values, functions, lists, and other data, so you can recall and reuse them, rather than repeatedly keying the same values.

This is particularly helpful to keep all decimal places for intermediate answers, so you don’t have to worry about rounding errors. IB typically requires at least three correct significant figures for accuracy marks.

Be careful entering expressions

Check the following when entering expressions or pretty much whenever using the calculator

• If an operator takes an expression, eg $\ln$, be sure to use brackets if there are operators in the expression, eg $\ln (3x + 5)$
• The negative sign is not the minus sign (except on NumWorks).
• Check all brackets are closed properly, especially on TI-84 and Casio.
• Check if your exponents are in fact exponents.
• Check if your denominators are in fact denominators.
• Unless otherwise specified, use radians mode for all trigonometric functions
• If you are modifying the equation before entering into the calculator, it’s a good idea to write down on the answer booklet what equations you are entering.
• If you need to enter the same expression multiple times, consider store it as a function, then call the function.
• If you need to enter the same value multiple times, consider store it under a letter (typically ALPHA + letter), then use the letter instead of retyping the value.

Be careful interpreting answers

A few extra seconds of sanity checks can help you catch mistakes and save you a few marks!

• Did you get the same number of solutions as you were expecting?
• Do the values make sense and are around what you were expecting?
• Are the solutions in the domain given in the question? Are any solutions extraneous?
• If you modified the equations prior to solving them, did you solve for the original variables?
• Did you answer what was being asked?

What to know?

This is a general list of calculator procedures to know for AA.

graphing

• Graph functions of $x$, ie $y = f(x)$ involving operators, built-in functions, including but not limited to absolute values, square root, derivative functions, probability and cumulative probability density functions.
• Reuse definitions to graph composite functions.
• Change graph style for different functions on the same graph.
• Hide functions from a graph.
• Graph piece-wise functions.
• Graph multiple branches of a relation.
• Find all zeros of a function.
• Find local and global extrema of a function.
• Find intersection of two functions.
• Graph over a specific domain.
• Zoom to show a y-value for each x-value (this is automatic on NumWorks).
• Zoom in and zoom out on the graph, and changing the zoom factors.
• Generate a table of values.
• Evaluate a function over a list of values.

solver

• Find multiple roots of an equation involving operators and built-in functions (see graphing, above).
• Solve systems of linear equations, up to 2 variables at SL, and up to 3 variables at HL.

statistics

• Report sample mean, median, mode (or modal class), range, standard deviation, variance, quartiles, interquartile range for a list of values or estimates for grouped values for equal-sized classes by using one-variable statistics.
• For HL, also be able to use the $\sum x^2$ property, for finding variance of linear transformations of a random variable or some data.
• Find $y$ on $x$ and $x$ on $y$ regression lines.
• Find the intersection of regression lines using two-variable statistics.
• Report Pearson’s correlation coefficient $r$ for a linear regression.

probability

• Find $\text{P}(X = x)$ and $\text{P}(X \leq x)$ for discrete random variables (eg binomial distributions) and continuous random variables (eg normal distributions).
• Use graphing or solver with unknown parameters, such as $n$, $p$, $\mu$, $\sigma^2$, and known endpoint(s), including multiple solutions.
• Report mean, median, mode … (see statistics for list) of a discrete random variable.
• Find $z$-score for a given cumulative probability in normal distributions.

financial

• Calculate compound interest or depreciation, include finding quantities other than the future value.

sequences (lists)

The same calculator can have sequence, list, recursion, table, and even spreadsheet modes. These have different features, but the central theme is working with a discrete set of inputs or values.

• Generate a table of values using sequence or recursion mode.
• Plot sequences.
• Generate sequences both from explicit formulas and recursive formulas.

For HL candidates

• Solve a differential equation using Euler’s method

storage and general use

• Save and reuse values.
• Copy and paste expressions.
• Modify and rerun a previous computation.
• Understand the order of operations used by the calculator, and where closing brackets are inserted.

arithmetics

This is a non-exhaustive list of calculations.

• Use $\pi$, $e$ and other values.
• Convert to and from scientific notation.
• Convert between exact values and decimals, and between improper fractions and mixed numbers.
• Use the negative symbol, which is different from the minus sign.
• Evaluate trigonometric functions and their inverses.
• Evaluate exponential and logarithmic functions at any base $b > 0$, and use $^2$, and $^{-1}$ (and be aware of differences between $f^{-1}(x)$ and $f(x)^{-1}$).
• Evaluate the binomial coefficient.
• Evaluate derivative at a point.
• Evaluate definite integrals.
• Find x-values with a certain derivative
• Solve anti-differentiation problems using integrals

Here are additional calculations for HL students.

• Enter complex numbers in rectangular and polar forms.
• Convert between the forms.
• Perform arithmetics of complex numbers.
• Evaluate expressions involving factorials and permutations.

Further reading

Some additional calculator tips are mentioned in solve equations and inequalities by graphing, find zeros and extrema by graphing, and Euler’s method to solve an ODE (HL).