Inside Your Calculator

Book excerpt: Uncover the mysteries that lie within your calculator This remarkable book explores the simple internal calculatorprocesses—algorithms and programs—that tell us, forexample, that the cosine of 56? is 0.5591929035. Using carefullyconstructed diagrams and figures, the author effectivelydemonstrates how calculator keys compute powers, roots, logarithms,and trigonometry functions, while also providing insights intosimple programming, the conversion between decimal and binarynumeration, and perhaps most importantly, the structure of ournumeration systems. Many people believe that the processes thatdrive calculators demand advanced mathematical concepts; however,this book proves that a minimal understanding of algebra andgeometry is all that is needed to follow the step-by-stepexplanations of how scientific calculators work. Inside Your Calculator: From Simple Programs to SignificantInsights is a complete and multifaceted exercise in criticalthinking. This book features: A detailed explanation of how to use a graphics calculator andprogram basic functions A discussion of the history of mathematics when appropriate,which provides a foundation for further learning Fundamental mathematical lessons and interesting applications ofpre-calculus mathematics A thorough review of the fundamentals of programming, algebra,and geometry needed to gain insight into why the algorithms workand how the results are meaningful in our lives While the simultaneous use of a calculator is not needed to gaininsight into how the algorithms work, those who do have aprogrammable graphics calculator can experiment with the programspresented in the book. These programs may be used on TI-84 andTI-83 calculators, and additional information for other TexasInstruments calculators as well as the Casio FX series is availableon the book's related web site. As a result of over fifty years of award-winning teachingexperience in both high school and college classrooms, Dr. Risinganticipates and answers potential questions from readers, and hesuccessfully brings this subject alive in an illuminating andentertaining way. This book is therefore not only ideal forundergraduate mathematics majors as either a primary orsupplemental text, but it also appeals to anyone with an interestin mathematics and its ideas. View Dr. Rising's book presentation: atitle="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqadHbc2YOA"href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqadHbc2YOA"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqadHbc2YOA/a