The TI-84 Plus series is a line of graphing calculators produced by Texas Instruments. They are ubiquitous in the American education system, and have historically been considered the de facto standard in grade school math. The series has also amassed a significant hobbyist following, along with a large library of community-developed applications, for its support of assembly language and TI-BASIC programs.
The family was superseded by the TI-84 Plus CE series in 2015; of the original series, only the TI-84 Plus is still in production, the Silver Edition and C Silver Edition having been discontinued that same year. However, they remain popular in the United States, with the TI-84 Plus being issued by schools more than 20 years after its introduction.
Beginning from around 2011, the series has received media attention from technology publications due to hobbyist app releases for the platform, such as an unofficial ChatGPT client, a web browser, and a neural network. In recent years, however, the TI-84 Plus has been increasingly criticized for its antiquated technology and poor value for money, with critics claiming that its continued sale is a result of Texas Instruments' calculator monopoly.
Editions
TI-84 Plus
The original TI-84 Plus was released in 2004 as an upgrade to the TI-83 Plus. Its keyboard layout and user interface are identical to that of its predecessor, and it is backwards compatible with older TI-BASIC programs. Despite this, it has significantly improved hardware; its CPU, the Zilog Z80, is 2.5 times as fast as the one in the TI-83 Plus, its display is of a higher contrast, and it has three times as much flash memory.
The TI-84 Plus introduced a real-time clock and a mini-USB data transfer port. The USB port is USB On-The-Go compliant, allowing the TI-84 Plus to connect to—and exchange data with—another calculator; Texas Instruments calls this feature Communication Link. The TI-84 Plus can also connect to a computer to transfer programs and files using Texas Instruments' proprietary program, TI-Connect.
An all-white variant of the TI-84 Plus was introduced in 2023. Currently, the calculator is still in production and issued by schools around the United States, required by some institutions, and seen as the standard option by many; critics argue that the enduring prevalence of the TI-84 Plus—which is considerably less powerful than a smartphone, yet still costs more than some—has hindered innovation in calculator technology and is a result of monopoly. They also claim that Texas Instruments exploits this by keeping prices at a level roughly twice that of competing calculators.
TI-84 Plus Silver Edition
thumb|TI-84 Plus Silver Edition
The TI-84 Plus Silver Edition (SE) was introduced on January 7, 2004 as an upgrade to the TI-83 Plus Silver Edition. It features 24 KB of user-available RAM; the calculator technically has 128 KB—48 KB in newer revisions—but the operating system was never updated to utilize it. It has 1.5 MB of user-accessible ROM, more than three times the 480 KB in the TI-84 Plus. It came preloaded with 30 applications.
The Silver Edition has interchangeable faceplates, and new, colored faceplates were available for purchase at Texas Instruments' online store. It was discontinued in 2015, making the TI-84 Plus the only currently produced calculator in the series.
TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition
<!-- Deleted image removed: thumb|TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition, graphing functions in multiple colors, overlapping a color image -->
The TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition (C SE) was released in 2013 as the first Z80-based Texas Instruments graphing calculator with a color screen.
It introduced a 320-by-240 pixel color screen, a modified version of the TI-84 Plus's 2.55MP operating system, and a removable 1200 mAh rechargeable lithium-ion battery. The C Silver Edition would not be Texas Instruments' last foray into color-screen calculators for the student market; the TI-84 Plus CE was introduced—with an upgraded CPU—two years later. The C Silver Edition was discontinued a few months after the launch of the CE. Applications (also called Flash applications) are stored in the calculator's ROM; these tend to be more complex than standard programs, and are usually from Texas Instruments themselves. Officially, two programming languages are supported: TI-BASIC and Z80 assembly. However, there are unofficial, community-developed languages—such as the Axe Parser—made specifically for the TI-84 Plus series.
The series has a significant hobbyist following, and a wide variety of official and community-made software has been developed for it over the years. These include video games, math programs, educational tools, and graphing software. In 2011, an unofficial web browser, Gossamer, was released for the platform, and in recent years, programmers have created internet-based programs like a ChatGPT client, graphical ray-casting software, and a neural network that incorporates primitive artificial intelligence. These developments have attracted the attention of technology publications.
Operating systems
There have been eight operating system releases for the monochrome-display calculators in the series, which include the TI-84 Plus, the Silver Edition, and their respective variants. In addition, calculators with an older bootloader can run custom operating systems like KnightOS.
Monochrome
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Version
!Release date
!Release information
|-
|2.21
|March 2004
|First release for the TI-84 Plus series. Added several new TI-BASIC commands.
|-
|2.22
|August 2004
|
|-
|2.30
|December 2004
|Added discontinuity detection when graphing asymptotes. Also added four new TI-BASIC commands.
|-
|2.41
|May 2006
|
|-
|2.43
|December 2007
|
|-
|2.53MP
|February 2010
|Introduced support for pretty-printing equations, called MathPrint.
|-
|2.55MP
|January 2011
|Added two new statistics-related TI-BASIC commands. Final release for the TI-84 Plus and the Silver Edition.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Tool
!Function
|-
|ScreenCapture
|Capture and save a still of a calculator's screen.
|-
|DeviceInformation
|Generate an information report of a calculator, which includes details such as its model, available storage, and installed applications.
|-
|DataEditor
|Modify variables on a calculator, such as numbers, lists, and matrixes.
|-
|DeviceExplorer
|Copy files to and from a calculator, install programs and applications, and create file groups.
|-
|OS Downloader
|Upgrade or downgrade the operating system on a calculator.
|-
|Backup/Restore
|Create and restore complete calculator backups, including RAM, applications, and flash memory.
|}
Texas Instruments' newer program for the TI-84 Plus CE series calculators, TI-Connect CE, is backwards-compatible with the TI-84 Plus series; it can be used in place of TI-Connect. TI-Connect is compatible with Windows XP and above, However, one of these programs—known as TiLP—is more recent and supports Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Technical specifications
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Model
!Processor
!Flash ROM
!RAM
!Display
!I/O
!Battery
!Weight
!Dimensions
!Ref.
|-
|TI-84 Plus
|Zilog Z80 6/15 MHz, overclockable to 26 Mhz
|480 KB 29LV800
|24 KB
|Toshiba T6K04, monochrome, 96x64 pixels, 16x8 characters
|Mini USB, 96 kbps link port
|4x AAA, 1x SR44 35 mA backup
|7.4 ounces
|7.5 x 3.3 x 0.85 inches
|
Presenter
The Presenter, introduced in 2003, is an alternative piece of calculator screen display equipment; instead of using a proprietary display panel and overhead projection system like the ViewScreen, the Presenter connects to an existing display device—such as a television or interactive whiteboard—using either an RF modulator or composite video input. Since it uses the same communication protocol as the ViewScreen, it is compatible with both the Presentation Link Adapter and ViewScreen variants of the TI-84 Plus.
Calculator-Based Laboratory
The Calculator-Based Laboratory (CBL), a general purpose data acquisition unit, was introduced in 1994. It collects information from several types of modular sensors by Vernier, Inc.—at a speed of up to 10,000 data points per second—and sends it to a calculator via link cable, which records and graphs the data. It also features a display and basic firmware of its own for standalone data processing. In 1999, the CBL was superseded by the CBL 2, which lacked a display for standalone use but introduced flash memory and increased the single-channel sample rate to 50,000 data points per second.
Calculator-Based Ranger
The Calculator-Based Ranger (CBR), introduced in 1997, is, like the CBL, a data acquisition unit, but features a single built-in sonic sensor instead of multiple unique modular ones. It measures distances by emitting and receiving an ultrasonic pulse, and then calculating the distance traveled by performing a speed-of-sound calculation using its microprocessor. It then stores this information in a list—which can contain up to 512 data points—and transfers that to a calculator via link cable. The CBR was replaced by the CBR 2 in 2004, which added a USB port for faster data transfer with the TI-84 Plus series.
Orion Talking Graphing Calculator
The Orion TI-84 Plus Talking Graphing Calculator is a detachable accessory for the TI-84 Plus produced by Texas Instruments in collaboration with Orbit Research and the American Printing House for the Blind. It adds general accessibility features—such as speech navigation—to the TI-84 Plus, and is able to read out the contents of the calculator's display using speech synthesis. It uses its own power source, a rechargeable battery, instead of drawing power from the calculator itself.
Variants
TI-84 Plus EZ-Spot
The TI-84 Plus EZ-Spot series, also known as the School editions and the School Property editions, are variants of TI-84 Plus series calculators produced by Texas Instruments and only made available for schools to purchase. They have the words "School Property" emblazoned on their faceplate and are accented yellow; this easily distinguishable design was chosen in an effort to prevent theft. The TI-84 Plus Silver Edition and C Silver Edition also have EZ-Spot variants.
TI-84 Plus Silver Edition VSC
The TI-84 Plus Silver Edition ViewScreen Calculator, also known as the TI-84 Plus Silver Edition VSC, is a variant of the TI-84 Plus Silver Edition intended for educational use. It has a display output that allows it to connect to a ViewScreen.
TI-84 Plus T
The TI-84 Plus T is a variant of the TI-84 Plus; it was introduced in 2015 by Texas Instruments, exclusive to the Netherlands. This variant is similar to the rest of the series, but features an LED to indicate whether or not the calculator is in press-to-test mode. The hardware of the TI-84 Plus T is similar to the TI-84 Plus Silver Edition, but the TI-84 Plus T is no longer able to run the assembler.
TI-84 Pocket.fr and Plus Pocket SE
The TI-84 Pocket.fr was introduced in 2011 as a miniaturized variant of the TI-84 Plus for the French market. It was the first region-specific calculator in the TI-84 Plus series.
Gallery
<gallery class="center">
File:TI-84 Plus calculator HS1.jpg|TI-84 Plus
File:TI-84 Plus buttons.jpeg| TI-84 Plus at an angle
File:TI-84 Plus.jpeg|TI-84 Plus at another angle
File:TI-84 Plus IO.jpeg|Link port and USB port
File:TI-84 Plus on dark background.JPG|TI-84 Plus Silver Edition
File:TI-84 Plus Pocket SE.jpg|TI-84 Plus Pocket SE
File:TI-84 Plus.jpg|Display with "Hello Wikipedia!"
File:TI-84 Plus calculator HS2.jpg|Display with specifications
File:TI-84 Plus 4 2019-01-27.jpg|TI-84 Plus, batteries, and cover
File:Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus calculator - back.jpg|Back with battery cover
File:TI-84 Plus batteries.jpeg|Battery compartment
File:TI-84-Plus-Silver-Edition.jpg|Custom blue faceplate applied
File:TI-84 Plus in package unopened.jpg|Retail package
File:TI-84 Plus screenshots.jpg|Screen captures, graph and application menu
File:Programma Horner.png|Screen captures of a TI-BASIC program in the built-in IDE
File:TI-84 Portal.jpg|Community-made game, clone of Portal
</gallery>
See also
- Texas Instruments
- Comparison of Texas Instruments graphing calculators
- TI-BASIC
Notes
References
External links
- TI Education Portal, Texas Instruments' official website
- ticalc.org, one of the largest TI-84 Plus-series hobbyist websites
- Datamath Calculator Museum, a website that has extended descriptions of all TI-84 Plus-series calculators
- Ti 84 Calculator Multi-Colors Ti-84 Graphic Simulator
- TI-84 Plus Graphing Calculator, Texas Instruments' page on the TI-84 Plus
- Ti-84 Calculator online, TI-84 Graphing Calculator Online