fxNews May 2006 Volume 2

May 2006. Welcome to this second edition of fxNews. The focus of this edition is to continue to get fx-9860G users up and running with the new features of this lightening quick graphic calculator from Casio, including using the FA-124 software. There is also a major feature on getting started with eActivities in the fx-9860.

How to load all the software - programs, eActivities and other files - in this edition of fxNews onto your fx-9860.
Loading the software into the fx-9860 requires three basic steps

• download fxNews2006Vol2.g1s to the default My Documents/CASIO/FA-124 folder on your computer;
• load the software into the FA-124; and
• transfer the software to the fx-9860.

Installing Updates.
All updates will automatically be installed into your fx-9860G if you follow the installation instructions supplied on this CD. Full explanation is given in the installing updates document.

Our tutorials in this edition are designed to help you start exploring the new eActivity feature of the fx-9860G. What is an eActivity? To quote the Casio world site, 'The innovative eActivity functions of the fx-9860G series allow the students, not to mention teachers, to create their own problems or study materials.'

How to Create an eActivity - Teachers
This edition carries a nine-page feature on creating eActivities using the fx-9860G emulator. Put aside an hour to work through it and begin to develop your proficiency. Then start thinking about the future and the way you teach some of your courses. Now that every student in your class has instant access to a eActivities - in class and for assessments - might your teaching change?

How to Make Revision Notes as an eActivity - Students
This seven-page feature on creating study notes as an eActivity is aimed at the students in your class. Copy it onto your intranet and let your students know it is there! It will be of particular interest for students who study physics and chemistry. Everything is explained, from downloading the emulator to linking to their calculator.

This second edition of fxNews contains 23 new programs in file PROG06V2.g1m and all 31 (now password protected) programs from the first issue in file PROG06U1.g1m. Several minor updates have also been made to a few of the 31 programs from the first issue. These changes are detailed at the end of the programs page.

NEW! fxNews programs are now all password protected (password is FXNEWS) in order to help prevent accidental corruption of the program code. When not password protected, as soon users press AC then EXIT to break out of program execution, the fx-9860G immediately enters program edit mode and it is easy to add or delete code before the user realizes what is going on! Password protection prevents this from happening.

More can be found on the programs page.

Spreadsheets are one of the two major new features of the fx-9860.

This edition of fxNews contains 5 new spreadsheet examples.

• DIFFPATT calculates the first, second and third difference patterns of any sequence of number entered in column A.
• COMP INT - compound interest made easy with a spreadsheet.
• POLYGONS - angles in regular polygons. This spreadsheet is an example of a very quick and simple solution to problems where several variables depend on a single variable.
• CIRCLES - calculates area, circumference, sector area, arc, lengths and so on. Similar to POLYGONS, this spreadsheet further illustrates how changes to one or two variables can be accommodated in calculating other dependent variables.
• STATCHNG helps explore changes to the mean and standard deviation of a group of 12 numbers. See both statistics change instantly � on the same screen � when any of the 12 numbers are changed.

More can be found on the spreadsheets page.

eActivities are one of the two major new features of the fx-9860. This edition carries a nine-page How To Create An eActivity which is designed to quickly get users up and creating their own. A total of ** eActivities have been included in this edition of fxNews.

Students can learn how to create their own study materials with our How To Make Revision Notes feature. This seven-page feature on creating study notes as an eActivity is aimed at the students in your class. It will be of particular interest for students who study physics and chemistry. Everything is explained, from downloading the emulator to linking to their calculator.

This edition of fxNews contains 3 new eActivities.

• AP explores different ways of solving Arithmetic Progression problems through notes, solve, recursion, spreadsheets and run. All present different ways of working with AP's on the fx-9860G and give users a choice of methods to explore such sequences.
• CIRCLE~R summarises formulas for arc length, sector area and segment area when the angles involved are measured in radians.
• TRIANGLE contains eight solve strips plus several note strips for solving triangle problems. The eActivity has one section dealing with right-angled triangles and another to work with non-right angled triangles.

More can be found on the eActivities page.

• Jump to any exact coordinate whilst tracing in Graph
• Find the equation of the tangent to any function in Graph
• Recursive calculations with matrices in Run
• Substitution in a function in Run

These and more can be found on the Tips and Tricks page.