graphing software for algebra 1???

Try one of the Texas Instruments graphing calculators. The TI-73 Explorer is great one to start with, I think it retails for about 70 dollars, but you could probably get one on Ebay for about $45. Very important — make sure you get the manual that goes with it. It’s a perfectly good calculator that ought to be adequate through Geometry. Your daughter might need some teacher assistance with it, but a teacher of algebra and geometry ougt to be familiar enough with it to help her.

The TI-89 is the gold standard tight now, and is good for any levels of high school and college math, and the TI-83 would be fine all through high school.

I would recommend the calculator over software, simply because of the convenience factor — they’re so portable. Also, you can get plug-ins with the calculator, I think, so that she can see it over a larger screen, if necessary.

Texas Instruments has a pretty good web site, and some student tuorials, so she may be to get what she needs without you having to buy anything. I use these calculators all the time and they’re easy to use and very intuitive. I have LDs too, but not dysgraphia, so I’m not sure if it’s the very best for your daughter, but I’m a big fan.

Just thought of Geometer’s Sketchpad, which is great software. I think it comes bundled with the fancier TI calculators, but it’s put out by Casio and can be purchased seperately as software, probably online only, though. A bit harder to learn, but you can do amzing things with the graphs.

I would go for the Texas Instruments too. Forget the 70 series and get the good ones in the 80 series. Also I don’t like the 83 — designed to be a simplified version. I used to recommend the 86, but OK the 89 is out so go for it. These things are great; you can use them as simple calculators and see your typing on the screen (a boon if like me you have coordination problems and mistype a lot). You don’t need any skill at all to use them this way. You can learn how to do a graph on them, takes five or ten minutes with someone to show you how and after that the system is logical. Then you can grow into the other functions, learn how to use the statistics and programming features later.

Hi -

Here is a link to a graphing calculator online . It’s pretty cool. You can also download it so she doesn’t have to go online to find it. I haven’t tried that; I just use it online occasionally.

http://humblestar.net/GCalc/

It sounded to me like you might be looking for a way that your daughter could print out the graph to turn in with the homework. No simple mechanism to do that with the GCalc (at least that I could see at a quick glance). But you could take a screen capture. Here’s how.

- With the final graph displayed on-screen, use the PrintScreen button on your keyboard. (Makes a image of your entire screen in memory.)

- Then open a graphics application (you can find Microsoft Paint from your Program menu, Accessories folder), and then use the Edit menu/Paste command.

- Then just use the Rectangle select tool to outline just the graph, use the Edit menu/Copy copy command to copy what you selected.

- Choose File menu/New Command. (It will ask you if you want to save your current screen. You can say No.)

- If you see the image area is quite large you might want to change it to a smaller size, then use the Edit menu/Paste command to bring in the graph. Voila!

This isn’t directly related to your question, but here is another graph tip. You can use Paint to create a grid with an x and y axis. (I recommend gray grid lines). I made one and pasted six of them on a page on a Word document. Then I print them out and cut them up so he can just paste them onto his homework, and enter the function right on them. Saves a lot of time for him, and lets him focus on what he’s supposed to be learning and not the tedium (and mess) of making the graph.

thanks to all for these great suggestions — I always know where to come for expert help!!