Exponents on Your TI-84 or TI-83 Graphing Calculator Video Script

In this video, I am going to show you how to work with powers and roots on your TI-84 or TI-83 graphing calculator.

First let’s find 5 raised to the second power, or 5 squared. Type 5 and then press the x2 button. When you press enter, you’ll see that 52 equals 25.

To find 5 raised to the fourth power, we’ll need to use the carat button which is located directly under the CLEAR key. Type 5 ^ (raised to the power of) 4. This equals 625. You can use the carat button to find any power of a number.

Next let’s find the square root of 196. Press the colored 2ND button followed by the x2 button. Notice the calculator also opens a parentheses. Then type 196, close the parentheses, and press ENTER.

You will find some special power and root functions by pressing the MATH button. For example, you can find 5 to the third power by typing 5, then press the MATH button, and type 3 to select the third option. Press ENTER to see that 53 equals 125. To find the cube root of 216, you must first press the MATH button and number 4 to select the fourth option. Then type 216, close the parentheses, and press ENTER to see that the cube root of 216 is 6. To find the fourth root of 81, you must first type 4 on the Home Screen. Then press the MATH button and select option five. Next type 81 and press ENTER to see that the 4 81 is 3.

Note that the negative sign is at the bottom of the calculator next to the decimal point and is a different button than the subtraction key.

To find the square of -3, you must type parentheses around the -3 and then press the x2 button. Negative three times negative three is positive nine. Note that the result is different if you leave off the parentheses. Type -3 and the x2 button to see that the opposite of 3 squared is -9. The calculator always follows the order of operations, so without parentheses, it computed the power 32 before taking the opposite (or making it negative).