Texas Instruments TI86 User Manual - Page 46

34 Chapter 1: Operating the TI-86 In the screen to the right, the default mode settings are highlighted along the left side of the screen. This example changes the decimal mode setting to 2, as in U.S. dollars and cents. In Normal notation, if the answer is more than 12 digits or the absolute value of the answer < .001, it is displayed in scientific notation. Notation modes do not affect how you enter numbers. Viewing and Changing Modes To display the mode settings, press - m. The current settings are highlighted. Mode settings control how the TI-86 displays and interprets numbers and graphs. The Constant Memory feature retains current mode settings when the TI-86 is turned off. All numbers, including elements of matrices and lists, are displayed according to the mode settings. Changing a Mode Setting ᕡ Move the cursor to the line of the setting that you want to change (decimal setting in the example). ᕢ Move the cursor to the setting you want (2 decimal places). ᕣ Execute the change. # " " " b Notation Modes Normal Displays results with digits to the left and right of the decimal (as in 123456.7) Sci (scientific) Displays results in two parts: significant digits (with one digit to the left of the decimal) are displayed to the left of E and the appropriate power of 10 is displayed to the right of E (as in 1.234567E5) Eng (engineering) Displays results in two parts: significant digits (with one, two, or three digits to the left of the decimal) are displayed to the left of E and the appropriate power of 10 (which is always a multiple of 3) is displayed to the right of E (as in 123.4567E3)