Owner manual

Plotting and Exploring Functions
Types of Plots Graphing is at the heart of the HP 38G. All of the built-in aplets
do graphing. This chapter considers the four main built-in
aplets:
« Function,
® Parametric,
e Polar, and
9 Sequence,
The Solve aplet and Statistics aplet, which also include
graphing, are covered in separate chapters.
Defining a Problem
You start with an aplet and a mathematical function to
explore, like y = mx + h.
General Steps 1. From the Library (| lib |), open the aplet you want. This
determines the type of function you can enter and plot.
2. In the Symbolic view CIsymbQ, enter or select an
expression. Check the angle units in the Symbolic Setup
(■ [SETUP-SYMB]).
3. In the Plot view (|plot1), display the graph. There are
menu keys to explore by tracing and zooming. Optional:
Specify graph settings in the Plot Setup (■ [SETUP-
PLOT]).
4. Explore a table of numeric values in the Numeric view
(I NUM|). Optional: specify table settings in the Numeric
Setup (■ [SETUP-NUM]).
5. All information is automatically stored until you change it.
To preserve the complete aplet as you have set it up, use
the Library to name and save the aplet (chapter 1).
Plotting and Exploring Functions 3-1