Many calculators will carry out calculations for basic descriptive statistics. In general, the graphical calculators are much more useful because data can be stored, allowing checking of the data entered and recalculating with little effort. None of these approach the broad power of a statistics computer package (though some will perform basic t and chi-square tests), but they are a lot more portable.
The links below will take you to pages describing some of the capabilities and giving the keystrokes for calculation on a number of currently popular calculators. The instructions assume that you are familiar with the basic operation of the calculator.
For Math 114 and Math 116 at Saint Mary's College you will need to have and use a calculator capable of two-variable statistics calculation (correlation & regression). If you have such a calculator and it is not on the list below, please contact me (Charles Peltier - Mathematics Department - cpeltier@saintmarys.edu) so we can get together and work out the instructions (we'll probably need your manual). The list below covers the calculators I have seen most often in classes - I'd like to add others.
You can contact the manufacturers on-line for copies of the manuals for these calculators. Here are the URL's (as of 7/18/03)
Texas Instruments has many of their manuals (they refer to them as "guidebooks") available as Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) files at
http://education.ti.com/us/global/guides.htmlCasio has newer manuals on-line as Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) files and an e-mail based system to request older manuals at
http://world.casio.com/calc/download/en/manual/Hewlett-Packard has a page from which you can select your calculator and look up "how to"s or problems a on their site at http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/eng/support.html[use the search window in the middle of the page for your calculator]. Or you can look for manuals under "replacement parts" - older manuals are not availble
Sharp has newer manuals posted in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format and a phone number for ordering older manuals at
http://www.sharp-usa.com/products/TypeManuals/0,1083,15,00.html
Casio fx-9915 -Coverage a bit sketchy, could use help here
HP-48gx - not yet written (my students haven't been using it & operation is very different)
Although these are not preferred for our course, it would be useful to have broader coverage here - can anyone help me out?
Sharp
Casio FX-7000
Errors or questions? Please let me know: cpeltier@saintmarys.edu
Last update 7/18/2003