Category Archives: “How To” Atricles

“How To” Articles

How to Find Factor pairs using the calculator

Factorising is hard sometimes – particularly if you cant remember the factor pairs for a certain number. Here is a trick to help you. First put the calculator in Table mode by pressing  Then press the  button. At the top of the fraction put the number you are trying to factorise in. Next press the  […]

How to find the hypotenuse

This is really easy! If you have the x and y coordinates: For example: (3; 4) Type in 3  4    Your calculator screen will then look like this: r is your hypotenuse – which is 5 and your angle made with between the y-axis and the hypotenuse is 53o  What if you have the angle and […]

How to Make Second Common Differences Easy

Second Common Differences can be a bit complicated. The SHARP EL-535 can be very useful to help you figure out the formula and also to check whether your answers are right. Let’s do an example: You are given the pattern 3, 7, 15… On your calculator press: 1 (For stat) and then 2 for Quad […]

How to Enter the Quadratic Formula on your Calculator

Enter the Quadratic Function using your Memory Keys For example: 0 = 2×2 + 5x – 6 Make sure you are in Normal mode by pressing  0. We know that a = 2; b = 5 and c = -6. We need to store this in the calculator. So we press 2   . Now store b so type […]

How to Prove the CAST Diagram

To prove the CAST Diagram On your SHARP EL535 calculator press . Then type in . For X_Start: type in 90 and . For X_Step: type in 15 and . Look at the answers between -90 and 0 – are they all positive or all negative? They are all negative: therefore sin is negative between […]

How to convert decimal numbers to binary numbers

Binary numbers are based on the concept of ones and zeros or something similar to on and off. The base used to count in binary number is 2 and the one and zero says whether that 2 is on or off. The position of the one or zero in the binary number tells you to […]