Function Plotting Pane

To obtain information about function plotting controls, mouse-click them in the figure shown below.

Tip: Double-click the function entry field with the mouse to maximize its size and again to minimize it. This enables long functions to be entered more easily.

Entering a Function

Functions are entered in the function entry field together with an initial, final and incrementation x coordinate value:

Function format is as follows:

y=function of x eg. y=3*x+4

Tip: Numerical values can be entered as decimals or in scientific form:

eg. 42.05 or 4.205e1  0.0056 or 5.6e-3

Animating a Function

A displayed function can be animated by entering a window width value and clicking the ‘Animate’ button:

Animation can be paused, resumed and stopped by two further buttons that are displayed when animation is enabled. The slider control, enables the animation speed to be changed – moving this slider to the right, increases the animation speed.

The window width is interpreted in the units set for the x-axis scale.

Tip: Setting the window width at one tenth of the x-axis range, usually give good animation results.

NB. On older computers, function animation may operate very slowly.