Understanding AC Circuits

Appendix F

Use of a Calculator

Electronic calculators greatly simplify problem solving for electronics technology. Low-cost calculators have the mathematical functions necessary to solve most problems encountered by electronics technology students. Most calculators have a simplified instruction manual that explains how to accomplish each mathematical function. The four basic functions (+, −, ×, ÷) are used for many simple electronics problems. Other functions that are particularly helpful in electronics applications are as follows.

Function	Key	Operation
Exponent	EE or EXP	Raisesa number to a power of 10
Inverse	1/x	Divides 1 by a number
Square	X2	Multiplies a number by itself (e.g., 52 = 5 × 5)
Square root	$\sqrt{\mathrm{X}}$	Extracts the square root of a number
Trigonometric ...