The home screen is where the calculator starts, and where all ordinary arithmetic happens. Type a calculation and press : what you typed stays on the left, the answer appears on the right, and older lines scroll upward so you can look back at them. Wherever you wander on the calculator, (QUIT) brings you back here.

Graphing lives on the row of keys directly under the screen. opens the function list: type a function such as ​y=x2−3​ into Y1=, and draws it. controls how much of the plane you see, and offers shortcuts like 6:ZStandard for the standard ​−10​ to ​10​ view.

Statistics starts at . Choose 1:Edit to open the list editor: columns named L1 to L6 where your data values go. To empty a column of old data, move the cursor up onto its name (L1) at the very top and press then . The whole list clears at once. The key also hides the CALC menu (press once at the top) with 1-Var Stats and all the regressions.

The TVM Solver answers every compound-interest, loan, and annuity question. Press , choose Finance, then TVM Solver: fill in what you know, put the cursor on the row you want, and press (SOLVE). Here, 2000 invested at 5% for 10 years.

The PlySmlt2 app is a powerful tool for solving polynomials and simultaneous equations. Press and choose PlySmlt2: its Polynomial Root Finder solves quadratics and cubics exactly, and its Simultaneous Eqn Solver handles systems of equations. Here it factors ​x2−x−6​ for you. Notice the labels along the bottom edge of the screen (MAIN, MODE, COEFF, …): some screens offer their own shortcut buttons this way, and you press one with the top row of keys: the key sitting directly beneath a label, from across to , activates it.