Desmos Graphing Calculator 4+

I put this to some pretty specific and odd uses at work (carpentry; the explanation is lengthy and boring) and tried at least 20 different calculator apps in my search for just the right one. This one’s a keeper because 1) you can give it expressions in any form you want, which seems to me like something any graphing calculator should be able to handle and 2) it works offline, which also seems like something any calculator should do, since an app that has to ask a server to do calculations isn’t really a calculator, is it? The app is fast, the sliders nifty, and the layout streamlined. I also like how easily customizable the display settings are, but I wish that some of these settings, especially Reverse Contrast, were persistent, meaning they would still be as I’ve set them after I close and re-open the app. This, plus a few tweaks to Reverse Contrast, would effectively give the app a dark mode, which is never a bad feature for an app to have (I’m surprised they aren’t just calling it “Dark Mode” as-is). I also wish that the little box that displays the coordinates of a point on a line would stay visible until you tap again, not just until you lift your thumb up (there’s a way around this, but it’s not intuitive at all), and that it would move when you adjust a slider. Aside from these minor gripes, this app is super—heck, I’d pay for it.

Ok number one, the dark green in the app picture thing looks funny. Number two, it needs some way to do horizontal mode. Also, the darn tiny keyboard is too hard to use on my tiny screen, just make them slide and/or make the buttons bigger. Third, I don’t want to have to download every single Desmos app just to do all of my cool math stuff, so it would be nice to combine them all into one big app. That way whenever you get around to finishing the mobile version of the geometry and 3d calculators, I can just update it instead of installing two new apps. And four why can’t you graph theta as a function of anything yet. And why can’t theta and r be in the same equation as x and y? I would understand that maybe, but at least let me limit the r value so my Cartesian graph fits in a little circle.

I first off just want to send a huge SHOUT OUT to the creators for making this fabulous app available for FREE! 💕 After 30 years I decided to go back and finish my degree but I haven’t used Algebra in years and of course never used the Ti-84 calculator, so I’m already in a tight spot trying to crash course Algebra then on top of that learn a calculator I’ve never touched before. I was really struggling with graphs and putting things in the right way and extremely frustrated until my youngest two sons who are also in college told me to download this app. The fact that you can put the equation in straight from the book as well as move the lines around, flip them or zoom in is just awesome. It really helped me to actually understand how the equations worked and I have a much better understanding after using this then I ever did with the other one. This app truly saved my sanity 🤣Thank you! 😎✌️