you cant graph line segments

or can you...

well, no, you cant. not with a normal equation, at least.

on most, if not all TI-brand calculators, there is a button labeled "TEST".

the menu contains comparators such as < and >, but it also has a LOGIC tab.

this gives you access to conditional operators, like and and or.

since these will either return 1 (true) or 0 (false), they can cut off lines at certain points.

it's that easy.

• horizontal lines:
  • these are extremely easy to make, because you just need to have two comparisons and one condition.
  • X>-5 and X<5
  • that equation draws a line from (-5, 1) to (5, 1).
    
  • to offset this line, simply wrap the in parenthesis and multiply it by anything. this works because when the condition is 0 (false), nothing will happen.
  • (X>-5 and X<5)5
    
• diagonal lines:
  • diagonals are similar to straight lines, except that they stretch across multiple Y values.
  • to accomplish this, just replace the multiplier with an equation.
  • (X>-5 and X<0)(X+5)
    
  • to offset this, add the original equation to the end of the equation.
  • (X>-5 and X<0)(X+5)+(X>-5 and X<0)
    
  • (X>-5 and X<0)(X+5)+(X>-5 and X<0)2
    
• vertical lines:
  • these are straight up impossible.
  • you cannot have two different Y values for any given X, or it is not a valid function.
  • unless...
  • Y1=(X>1 and X<1.25)
Y2=(X>1 and X<1.25)1.25
Y3=(X>1 and X<1.25)1.5
Y4=(X>1 and X<1.25)1.75
Y5=(X>1 and X<1.25)2
Y6=(X>1 and X<1.25)2.25
Y7=(X>1 and X<1.25)2.5
Y8=(X>1 and X<1.25)2.75
Y9=(X>1 and X<1.25)3
    

  • (0.25 is the default margin of each marker)

drawing a triangle

putting a horizontal line and 2 diagonal lines together will make a triangle. simple as that.

Y1=(X>-5 and X<5)
Y2=(X>-5 and X<0)(X+5)+(X>-5 and X<0)
Y3=(X>0 and X<5)(-X+5)+(X>0 and X<5)