# [unusual problem]making an illustration on graphing calculator

1. Oct 29, 2004

hello, i'm new! well anyways, i'm having trouble with this assignment. the assignment is to, on my TI-83 plus graphing calculator, create an illustration as a graph. it doesn't have to be much, it could be a person, or a flower, pretty much anything. the thing is, i'm not too good at pre-calculus and all i'm managing to make is parabolas and awkward lines. Also, after all the functions for the graph are entered and the graph is made, i have to draw it on a piece of paper, and write all the functions on it, so cheating like using the pen tool won't work. thank you VERY much.
don't get me wrong, i don't want you to do this for me. i just looking for some ideas, or a cool-looking function to graph. anyhting helps, thanks.

Last edited: Oct 29, 2004
2. Oct 29, 2004

### vsage

Welcome to PF!
I think polar coordinates have nice looking graphs.. Even something as simple as $$cos(2\theta)$$ produces a four-petal flower. Combining random trig functions together produces nice results but as for drawing a person that could get tough because you have to figure out how to restrict the domains of the functions so that only the desired portion of the graph is shown. For example, if you wanted to draw y = x from x = -1 to x = 1, you would have to transform y = x into $$y = x \frac{\sqrt{1-x^2}}{\sqrt{1-x^2}}$$so that way any x outside of [-1, 1] returns a nonreal result and therefore won't be graphed. I don't think you want to think quite that hard for this assignment though :)

3. Oct 30, 2004

Hehe, i made a :) face.
((5-5(x+3)^2)^(1/2))+2
-((5-5(x+3)^2)^(1/2))+4
((5-5(-x+3)^2)^(1/2))+2
-((5-5(-x+3)^2)^(1/2))+4
-((1-5(x+3)^2)^(1/2))+4
-((1-5(x+3)^2)^(1/2))+4
-((6-.5(x)^2)^(1/2))-3
-((5-.33(x)^2)^(1/2))-2
((5-5(-x+3)^2)^(1/2))+3
((5-5(x+3)^2)^(1/2))+3

4. Oct 30, 2004

### mrdrew

i had this assignment last year. was probably one of the more fun projects i had in my calculus class. I made stewie from family guy. everyone recognized it right away, i was so proud. haha. good luck, i had mostly trial and error. friend of mine (beign much smarter) figure out his stuff on paper first and made a sailbot in the water. was impressive.

5. Oct 30, 2004