Calcsy

Calcsy is a free program that lets you see your TI-84+ or TI-89 Titanium calculator screen on your computer. All you need is a compatible calculator and a USB cable.

Why?

In most classrooms, it's hard to explain procedures on a calculator, yet students are expected to be able to efficiently use graphing calculators on tests like the ACT and SAT. Calcsy takes the calculator you already have, and lets you show it bigger on a computer screen (or via a projector). You can also use Calcsy to save pictures of the calculator screen, which you can then use in written explanations as well.

Texas Instruments, the manufacturer of the calculators Calcsy can use, sells software which lets you do many of the things Calcsy can do (as well as several others), but it costs over $150, and only simulates a TI-84+ (not the TI-89 Titanium). They also sell a device to show calculator screens on a TV or projector, but it costs upwards of $300 and doesn't even let you save the screen.

On the other hand, Calcsy is free, and lets you use student calculators (or your own) to connect and show quickly on your screen. Taking screenshots to use in worksheets or other materials is easy too.

What do I need? Can I get help?

Calcsy has a few basic requirements. Click here to see the Calcsy support page, which describes what you'll need and answers common questions.

Download

The latest version of Calcsy is 0.9.5. Calcsy is distributed according to the terms of the Calcsy license.

• Mac OS X 10.5+: Download (10 MiB .dmg)
• Windows and Linux versions will be available later. See the support page for more information.

Donate

If you like Calcsy, please click here to donate to Calcsy. Donating helps me pay for developing and hosting Calcsy, and encourages me to make other projects in the future. Thank you for your consideration!

About the author / contact

I'm aschmitz, someone interested in both education and computer science. I occasionally blog at lardbucket.org, and sometimes tweet as @aschmitz. Calcsy was written in my third year at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. If you'd like to contact me, feel free to find me on my blog or Twitter, or email me at aschmitz@sa.ne.