Des-blog

2013. The first year since 1987 that’s been composed of entirely distinct digits. The year after the year of the end of the world. And the 1-year anniversary of the Desmos Graphing Calculator. To celebrate, we’re releasing our most sweeping set of changes yet.

I want to focus this post on one feature in particular: Tables of Data. Over the last year, thousands of you have requested Tables of Data, and we understand why. Tables are a student’s first way of organizing the logic of a function – number goes in, number comes out. They are the heart of statistics. They are one of the three legs of the representation tripod mandated by Common Core, along with symbolic (equations) and graphical (um… graphs).

Because Tables of Data are such a critical component of mathematical understanding, we wanted to make sure we got them right. We wanted them to be as intuitive and as powerful as the rest of our system. And we wanted to retain the general simplicity that drives our every decision, all while adding our most complex feature yet. You’ll have to let us know how we did.

What we’re releasing today is the culmination of months of work, testing, false starts, and breakthroughs. This launch represents over 30,000 new lines of code across over 250 files. It has changes that go all the way back to May. It’s our biggest update yet. But all we want you to take away from it is a new way to explore math, hopefully in a cleaner, faster, more intuitive interface than ever before.

If you have questions, check out our new “tables” section on our support site, send us a tweet @desmos, or email calculator@desmos.com.

Thank you to everyone who helped us test at different stages, tracked down bugs, and made this release possible. This is only the beginning.

Here’s to 2013!
Eli & Team Desmos

want to join our early testers program? E-mail calculator@desmos.com

Do you have a question about how to use Desmos? Or an awesome idea you’d like to see us build into the calculator? Well, today’s your lucky day! We’ve revamped our customer service portal to make it easier than ever to let us know what’s on your mind and how we can make our software even better.

We kept the same URL (support.desmos.com), but the real magic lies in our easy to search help topics and idea forums.

So what’s new?

Our updated Knowledge Base. We’ve created support categories to help answer some of the most commonly asked questions, share video tutorials, reveal keyboard shortcuts, and more. If you read an article that is especially helpful, feel free to vote it up! You can also add comments and exchange messages with other users within each article. And if you can’t find the answer you’re looking for, let us know.

An easier way to submit calculator ideas. Our drive to build a better calculator is fueled by user feedback. When our team meets to decide what upgrades we should work on next, our first step is taking a look at your requests. Our new portal makes it easier to submit your ideas, vote them up, and track their development status. And rumor is, the more votes an idea has, the sooner it gets created ;)

We hope you’ll take advantage of this new feedback system to help us tailor the calculator to your needs. Please explore the new site and let us know what you think: @desmos or calculator@desmos.com.

Limiting the domain and range on the Desmos graphing calculator is simple. Once you’ve mastered this feature you’ll be cranking out incredible graph art in no time. Watch this quick tutorial to learn how:

Who knew piecewise notation could be so fun! Click the graphs below to see domain and range restrictions in action:

Bridge, graphed by Brian: www.desmos.com/calculator/zpceslgvw2

Chess Board, graphed by Eric: www.desmos.com/calculator/1xx7armsfg

What can you create with Piecewise? Tweet us your graphs @Desmos or post them to our Facebook page.