A summation is a mathematical operation that adds up a series of terms. It is often denoted by the symbol ∑, where the lower and upper limits indicate the starting and ending values of the index variable. For example, the summation ∑i=1ni2 means to add up the squares of the integers from 1 to n.

Finding summation on a ti-89 calculator can be done in two ways: using the sum( function or using the F3 menu. In this article, we will explain both methods with examples.
Using the sum( function
The sum( function is a built-in function on the ti-89 calculator that can find the sum of a list of values or a sequence of terms. For example, suppose we want to find the sum of the first 10 natural numbers.
To find the summation using the sum( function, follow these steps:
- Press the
ONbutton to turn on the calculator. - Press the
MODEbutton and make sure thatEXACTis selected for the exact/approximate mode. - Press the
HOMEbutton to go to the home screen. - Press the
2NDbutton and then press theLISTbutton to access the list menu. - Scroll over to the
MATHoption and scroll down to the option5:sum(and pressENTERto select it. - Enter the list of values or the sequence of terms separated by commas. For our example, we would enter
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. - Press the
)button to close the parentheses and pressENTERto calculate the summation.

The calculator will display the summation as 55. This means that the sum of the first 10 natural numbers is 55.
Using the F3 menu
The F3 menu on the TI-89 calculator serves as a shortcut for performing calculus operations like derivatives, limits, integrals, and sums. For instance, if we aim to calculate the summation ∑i=1n i2, we can utilize this menu.
To find the summation using the F3 menu, follow these steps:
- Press the
ONbutton to turn on the calculator. - Press the
MODEbutton and make sure thatEXACTis selected for the exact/approximate mode. - Press the
HOMEbutton to go to the home screen. - Press the
F3button to access the calculus menu. - Scroll down until you see the
4:Sumoption and pressENTERto select it. - Enter the expression, the variable, and the limits of summation separated by commas. For our example, we would enter
X^2,X,1,n. - Press the
)button to close the parentheses and pressENTERto calculate the summation.
The calculator will display the summation as n^3/3 + n^2/2 + n/6. This means that the sum of the squares of the integers from 1 to n is equal to this expression.
Summary
In this article, we learned how to find summation on a ti-89 calculator using two methods: using the sum( function and using the F3 menu. Summation is useful for finding the total of a series of terms or a sequence of values. We hope this article was helpful and informative. For more information on summation and other algebra concepts, you can check out this website.