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Casio Touch-Panel Graphing Calculator Launching in April

The fx-CP400 will launch next month at the National Council of Teachers in Mathematics conference.
The fx-CP400 will launch next month at the National Council of Teachers in Mathematics conference.

Casio will launch the latest addition to its ClassPad series of graphing scientific calculators earlier than expected. The fx-CP400 will debut at the National Council of Teachers in Mathematics (NCTM) annual meeting in April and will carry a pricetag of $149 for education customers.

The new device will have a 4.8-inch color touch-panel LCD, with enough screen real estate for students to view both graphs and equations simultaneously. According to the company, the new calculator also allows users to switch from vertical to horizontal display, making it easier to view long equations on a single line.

The fx-CP400 uses the original ClassPad's Computer Algebra System that lets users input formulas using the keyboard, and then drag and drop those formulas into charts and graphs using the touch screen. The device also breaks functions into three levels of difficulty including basic fractions and square roots, advanced sigma calculations and compound numbers, and complex piecewise functions and user-defined formulas.

"The introduction of the fx-CP400 represents our continued commitment to the education space. The fx-CP400 is the first in the ClassPad series with a large colored LCD display, making it easier for students to operate and understand formulas, graphs and images," said Takero Itonaga, senior general manager of Casio's Consumer Products Division, in a prepared statement.

The new ClassPad calculator will include USB 2.0 support for data transfer, will offer 30 MB of internal memory, and will be compatible with Casio projectors, allowing teachers to display the calculator on large screens. According to Casio, the fx-CP400 will retail for $149 and will be available to teachers through education dealers.

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Chris Riedel is a freelance writer based in Illinois. He can be reached here.

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