12.2 Entering Expressions

Parentheses

Order of Operations: The calculator follows the standard order of operations.

Fractions

Exponents and Powers

The key for exponents and the key for squaring are shown in the keyboard image.

Square Roots

The key for square roots is shown in the keyboard image.

Other Roots

If we click on the "f(x)" on the keyboard in the Algebra View, we see other built-in keys.

Absolute Value

GeoGebra nicely displays the vertical bars of the standard absolute value notation, such as in the expression $| 21 \cdot 54 - 81 |$ . Once we select the absolute value key, the cursor is in between the vertical bars and will stay there until we use the arrow keys to move the cursor outside, or until we press . The arrow keys on the virtual keyboard are shown in the keyboard image.

Scientific Notation

The GeoGebra calculator does not display scientific notation by default. The calculator can display scientific notation in the Grahics View by using a ScientificText command.

Example 16

Compute $123, 456, 789 squared$ .

Enter $123456789$

Ans. $15241578750190522$

We will enter ScientificText in the input box.

On the computer, typing the first three letters (sci) is enough for the full command to appear as an option.
On a phone app, we tap on the overflow menu (three horizontal dots) on the top right of the virtual keyboard (see keyboard image), tap in the Search in All Commands field, then start to input ScientificText until the full command appears as an option.

We click on ScientificText, and the cursor is appropriately positioned, ready for us to enter an expression. We can either repeat the calculation we entered above, or, more efficiently, select the last answer key ans and .

The result $1.52415787501905 \times 10^{16}$ , appears on the grid in the Graphics View. We can drag the text within the Graphics View, change its color, and/or delete it.

We could also type in the entire command scientifictext using the ABC keyboard, then use the 123 keyboard to enter the parentheses and numbers.

Editing an Entry

We can edit an expression without starting again. The backspace key will remove the character to the left of the cursor. We can move the cursor within an input line using the arrow keys or by clicking in the appropriate place.

We can recall any previous entry by finding it in the output history (scrolling up if necessary), tapping on the kebab menu icon (three vertical dots), and selecting Duplicate. The command will be copied into the current input box, which we can edit before pressing .

If we just want to use the most recent result in the current command, we use the ans key.

Modeling, Functions, and Graphs by Katherine Yoshiwara (yoshiwarabooks.org), GNU Free Documentation License 1.2 or later. Adapted for the XYZ HTML edition with the authors' permission (recorded 2026-07-04). License: GFDL-1.2-or-later.