When calculating the angles inside a right triangle, how do Reese Kelley ’26 and her precalculus classmates check their math? They turn to the Rover — the TI Innovator Rover.
The Rover is an educational robotic vehicle that students, like Reese, can program with their TI graphing calculators to explore topics in mathematics, science, coding, and other areas within STEM.
After drawing a right triangle on graph paper, Reese calculates the angles of her shape using sine, cosine, and tangent functions. She then applies the Pythagorean theorem to find the hypotenuse. Once she completes her computations, Reese codes the triangle’s dimensions into the Rover using her calculator. If her calculated angles and lengths are entered correctly, the Rover faithfully recreates the right triangle she’s designed.
“I created this lesson using the Rovers last year after seeing that my students didn't understand right triangle trigonometry by just doing it on paper and checking their answers,” says Math and Science Teacher and T3 National Instructor Ellen Browne. “Teaching with the Rovers reinforces these concepts and helps students solidify their understanding long-term, so they can recall it later.”
Reese carefully enters her angles and lengths, checks to make sure a dry-erase marker is loaded into the Rover, and presses ‘Enter.’ She holds her breath as the Rover crawls across the graph paper and rotates at the exact angle Reese has entered before moving down the length of the triangle’s opposite side. The Rover turns as directed once again and travels the span of the hypotenuse — dragging the marker along with it. When it returns to its starting point, it stops, and Reese picks up the Rover to reveal that the robot has drawn a perfect replica of the right triangle she drew. Her classmates, who paused their calculations to watch Reese’s Rover, let out a cheer.