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Earlier this month, Microsoft surprisingly decided to make the Calculator app for Windows 10 available on GitHub, not only bringing users and developers the ability to contribute to the app but also making the development process more open and transparent. Now, the GitHub project page has revealed that the app may soon be getting a graphing mode, which will likely prove to be helpful for many algebra students.
The feature proposal, spotted by ZDNet, was made by a member of the Calculator team at Microsoft, and it"s been approved, too. In the feature tracker for the app, the graphing mode is listed under pre-production, so it may be some time before it"s available for users. Nonetheless, it"s a major addition to an app that"s traditionally been fairly simple.
To justify the addition of the feature, Microsoft engineer Dave Grochoki mentions that graphing tools are essential for algebra students in high school, especially because the course is the one that"s failed more often. Having a graphing mode could make the learning process a lot easier and reduce the need for additional hardware or software. The main goals of the app are:
- Provide a great baseline graphing calculator experience in Windows Calculator
- Support all US common core math curriculum, including:
- Ability to build and interpret functions
- Understand linear, quadratic, and exponential models
- Trigonometric functions
- Reason with equations and inequalities
As such, the graphing mode would allow users to graph one or more equations, visualize interactions between lines, adjust the graph viewer to explore different parts of a function, and more. Additionally, graphs would even be able to be exported for sharing or integrating into Office apps or Microsoft Teams.
As of right now, there"s no indication of when the feature might be available for users, but if you"re a Windows Insider, you"ll likely get access to it a little earlier once it does start rolling out.