DOVER, NJ, October 7, 2010 — Casio America, Inc., and its parent company, Casio Computer Co., Ltd., today announced the release of PRIZM™ (fx-CG10), advancing the next-generation of graphing calculators with its high-resolution color LCD and various functions designed to assist with math lessons. PRIZM™ includes the world’s first Picture Plot*1 function that enables users to plot graphs over curves and other familiar shapes in real life, such as the parabola of jets from a water fountain. The high-resolution color LCD delivers full textbook-style display.

PRIZM™ is revolutionary among graphing calculators with features that enhance users’ understanding of mathematics. With conventional graphing calculators, students learn by inputting equations to create graphs. PRIZM™ creates a whole new way to learn math by enabling students to experiment by creating their own graphs over pictures of real-life scenes, and then understand the functions from the graphs that they created on their own.

“We are thrilled to introduce the new PRIZM™ to Casio’s line of superior graphing calculators,” said Greg Yurchuk, director of marketing of Casio’s Education Division. “It brings math to life with vivid images and color displays which offer students a fun and innovative way to learn in the modern-day classroom.”

Casio has contributed to math education around the world by developing advanced calculators that make learning easier. In 1985, Casio introduced the world’s first graphing calculator, the fx-7000G, and in 2004 the company released the fx-82ES scientific calculator with textbook display that showed fractions and root functions as they appeared in textbooks.

High-resolution color LCD with full textbook-style display
The color LCD offers full textbook-style display with the highest pixel resolution*2 (82,944 dots) and widest color reproduction (65,536 colors) of any calculator. PRIZM™ comes with high-resolution fonts up to 18×24 dots (including blank dots), to enable equations and text to be displayed just like they appear in textbooks. The Blanview LCD delivers superior visibility and low power consumption, enabling color display with an estimated run time of 140 hours on four AAA-size alkaline batteries.

Picture Plot enables learning from real-life pictures
Picture Plot enables users to create their own graphs over pictures displayed on the color LCD. PRIZM™ comes with 55 types of color pictures that users can create graphs over, such as a picture of the parabola of jets from a water fountain and an image sequence of a clock’s pendulum movement. Users can perform regression calculations from the completed graphs to enhance their understanding of math functions.

Multitude of functions that leverage the color LCD
Colors can be added to a multitude of graphing objects including dotted lines, circles, and bars, as well as grid lines on graphs, labels of coordinate axes, and coordinate values displayed during tracing. The Color Link function links the colors used in graphs to the designated values in the spreadsheet screen, to aid the visual comprehension of trends and changes in values. PRIZM™ automatically color-codes brackets when entering equations with multiple brackets, as a visual aid to facilitate the entry of complex equations.