Updated as of September 18, 2024.
What is a Desmos?
Desmos provides, at no cost, online calculators that are accessible for screen reader users. As noted on the About Desmos Studio web page: “Desmos Studio is a Public Benefit Corporation with a goal of helping everyone learn math, love math, and grow with math. We believe that everyone has an inner mathematician and that some people haven’t been given the opportunity, encouragement, or tools to discover theirs. So we prioritize equity and accessibility at every level of our work.
Our free suite of math tools, including our Graphing Calculator, is used annually by over 75 million people around the world. Those tools help people represent their ideas mathematically, connect different representations dynamically, make conjectures, and then develop entirely new ideas. They also result in some pretty spectacular art.
We partner with the world’s most popular curricula and learning software, and with the majority of U.S. state-level assessments and digital college entrance exams.”
Desmos online accessible calculators include the following:
About using Desmos in class
Desmos provides a great deal of support for students, educators, and families. These include:
Guide to Screen reader Set Up for Desmos
Link to information about making certain the screen reader is set so that Desmos can work best
List of keyboard commands for the Desmos calculator, one in Word and the other in a BRF:
- Graphing Calculator Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows (Microsoft Word .docx)
- Graphing Calculator Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows (Braille .brf)
Desmos for Maryland State Assessments
Maryland’s MCAP (Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program) uses a modified version of Desmos Scientific and Graphing calculators. You may practice with the test versions of the calculators on the Desmos testing practice page.
- Grade 8 (Mathematics)
- Grade 8 (Science)
- High School (Mathematics)
Maryland MCAP Desmos fact sheet
Other states: Go to “Is Desmos on your test? Home page and navigate to your state to determine whether it allows/incorporates Desmos.
Desmos for College Board Examinations
The Desmos online graphing calculator is built into the calculator-allowed sections of digital College Board tests. From Practice—Calculator Details.
In digital testing, the Desmos calculator is noted as a “Universal Tool” and is available to everyone, whether they request an accommodation or not. From: Types of Digital Accommodations.
If a student is granted the accommodation of a calculator on portions of the test where calculators are not typically allowed, that student will have access to the Desmos four-function calculator. From Practice—Calculator Details.
Contact the Bridges Helpdesk for More Information
- Our Accessible web form
- Email: Helpdesk@imagemd.org
- Text: Send to: (410) 357-1546
- Voice mail: Call (410) 357-1546, leave a voice mail message, and we will return your call
This unique project is being coordinated through The IMAGE Center of Maryland, a center for independent living in Towson, and it is funded by a grant from the Maryland Department of Education Division of Special Education/Early Intervention Services.