So yesterday I was trying to run some basic stats on my dataset, you know, just grabbing the mean and standard deviation like usual. Popped open my trusty TI-84, punched in the data, hit stat, went to calc, selected 1-Var Stats… and bam! Zilch. Nada. Empty list. “ERR: INVALID DIM” just sitting there mocking me. I almost threw my laptop because seriously, I’d used this thing a million times before.
First thought? Maybe my data entry sucked. Went back into STAT > Edit like, five times. Painstakingly scrolled through list L1, double-checking every single number against my notebook. No weird letters, no commas, definitely all numbers. Checked L2 and L3 just in case they were messing with it – both empty. Still got that stupid ERR: INVALID DIM. Ugh.
Panic Steps (Yeah, Real Professional)
Alright, deep breath. Maybe I picked the wrong list? Went through the 1-Var Stats menu again. You gotta tell it where your data lives. For me, it’s usually L1. Hit ENTER… still the error. Scratched my head. Tried L2 even though it was empty – got the same error. That was pointless.
Then I remembered something dumb: did I actually put any numbers in L1? Like, actually entered them? Sounds stupid, but I swear I blanked. Went back: STAT > Edit. Scrolled. Saw my numbers. Relief mixed with annoyance.
Time to Google-fu. Quickly looked up “ERR INVALID DIM 1-Var Stats“. Obvious stuff popped up:
- Empty List? Nope, list L1 had numbers.
- Non-numeric Data? Nope, all pure numbers.
- Wrong List Selected? Kept selecting L1. That was it.
Started to get mad. Was my calculator broken? Needed the data now. Grabbed it, hit MEM (that second button), scrolled down to Reset…. Felt scared. Reset All RAM sounded nuclear. Backed out fast. Did Clear Entries instead. Fingers crossed. Tried 1-Var Stats again… SAME ERROR. Wanted to scream.
The Lightbulb Moment (Duh!)
Sat there staring at the screen. “ERR: INVALID DIM“. “Invalid dimension.” List dimensions… What does that even mean? Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I’d been editing the lists after typing some numbers, right? But I never actually hit ENTER after putting in the last number! I had the cursor just sitting there blinking below it, like an idiot. The calculator thought I was still entering data! It didn’t see the list as finished, so 1-Var Stats choked, saying “Hey, your list isn’t properly set!”
Facepalmed so hard. Cursed my own impatience. Scrolled back to the bottom of L1, saw that lonely blinking cursor under the last digit I’d entered. Jabbed the ENTER key hard. Cursor vanished. Felt hopeful.
Went back, STAT > CALC > 1-Var Stats. Selected L1 again… Hit ENTER.
And boom! There it was. My beautiful mean, sum of x, sum of x², standard deviations, the whole glorious lot. Finally. Took like 30 minutes over what should’ve been 30 seconds, all because I forgot to hit ENTER one last time. Feeling equal parts relieved and deeply stupid.
Moral of the story? Make bloody sure you’ve finished your list entry before asking for stats. That blinking cursor? It’s not decoration; it’s a trap. Save yourself the grey hairs. Always tap that final ENTER. Now I’m off to find why this dumb old calculator doesn’t just auto-complete the list when you leave the edit screen… Tech debt sucks!
