DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM
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DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM |
Texas Instruments TI Programmable 57
| Date of introduction: | May 24, 1977 | Display technology: | LED-stick |
| New price: | $79.95, £49.95 $40.00 (October, 1981) |
Display size: | 8 + 2 |
| Size: | 5.8" x 3.1" x
1.4" 148 x 78 x 36 mm3 |
||
| Weight: | 6.4 ounces, 180 grams | Serial No: | 1246799 |
| Batteries: | BP6, BP7 | Date of manufacture: | wk 32 year 1977 |
| AC-Adapter: | AC9131, AC9132 | Origin of manufacture: | USA |
| Precision: | 11 | Integrated circuits: | TMC1501 |
| Memories: | 8 | ||
| Program steps: | 50 | Courtesy of: | Joerg Woerner |
| Download leaflet: | 
(US: 2.2 MByte) |
Download manual: |
(DE: 13.1 MByte) |
Introduced
together with the TI-58 and TI-59
the TI-57 represented the low budget programmable calculator of that epoch and
replaced the SR-56.
Unbelievable that this powerful calculator made use of the one-chip approach of
the SR-40 calculator.
A sales brochure of 1977 says:
"The key to its value is a remarkable advance in integrated circuit
technology - a single MOS/LSI chip with the equivalent capacity of 30,000
transistors". Well, today the guys of TI integrate millions and millions of
transistor on one chip.
A novel step was the squeezing of key entries into program
code, the time before the memory hold the key codes. This technique allowed up
to 3 key entries (i.e. INV-2nd-sin) to be compressed into one program step. Sure
that marketing sold a calculator with 50 memory places as a calculator with 150
program steps!
Please read this interesting comment from Anders Persson: "However, it was actually possible to pack up to four keystrokes in one step, not only three. An instruction like INV-2nd-Prd-4 would still fit in one step (code -39 4). Admittedly, not many instructions took four keystrokes - perhaps this is the only one...".
If you are interested in the calculating accuracy of scientific calculators don't miss the Calculator forensics.
Early in production (about wk 36 year 1977) TI changed the battery pack and the related connector and charger from the SR-51-II style to the TI-55 style. The battery packs are not compatible, don't use a BP6 with a AC9132 charger !
Simply by comparing the designation of the integrated circuits of the upper line "Majestic" calculators, you'll get the all members of this family:
| TMC1501 TI-57 TMC1502 MBA TMC1503 TI-55 |
Later in production the metallized TI logo was replaced with
an unmetallized. This gives in total 3 different US versions. View here the TI-57
w/o chrome. Finally we should add an early TI-57
assembled in Italy with different styling.
The TI-57 was sold under the label of Radio Shack as EC-4000.
The calculator was available till 1982.
| TI Programmable 57
The self-teaching programming system for student and professionals. Eight multi-use memories provide addressable memory locations to store and recall data. Powerful program memory stores 50 fully merged steps (up to 150 key-strokes). Once a program is built, it can be executed repeatedly by supplying new sets of variables. Computer-like programming functions help solve repetitive problems quickly and accurately. © Texas Instruments, 1981 |
If you have additions to the above article please email: joerg@datamath.org.
© Joerg Woerner, December 5, 2001. No reprints without written permission.