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Undocumented SR-52

• Introduction

The SR-52 contains some undocumented features. Some of them are quite useful, some of them are just a curiosity.

• Memory registers

AOS memory registers
Unused memory registers
Program step registers

• How a memory register is stored

• Undocumented use of program step memory

How keys are stored in the program step memory
Example

• Bugs

Bug #1, program execution disturbed when halted
Bug #2, disturbed display

•  Memory registers

The SR-52 is documented to have 20 memory registers accessible as memory addresses 00 to 19. What Texas Instruments did not document is that addresses above 19 can be used to access other registers inside the SR-52.

SR-52 memory registers
Memory Used for
00 - 19 Documented memory registers, cleared by CMs.
60 - 69 Direct access to AOS memory registers, cleared by CLR.
70 - 97 Direct access to program step registers.
98 - 99 Two unused memory registers, not cleared by CMs.

 AOS memory registers

Direct access to the AOS memory registers is just a curiosity and probably not very useful.

 Unused memory registers

The inclusion of two unused memory registers is rather odd. Why waste two registers when everything else was shoehorned into the calculator? Why not 240 program steps? I have tried to find some function in the SR-52 that used these registers but found nothing.

 Program step registers

Direct access to the program step registers can be used for two things

• More memory registers in programs not using all program steps.
• Taking advantage of undocumented program codes in the program step registers.

Placing constants for a program into a memory between 70 - 97 could potentially use fewer program steps than placing the constants inline.

More about undocumented program codes in the program step registers further down on this page.

The relationships between program step registers and memory registers are important as the programmer has to manually keep track of the partitioning between memory registers and program step registers. The following table shows the program steps and the equivalent memory register.

SR-52 program step vs. memory register
Program step Memory
000 - 007 70
008 - 015 71
016 - 023 72
024 - 031 73
032 - 039 74
040 - 047 75
048 - 055 76
056 - 063 77
064 - 071 78
072 - 079 79
080 - 087 80
088 - 095 81
096 - 103 82
104 - 111 83
112 - 119 84
120 - 127 85
128 - 135 86
136 - 143 87
144 - 151 88
152 - 159 89
160 - 167 90
168 - 175 91
176 - 183 92
184 - 191 93
192 - 199 94
200 - 207 95
208 - 215 96
216 - 223 97

•  How a memory register is stored

Numbers are stored in BCD (Binary Coded Decimal) format inside the SR-52. This information is important when we are going to take advantage of direct access to the program step registers.

SR-52 memory register format
Byte # Contents Explanation
0 E2 S Exponent digit 1 and Sign digit
1 G3 E1 Guard digit 3 and Exponent digit 1
2 G1 G2 Guard digit 1 and Guard digit 2
3 M09 M10 Mantissa digit 9 and Mantissa digit 10
4 M07 M08 Mantissa digit 7 and Mantissa digit 8
5 M05 M06 Mantissa digit 5 and Mantissa digit 6
6 M03 M04 Mantissa digit 3 and Mantissa digit 4
7 M01 M02 Mantissa digit 1 and Mantissa digit 2

Note that guard digits 1, 2, and 3 (least significant digits of the mantissa) are only used for memories and built in fuctions. Any calculation on the 13 digit result is truncated to 10 digits by discarding the guard digits. Why? This is the reason why the SR-52 has worse precision than the SR-51.

Comment 1: Actually only guard digit 3 is dropped leading to a 12 digits result for the display.

Comment 2: Fellow collector Palmer Hanson revealed in October 2009, almost 35 years after its introduction, the secrets of the SR-52. Don't miss the Story "Twelve or Thirteen Digits on the SR-52." 

The sign digit has the following meaning.

SR-52 memory register sign digit
Digit Explanation
0 Mantissa and exponent are positive
2 Mantissa is negative
4 Exponent is negative
6 Mantissa and exponent are negative

The following table shows how a number, -1.234567890123-18 is stored in a memory register.

SR-52 memory register example
Byte # Contents What
000 86 -1.234567890123-18
001 31 -1.234567890123-18
002 12 -1.234567890123-18
003 90 -1.234567890123-18
004 78 -1.234567890123-18
005 56 -1.234567890123-18
006 34 -1.234567890123-18
007 12 -1.234567890123-18

•  Undocumented use of program step memory

Knowing that program step memory can either be used as programs or stolen eight at a time and used as memory registers one question immediately pops up; what would happen if unused key codes are stored in the program step memory?

 How keys are stored in the program step memory

• Number keys
• Immediate keys
• Other keys

Number keys are stored as their value, i.e. the key  5  is stored as 05. Immediate keys are never stored as they perform something even in programming mode. These keys are 2nd, LRN, INS, del, SST, and bst. Other keys are stored using their coordinates (row-column) on the keyboard, e.g. sin is stored as 32 and SUM is stored as 44. Keys prefixed with 2nd are stored with 5 (the number of columns) added to their column code, e.g. PROD (2nd of SUM) is stored as 49.

This leaves a number of key coordinates that we can not put into a program using normal methods. These coordinates correspond to the number keys and the immediate keys.

To use one of these unused coordinates we need to store it into the program step memory by using a suitable memory register address. As each memory register writes to eight program steps it is often necessary to store the wanted coordinate close to its intended program step and then use INS and del to move it into the intended program step. Planning ahead is important.

Unused key coordinates
Code Key What does it do?
21 2nd ?
26 2nd 2nd ?
27 2nd INV ?
31 LRN Execution stops on next program step and goes into programming mode.
61 INS ?
62  7  Goes into EE mode without entering any exponent digits.
63  8  Some form of dsz?
64  9  ?
66 del ?
71 SST ?
72  4  Goes into EE mode without entering any exponent digits.
73  5  Same as GTO  0  0  0 .
74  6  ?
76 bst ?
82  1  Goes into EE mode without entering any exponent digits.
83  2  Flashing - 1.-99
84  3  ?
92  0  ?

The most useful of these is to be able to put LRN into a program. An equation solving program could use LRN just before the free program steps and then jumping to it, prompting the user to input the equation.

 Example

To store the LRN key at program step 042 the following is done:  3   1  STO  7   5 . The program step memory now contains the keycodes 01, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00, and 31 at program step 040. Overwrite the program steps at program step 040 and 041 and then remove the unwanted program steps with the following key presses: GTO  0   4   2  del del del del del.

•  Bugs

As the SR-52 was, for its time, a complicated calculator some software bugs can be expected.

 Bug #1, program execution disturbed when halted

If the SR-52 is executing a program and is halted using the HLT key then the execution may be disturbed depending on what instruction was executed when halted. A small test program can be used to demonstrate the bug.

Test program for bug #1
Step Code Key
000 85  + 
001 01  1 
002 41 GTO
003 00  0 
004 00  0 
005 00  0 

Enter the program and run it. While the program is running we halt the execution and investigate what happened.

Bug #1
Key Display Note
LRN _____000_00___  
 +  _____001_00___  
 1  _____002_00___  
GTO _____003_00___  
 0  _____004_00___  
 0  _____005_00___  
 0  _____006_00___  
LRN __________0___  

When we run and halt this program it may halt on any of the program steps. Below is a couple of runs with different outcomes. In each run we figure out where we halted the program and what the consequences were.

Halt on  1 
Key Display Note
rset __________0.___  
RUN -__________-__  
HLT _________43.___ Halt on  1 

A halt on  1  does not show any obvious problem.

Halt on GTO
Key Display Note
rset __________0.___  
RUN -__________-__  
HLT __________1.___  
SST __________1.___ GTO
SST __________1.___  0 
SST __________1.___  0 
SST __________1.___  0 
SST __________0___ What happened here?
LRN _____007_00___ Address 007 is outside our program!
LRN __________0___  

A halt on GTO reveals that the instruction is ignored and the program execution continues outside the program area.

Halt on goto target address
Key Display Note
rset __________0.___  
RUN -__________-__  
HLT __________1.___  
SST __________0___ What happened here?
LRN _____005_00___ Address 005 is inside our program, but GTO has not been executed!
LRN __________0___  

A halt on the goto target address reveals that the goto instruction is ignored and the program execution will continue outside the program area.

A number of other tests can be done that shows that the SR-52 does not properly keept the state of the executed program if halted on program steps that are part of an GTO instruction. Sometimes the key sequence HLT LRN results in a flashing error display. under some conditions halting the program may even erase the whole program area and all memory registers!

Bug #2, disturbed display

This simple program shows an odd display.

Test program for bug #2
Step Code Key
000 22 INV
001 80 if pos
002 34 tan
003 46 LBL
004 34 tan

Enter the program and step through it, observing the display.

Bug #2
Key Display Note
LRN _____000_00___  
INV _____001_00___  
if pos _____002_00___  
tan _____003_00___  
LBL _____004_00___  
tan _____005_00___  
LRN __________0___  
rset __________0.___  
 1  __________1___  
EE __________1_00  
 1  __________1_01  
 0  __________1_10  
SST __________1_00  
SST __________1._00  
SST __________1._0_ Odd
SST __________1._0_ Odd
SST __________0___  

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If you have additions to the above article please contact Göran Larsson or joerg@datamath.org.

© Göran Larsson and Joerg Woerner, July 27, 2002. No reprints without written permission.