Object Details
- Texas Instruments
- Description
- This programmable scientific calculator, introduced in 1977, is more powerful than the TI 57 and less so than the TI 59, which were introduced at the same time. It has a black plastic case and an array of forty-five rectangular plastic keys, most of which can assume a dual function. The calculator could be operated manually by pressing keys. It could run a variety of preprogrammed routines from a module inserted in a compartment in the back of the case. Programs could also be entered using a set of keys and stored in one of ten locations (denoted by the letters A through E and A’ through E’). Fuller instructions for programming are given in a detailed manual that accompanied the calculator (for an example, see 1990.3166.01).
- A mark below the keyboard reads: TI Programmable 58 (/) Solid State Software. Behind the keyboard is a silver-colored space to hold labels relating to programs on a programming module. Behind this is a ten-digit display (it may also show five digits and a two-digit positive or negative exponent). An on/off key is at the back and a jack for a power supply is on the right side.
- A mark on the back of the calculator reads: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS (/) electronic calculator (/) SERIAL NO. (/) 0095974 1378ACH (/) ASSEMBLED IN HOLLAND. Below this is a compartment for a battery pack. The lid is labeled: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS (/) BATTERY PACK BP-1A. Below this is a compartment for a program module. The module inside is labeled: MASTER (/) LIBRARY (/) MODULE (/) -1-.
- The calculator has a black zippered case with a belt loop.
- Compare 1987.0435.04 and 2007.0179.01. (both examples of the TI Programmable 58C).
- References:
- “Power of Its Pocket Calculators Increased by Texas Instruments,” New York Times, May 25, 1977, p. 89. Suggested list price of new Programmable 58 to be $124.95.
- [Advertisement], Los Angeles Times, December 10, 1977, p. E3. Programmable 58 in stock, holiday sale price $99.95.
- Eli Maor, “A Summer Course with the TI57 Programmable Calculator,” Mathematics Teacher, 73 #2 (February 1980), pp. 99-106. Describes two experimental summer courses, one for students eight to eleven years old and the other for students twelve to fifteen, that used TI Programmable 58 calculators.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Gift of John B. Priser
- 1978
- ID Number
- 1987.0435.03
- accession number
- 1987.0435
- catalog number
- 1987.0435.03
- Object Name
- electronic calculator
- Physical Description
- plastic (case; keys; carrying case material)
- metal (circuitry material)
- Measurements
- overall: 1 1/2 in x 3 in x 6 3/8 in; 3.81 cm x 7.62 cm x 16.1925 cm
- place made
- Netherlands
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Computers
- Computers & Business Machines
- Handheld Electronic Calculators
- National Museum of American History
- Record ID
- nmah_214327
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a0-edfd-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
