Texas Instruments Programmable 58 Handheld Electronic Calculator
date: label: date made
content: 1978
name: label: maker
content: Texas Instruments
notes: label: Description
content: 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).
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: 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-.
label: Description
content: The calculator has a black zippered case with a belt loop.
label: Description
content: Compare 1987.0435.04 and 2007.0179.01. (both examples of the TI Programmable 58C).
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: “Power of Its Pocket Calculators Increased by Texas Instruments,” <I>New York Times</I>, May 25, 1977, p. 89. Suggested list price of new Programmable 58 to be $124.95.
label: Description
content: [Advertisement], <I>Los Angeles Times</I>, December 10, 1977, p. E3. Programmable 58 in stock, holiday sale price $99.95.
label: Description
content: Eli Maor, “A Summer Course with the TI57 Programmable Calculator,” <I> Mathematics Teacher</I>, 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.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Netherlands
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Computers
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content: Computers & Business Machines
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content: Handheld Electronic Calculators
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of John B. Priser
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1987.0435.03
label: accession number
content: 1987.0435
label: catalog number
content: 1987.0435.03
objectType: label: Object Name
content: electronic calculator
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (case; keys; carrying case material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (circuitry material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 1/2 in x 3 in x 6 3/8 in; 3.81 cm x 7.62 cm x 16.1925 cm