Hewlett-Packard 32SII Handheld Electronic Calculator
date: label: date made
content: 1994
name: label: maker
content: Hewlett-Packard Company
notes: label: Description
content: This handheld programmable scientific calculator has an array of thirty-five plastic keys. Most of them can take on four different meanings. One is indicated in white atop the key, one (often a letter) in white to the lower right of the key on the keyboard, one in orange to the upper left of the key on the keyboard and one in blue on the upper right of the key on the keyboard. The functions of the calculator are described in detail in the accompanying manual.
label: Description
content: The LCD display behind the keyboard. Results were calculated to twelve-digit precision and displayed either as common numbers or in scientific notation.
label: Description
content: Marks above the display read: 32SII and: RPN SCIENTIFIC. A mark above this reads: hp (/) HEWLETT (/) PACKARD.
label: Description
content: A compartment at the top of the back holds three button cell batteries. A mark below it reads: SINGAPORE 3406S89420 (/) CE 91 [copyright symbol] HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY 1987. The serial number indicates a date of manufacture of February (sixth week) of 1994 (thirty-four years from 1960). A note on the title page of the manual indicates that that the object was purchased October 13, 1994, for $62.95 (including shipping). According to Mier-Jedrezejowicz, the HP-32SII was introduced in 1991 and still in production at least as late as 1995.
label: Description
content: Accompanying the calculator is <I>HP32SII RPN Scientific Calculator Owner’s Manual</I>. This is an example of the fourth edition, published in 1993.
label: Description
content: The calculator has a black plastic sleeve. A mark on it reads: hp.
label: Description
content: This example of the calculator was owned by Tom Simkin, Curator of Volcanology in the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Accession file.
label: Description
content: W.A.C. Mier-Jedrzejowicz, <I>A Guide to HP Handheld Calculators and Computers </I>, Tustin, California: Wilson/Burnett Publishing, 1997, pp. 89–90, 95–96, 133.
label: Description
content: Accession file.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Singapore
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Computers
label: See more items in
content: Computers & Business Machines
label: See more items in
content: Handheld Electronic Calculators
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Sharon Simkin
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2014.0260.02
label: accession number
content: 2014.0260
label: catalog number
content: 2014.0260.02
objectType: label: Object Name
content: electronic calculator
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (case; keys; envelope material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (display cover material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (manual material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 cm x 14 cm x 21.2 cm; 1 9/16 in x 5 1/2 in x 8 11/32 in
label: Measurements
content: calculator: 1.8 cm x 8.5 cm x 15.5 cm; 23/32 in x 3 11/32 in x 6 3/32 in
label: Measurements
content: manual: 2.2 cm x 13.8 cm x 21.2 cm; 7/8 in x 5 7/16 in x 8 11/32 in